Jessica Towl

2007-11-08T15:29:00.000-08:00

Wow, so much has changed since I last updated on here. I thought it was time to start regulary updating again as training is getting back into swing now!
So since my last race of the season (London Triathlon) I took a few weeks off, which was really nice, spent lots of time with family and friends!
Then i had to get organised for University, I moved to Loughborough so that i could access the High Performance center but I am at Uni in Nottingham. Serious time managment skills needed for that one!
Literally as soon as i had arrived in Loughborough i was out on a long run when i got chased by a dog and ended up pulling one of my quad muscles!! pretty painful. So I was out of running for 8 weeks... I started last week doing some really short runs and now I am up to 30mins, which is a vast improvement on barely being able to walk.
I have been doing a fair amount of riding, allthough i fell pretty unfit on the bike at the moment.
Swimming is tough as i am in the process of changing my stoke..... hard to remember at 6am!! lol
It's getting there though.... just need to keep at it!
I now have a new coach at Loughborough and up untill Christmas i am focusing on strengh, conditioning and running dills.

2007-08-16T04:03:00.000-07:00

It took me longer to recover from my heat exhaustion that I first anticipated, I did a few sessions early on in the week on Monday and Tuesday but they just made me sick so I took a few days off, did a really long and painful ride on friday but then felt sick again so I started a fresh on Monday.
Swimming club is on holiday for 2 weeks so I haven’t been swimming, but on a positive it has given me more time to focus on bike/run.
Monday I got up early and did a 60min treadmill session, I put the incline on 1.5 for the first 30mins and then put it up to 2 for the second half. I feel that running at around a 2.0 incline is most like running outdoors. I started on a steady speed but increased it every 10mins until the last set was pretty much max effort.
Later that afternoon I did 3 x 15km loop on my bike as 1 x Mod, 1 x Hard, 1 x Mod, there were strong winds over the second half of the loop and I really had to put my head down and power through, I felt good though so after my 3rd loop I did a quick transition and ran for 20mins off the bike. The 1st 10mins as max sustainable pace and the 2nd half as easy home. I felt really smooth and light which was reassuring after how I felt racing last weekend. Then I iced which felt soooo good!

Tuesday I had a brick race in Belchford, I decided to ride there and back which was just less than 20km each way and it poured down with rain the whole time! The race was 19km bike with a few big hills thrown in followed by a 4km run up a very steep hill and back down. My legs were slightly sore from yesterday but generally I felt good, coming off the bike I felt really light and smooth again, I actually ran pretty fast for me! I won the race, even beat all the guys! and I took away the female record. Riding home sucked because it was 9pm, dark and raining, but it did my legs good to spin them out after the race.

Yesterday I had massive withdrawal symptoms from not swimming so I went down to the pool in a public session, bad decision, it was full of children and babies and I couldn’t get much swimming in. I managed to swim a broken up 3km of various things before I gave up and headed home for lunch.
That afternoon I went to the gym and did another 60min treadmill session, I did the same session as Monday, just increasing the tempo, focusing on leg speed. At one point I went to fast for the machine and ran into the front of the treadmill, giving myself a dead leg! Just my luck that the gym was full of people.
Then I did some core work and weights, followed by 10mins on the bike to cool down.

Today I am heading out on a long ride with my riding partner…..

Michelob London Triathlon

2007-08-08T02:20:00.000-07:00

I did my first drafting Olympic distance race on Sunday, it was such a fantastic experience to race in a senior elite field.
The swim was fast, very fast. There were 3 leaders that i managed to hang on to for about 700m then i got dropped, i was suffering so bad after that buti kept pushing as i knew i had a good minute lead over the next pack of swimmers. I had a clean transition becasue there was noone around and just as i was mounting my bike i heard the commentator shout "here comes Dillon, Whitcombe and Cave" I couldn't beieve i had beaten them out the water by so far!!
I decided that it wasn't worth me chasing down the 2 girls thats were leading as they were to far away so i sat up and waited for the chase pack to come through.
It was awesome to be in a bike pack with athletes who i admire, who i used to watch on TV several years ago and wish i could one day be like them.
As soon as i got on the run i knew there was something wrong.... i had nothing... i didn't know if it was the heat or nutrition so i tried to drink as much as i could and took a gel. It didn't help, i trotted along at an agonsing pace, 4mins off my usual pace. I kept pushing as i knew i was in 7th place.
I don't remeber much after i crossed the line, i collapsed and was taken to the hospital tent on a stretcher. When i came round i was coverd in ice, had an IV and oxygen. My temp was 41.8!!!
After a few hours and a few bags of fluid i was good enough to leave and my temp was back down.
Im ok today, took a day off to get over the heat exhaustion. I went for a 60min run yesterday, nice and easy.

Back in England

2007-07-19T07:21:00.000-07:00

At the finish of the Busselton Half Iron man, i ran the 21km, was exhausted at this point.

This one was taken at the start of the half marathon.... all smiles at this point.

I landed back in the UK on Monday after training for 6months in Australia, i had such an amazing experience and i can't wait until i head back to Perth to train with UWA again.

In general training has been going well, my running has been the most consistent and i have seen a great improvment in speed. Over the past few weeks we have increased our running volume and added hill repeats. I have been doing more 5/10/21km races which are really good training workouts. I feel like im in the best running shape of my life.

My riding has been a bit hit and miss recently, i usualy like to ride around 200-250km per week, with 2 of the rides quality, but i have only been doing 150km with stockbrokers as my 1 quality ride. Despite this i shocked myself a few weeks ago when i did a 2min PB in a 36km hills TT, so i guess its hard for me to tell where i am at with my cycling.

Swimming is always a tough one for me, i have been swimming the same speed for the past 5 years....which isnt bad, im usually one of the 1st out of the water but during my time in Australia swimming took a back seat, our club only swims 3 times per week with an average of 5km per session, so i doubt i will see any improvement there. Hopefully once i get to uni next month and start training with Jack and can get some more time in the pool and start to notice an improvement.

Allthough i feel in good shape i feel like i have so much further to go, like i can be so much better...all i need is to get back into a routine or structured programme.

Back into the swing....

2007-06-15T01:57:00.001-07:00

Training has officialy begun again with everyone appart from Dr Drake, Coco and myelf nice and fresh from 4 weeks off.
I was prepared for a spanking first week back and i was right. We had a 1km swim TT which didn't bother me because i felt that my swimming with Suzette had been going well. I didn't get a Pb but it was only 15secs or so off.
I had a 5km running race in Freo on Sunday where i won and ran a Pb which was great because the course was pretty undulating and I know that i can go faster than that becasue there were no other girls around so i didn't push it. The rest of the day i just slept and went out for dinner with friends.
Monday swim was great, has to be the easiest swim session Grant had ever given us! Great recovery session. In The afternoon we did a 12km run along the City to Surf route.
Tuesday morining i did a 40km group ride followed by track in the afternoon where we did 8x800m as 400m max 400m mod. I found it hard and was feeling sick by about the last 2 repeats.
Wednesday morining swim was hard and long. We swam 5km and the main set was 12X100m coming i at 1:10 - 1:15. I was so drained afterward but still headed out for Stockbrokers ride which is around 65km, as usual i red lined for about 90mins until i got dropped and had to ride the remainder on my own into headwind! :(
Thursday morning i dont know how i managed to get out of bed.... i was so sore from the day before... and to make matters worse i turned up to the 6am track session only to find we had to do 9x1km at your 5km pace! I definatley lost my sence of humor that morning! :)
Then we hopped into the pool for a recovery swim which was great. All day my legs ached... the same painful ache you get after a race!! In the afternoon we had an easy spin on the Windtrainer whilst we sorted out or goals for ther season.
Friday morning was supposed to be a hard swim but i slept through my alarm! I was so mad at myslef when i woke up..... i hate it when i unintentionally miss a session.... now i have been feeling guilty all day!
Tomorrow we have the 36km TT in the Hills and it is going to kill me... literally......so maybe it's a good thing that i had today off.

2007-05-27T22:03:00.000-07:00

The past month or so has flown by and i have been so busy training, working and sorting out University that i have neglected this blog.
It is now the end of the season in Australia so our club is having a month off. However I am still training hard for some upcomnig races in Europe.
A few weeks ago i ran my first hlaf marathon at the Busselton Half Ironman Triathlon, and i can honestly say i have never experienced pain like i did that day! The first 7km i went too fast, i was running around my 10km pace and so by the last 7km i had nothing left, my legs had cramped and i felt like crawling on my hands and knees. I ran 1 hr 32 mins, but plan to beat that by around 5mins when i do the Fremantle half marathon in a few weeks time.
While our Tri club is on a break i have been swimming with another swim squad, the session are awesome becasue they are always around 6km and they are so much harder than the ones i usually do. Last Monday the main set was 15 x 400m!! We have been doing lots of hypoxic work with is working really well with me because it is benificial in triathlon, espacially in open water starts. I have been running track once a week and doing losts of longer runs with races at the weekends. As for riding i have been doing my usual group rides, which includes the testosterone filled Stockbrokers ride in which i red line for the whole 65km.
Training with UWA starts again in just over a week and i can't wait, i need Grant to crack his whip with me and i am looking forward to getting back into a routine with set sessions.
I am sick at the moment, i have a chest infection and have lost my voice so i am not training for the next few days. I will post again next week with what training i have been doing each day.

Training.

2007-03-30T01:02:00.000-07:00

We have eased off the heavy training over the past week becasue we are racing this Sunday. It feels great to have a little more energy than usual.
On Monday we swam around 4km, the main set was 3x 15x50m fartlek work, we also encorporated some drafing into the final set. I felt good and worked pretty hard.
Then in the afternoon we had an hour gym session foloowed by a short run of 6km, the first 3km was easy pace keeping the group together and the second 3km was hard. I was tired but pushed hard as it was only 3km.
Tuesday morining i rode a 40km group ride, it was a really varied pace ride, some bits were really tough and other bits were comfortable. I flet sore on the hills.
Tuesday afternoon we have track, Tuesday is usually a solid workout but becasue of the race it was easier. We did a 5km warm up followed by 2x5x400m target pace below 1:20 for me and a 2km cool down.
Wednesday morning swim was a great session the main set was 6x250m pull 6x150m hard and 6x50m hard. Felt really smooth in the pull and fast in the 50's.
Wednesday afternoon we had another gym session, i only did arm and body weights as my legs were fatigued from track. Then we had 90mins of windtrainer, where we did mostly fast cadence work.
Thursday morining we had track, i was sore from windtrainer so i found it hard. We did 3km warm up followed by drills and 6x200m. Then the main set was 10 x 400m continus as 1 max 1 recovery followed by 10x100m max. Then we headed to the pool were we did a few km's of drills and tech work.
Thursday afternoon we did an easy 30km group ride down the freeway path, me and a few of the guys decided to push the last 3km as hard as we could so the whole ride wasn't as easy as our coach had planned. Plus we had a near pile up when a few riders decided to check themeselves out in the reflective glass of the brewery! haha.
The Plan from here is to swim on friday, ride to the race course on Saturday to check it out which will be about 40km with a short swim in the river to check out the temp beofre the race on sunday!

Pictures!

2007-03-22T17:57:00.000-07:00

Post race stretching with Luana and Chris.

My attmept at a winners speech at the presentation.

Early morning race start.... getting ready to head down for my 1st Olympic distane race.

Setting up my bike in transition.

Australia!

2007-03-08T23:59:00.000-08:00

Me and some other members of The University of Western Australia's Traithlon Club post race in Albany.

Sorry i haven't updated for a while but things have been really busy since i got back to Australia.
My training is going awesome at the moment and it seems all my hard work over the past few years has paid off.... I did my FIRST olympic distace race...... and i won!! It was the Albany Classic Triathlon in Perth Australia.

I shocked myself with how well i raced, specifically my run time of 38:49 which is a lot faster than i thought i would go on the back of a swim and run. My swim was also really strong, i was second out of the water, but only just beaten by one of the men.... and my ride was consistent on a really tough, hilly course.

The whole thing felt amazing, i feel so much more comfortable racing Olympic than sprint, all that worrying for nothing! I can't wait to do my next race and continue to progress over the coming season.

And to top off my day i was approached by Liz Blatchford's dad who said i was a super athlete for my age and that his daughter should watch her back in the future!! :O:O

My weekly training at the moment is based around this programme;

Monday: Swim (am) Gym and along run (pm)
Tuesday: Group Ride (am) Track session (pm)
Wednesday: Swim (am) Gym and Windtrainer (pm)
Thursday: Track and Swim (am) Group Ride (pm) Friday: Swim (am)
Saturday: Long ride
Sunday: Race/Rest

NEW SPONSOR!

2007-02-02T13:40:00.000-08:00

Hey!

I'm flighing out to Australia tomorrow for several months. I am looking forward to some hard training with UWA Triathlon Club in the heat and away from the cold winter in England.
Also...
I am very excited to have just signed a 12 month sponsorship deal with Crystal Power, one of the UK's leading Direct Sales & Marketing organisations. I think this is a great opportunity and look forward to working with them.

You can visit there web site here: http://www.crystalpower.co.uk/

Jess x

Base training

2007-01-20T08:42:00.000-08:00

I met up with Bob on Monday morning for a 2 hour ride, the pace was ok and i can tell he is getting fitter now becasue he pushes up the hills! In the afternoon we did a 5km swim set, it was pretty hard the intensity is increasing at the moment becasue the counties are coming up. The hardest bit was 12x100m off 1:30, target time 1:10. The first one i did 1:14 but afer that i maintained the pace to 1:10 each 100m. Then we did lots of long distance pull.
Tuesday i went for a run with Janine, Malc and Jane, we ran for 90mins XC. The course was brilliant but the pace was a little slow becasue Jane was sick.
Then in the evening i did a 4.5km pyramid swim set, with short efforts and distances.
Wednesday i ran an easy hour with Jutta, then headed up to Kenwick and did a core session, followed by some uch needed recovery time in the Sauna and Jacouzi.
Thursday the wind was over 70mph and it was way to dangerous to go outsdie so i did a 2 hour turbo session straight into a 30 min run. Seriously dont think i have ever sweat so much in my life! After some serious refueling i headed to the pool for a 5.5km session. We didn't do anything to hard just lots of long distance stuff and drills/technique.
I made it out of bed on Friday morning! whoo hoo! and swam the 2 hour morning session. I think we did 5.7km, lots of mixed swims and IM work and Kick, not much benifit for me but it was still a workout!
Then later on i met up wth Bob again and we rode for 1hr40mins across the wolds just as the sun was setting, it was the most beautiful ride i have done since i got back from Australia!
Today i went to watch the county schools XC but im heading to the gym in a while for a short treadmill run.

The past week

2007-01-15T09:25:00.000-08:00

Monday i did a 30min steady run on the treadmill before heading out on an hour ride, i rode pretty hard and got 32km in. Then i went to Kenwick and did the hardest core workout ever! followed by a 4.5km swim session, mainly f/c short distances.
Despite waking up on Tuesday really sore from the gym work, i did an hour run session at a moderate even pace, and other than my back/stomach pain my legs felt really good. In the afternoon we did another 4.5km swim session. The main set was a pyramid set which was cool becasue there is loads of variation.
Wednesday morning i did a 2hour bike session, and i did a hilly route becasue i felt like doing some work! I got home on 49.4km so i had to just ride down the road and back to make it 50! lol
Then i went to the gym and ran for 45mins on the treadmill, i set it at a 1% gradient and built up my speed every 5mins.
Thursday i decided to have a legs off day so i just went swimming in the afternoon. We did 4.7km, nothing hard just usual tech work and shorter distances.
Friday i had every intention of getting up at 5am for a 2hour swim session but it didn't happen! Felt pretty guilty about that for the rest of the day. I went out for 45min XC run before heading to the gym and doing some more core work and a 30min spin on the bike.
Saturday was my Brithday! 20 years old! my friends keep reminding me tha i am half way to 40 now, thanks! lol I met up with Jutta and we decided to do a 2.5km TT run, so after we warmed up for 3km we set off, i felt really smooth and despite headwind i ran 9:32 so i was pretty pleased. Then we did 5km cool down. I gad the rest of the day off celebrating my birthday and went out for a Turkish meal in the evening.
Sunday i had arranged to meet up with my new riding partner bob but he cancelled last minute so i did 2hours on my own. Got 50km in again, using my road to make it a nice round number again! crazy i know! In the afternoon we did a really hard swim session 5.7km with lots of max effort 100's and 200's. When i got out i felt like i had really worked hard, so it was great!

back into training.

2006-12-30T13:53:00.000-08:00

On Boxing day i had a 4mile XC race, i decided to go early and do 3 laps (1mile each) as a long warm up. The course was really tough; it had lots of hills so i actually did work off the Christmas food! Afterwards i did another lap and a cool down, but the next day i felt really sore! so i decided to have a legs off day. Our first swim session for a few weeks was hard, it was a 2hour session and the main set was; 15x100m f/c off 1:30 followed by 10x200m off 3mins. I pushed myself on the 200's and was coming in on 2:25 every time, which isn’t bad considering i haven’t been in the pool for a while.
Thursday i did a 90min ride, with some hill repeats thrown in. The legs still giving me grief from the XC run. Then we had another 2 hour swim session, we did 5.5km, nothing interesting mostly f/c and a similar set to the night before.
Friday i met up with Bob for a ride, i had no idea how long or hard it was going to be i just followed him, apart from every time it was headwind and he made me go on the front!
We rode for 3 hours altogether but with a 20min cafe stop in he middle so we could refuel.
Later that afternoon i did a 3.5km roll through swim session, lots of varied stroke and technique work, i treated it as a recovery session. Then i went straight into the gym and ran on the treadmill for 40mins working on high cadence.
Woke up today and felt really tired but i had arranged to meet Jutta for a run, so we ran for 90mins at a comfortable pace, any other day it would have been to easy but today it was bordering on comfort/pain. Now i plan to recover for the rest of the day.

2006-12-20T07:26:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since I’ve posted as training is pretty slow at the moment because of the Christmas Holidays and the bad weather.
I haven’t been doing much swimming recently because the pool had closed for 8 weeks, it is so frustrating!
As for cycling, well, I’ve been riding about 4 hours a week, depending on the weather, and I have been doing more indoor sessions. I really need to get the hours back up again on the bike. I did go out today for over 2 hours despite the icy roads.
Running is going really well, doing lots of longer runs, and XC races. Came 3rd overall at the RAF Cranwell XC race but I won the U20 age group! It was a great course, although I would have liked a few extra km's.
Hopefully I will post again within the next week or so when my training starts up again....
Have a great Christmas! xx

2006-12-06T03:16:00.000-08:00

I was back on the Turbo on Sunday because the winds were so bad outside, so i got the latest issue of tri news and cycled away for 1hour45min before going straight into a 30min progressive run. Then in the evening we only did a 4km swim because it was time trials. I did a 2km warm up, then a 1500m TT (18:38:02) It hurt so bad, and to think i have to do that now in a triathlon! But i've never done it before so it was a PB! Afterwards i did a 500m cool down.

Monday the winds were much calmer so i went out and rode a 75min loop to the beach and back which is completely flat, i felt really sore and was uncomfortable the whole time.
Then i swam 4.5km, we did lots of drills and kick (which hurt my legs even more) The mainset was 10x100m and we had to come in below 1:12. I was on fire! eventhough it was short course i was doing below 1:10 each time, i felt really good, smooth and effortless.

Tuesday i met up for a long XC Run with Janine, Jane and thier coach Malc, we ran for 1hour30mins, it was a great run we worked hard but had a laugh at the same time.
That evening the swim session was 4.5km again. The mainset was 5x300m as 200m pull 100m swim which was good for me as longer distance pull really makes me feel like im working.

Just more training!

2006-12-02T08:58:00.000-08:00

I went out on my bike early on Monday, I rode a 90min loop before heading home because I was feeling kinda crappy. Then I rushed off to Loughborough which is about a 2 hour drive away for a meeting at British Triathlon. I ended up being longer than I expected and, despite trying, I didn’t make it home in time for the swim session which annoyed me but it was out of my control.

Tuesday morning there was torrential rain but I still met up with Janine to do a 17km XC run. The farmers decided to start ploughing the fields so we got covered in mud, it felt like I was running with bricks on my feet! It took us 1hr20mins but it was a great run and I am looking forward to the same thing next Tuesday.
Later that evening we did a 4km swim session, the main set was 10x100m hard, I was told to make sure I kept under 1:15 and I was averaging around 1:12 so I was happy with that plus it felt pretty smooth.

On Wednesday I did a very hard bike session I pushed all the way for 90mins and the route had a few good climbs in it too. Then I had a few hours to refuel with a roast dinner before heading out on a 50min steady run with Jutta.

Thursday I went to the gym and did a brick session; 2x (30min bike 10mins run)
Then I went straight into 40mins of stretch and core work.

For the first time since I got back to the UK I got up and did the early morning swim! We did 5.6km long distance work; the main set was 800m then 2x400m followed by a max distance 10min swim and 12x100m off 1:30. Surprisingly I felt really good and worked hard so it ended up being a great workout.
Later on I decided to do a longer brick session so I did a 1hr15min turbo (wind trainer) session, then straight into a 30min progressive run.

XC Race

2006-11-26T16:00:00.000-08:00

Today I had the second round of the County XC championships and loved every minute of it! It was slightly longer this time as it was 6km. The course was fantastic because it was so muddy and I got stung, spiked and wet which is what XC is all about. I lead from the start and the pace was suprisingly comfortable, over the over the first lap (2 laps of 3km) me and a team mate built up a lead of around 20seconds. I pushed harder through the second lap to try and drop her but she stuck with me. We continued to put more and more time into the others. With about 500m to go I picked up the pace into a sprint and crossed the line in 1st place with 2nd place 10seconds behind and the rest of the field over a minute behind. You can see by this very unflattering picture just meters before the finish line that i was giving it my all, you can always tell when im tired beacuse i bring my knees up!

This afternoon I headed to the pool again for more club champs. We only had time for a 700m warm up but that was ok because it was only 50m f/c sprint. I did 30:21 which was a few seconds off my pb so it was disappointing but expected after the XC race.

2006-11-26T15:03:00.000-08:00

Sunday morning i felt pretty sore from the hard bike session i did the day before so i decided to do an easy 30min run on the treadmill in the gym followed by 45mins of stretching and core work to loosen me up. Then instead of our usual 2 hour swim session we had club champs so it ended up being a light day. I did 1km warm up of f/c and b/c followed by a 200m backstroke race... which didn't go too badly.
Monday i had a "legs off day" and just did a 4.5km swim session. We did lots of drills and small efforts but the main set was 10x100m off 1:20, which was tough because i was coming in on around 1:13 so i was only getting a few seconds rest!
Tuesday morning i got a longer ride in, i rode out and back 2hours, the route was really flat but it was somewhere i hadn't been before so it was interesting. The only down side was it was a really busy road but i figured the chances of coming across a dog where slim so that’s why i chose it! lol.
Then in the afternoon we had a 4km swim session and we did 8x125 backstroke, 4x150f/c and 4x8x50 as 25m IM stroke 25m F/c. I also got to do 2x200m pull while everyone else did kick after begging my coach.
Wednesday i met up with my running partner Jutta, we did 30mins at moderate pace then a small set of 3x600m hard followed by 20mins at moderate pace. I felt so light and smooth in the efforts and felt as though i could have done more comfortably, i told Jutta and she says next week i have to do 10 repeats.
Thursday morning I did a 40min run on the treadmill which felt ok but was rather boring as the music/TV in the gym was broken.
In the afternoon I did a 4.5km swim and I wasn’t happy because we did soooo much kick! However we did still get to do some f/c swims as one set was 5x200m target time 2:30 or below.
On Friday my legs were so sore from all the kick and when I went out for a bike session I felt like I was riding with flat tyres. The more I rode the better I felt so I did a 90min loop and headed home to do some serious stretching.
Saturday was a really easy/light day because I wanted to be fresh for my X country race on Sunday. I did a light 30min run then headed straight to the pool for more heats of club championships. I got 900m warm up in before I did a 100m backstroke race.

I've grown!

2006-11-19T04:20:00.000-08:00

I drove to Nottingham on Thursday for a full medical and x-ray to prove that i am fit and healthy for my visa back to Australia, and it seems i haven't stoped growing! I even asked the doctor to measure me again because i really didn't want to break out of 5 foot. :-(
So now im 180cm or 6 foot. That has to be it right? no more growing!?
But on a positive note the doctor said i was the healthiest, fittest person he has examined!
Well that took up most of my day but i got back just in time for the swim session, we did 5.3km, nothing exciting mostly 100m repeats and quite a bit of backstroke.
On Friday i went out on my bike and my new chain felt amazing i couldn't believe the difference it was really smooth. I rode for 1hr15mins on mostly flat ground, just turing the legs over and getting back into it after being off for a good week or so.
About an hour later i did a 35 min run on the treadmill as it started to pour with rain. Lame excuse i know.
Saturday i got up and did a 50min run, the pace was pretty good, it wasn't hard and it wasn't easy, afterwards i felt like i had done a good workout. Then i went to my Aunties for a huge lunch with the family which was nice.
Later that afternoon after recovering from lunch i did a 1hr30min ride on undulating ground, some of the hills were good so i was working hard and the wind seemed to change and i ended up being in head wind the whole time. That was probally the hardest session on the bike since being ill, so i guess i will see how i pull up tomorrow.

Feeling weak

2006-11-15T05:32:00.000-08:00

Damn I hate being ill, I started training again on Monday but i felt really weak and tired so i took it really easy. I went out on my bike for what felt like the first time in weeks, i rode for about 1hr15 at a comfortable pace. I did have to do a few mins at absolute max pace as i was being chased by 2 big black dogs, which really frightened me. What is it with me and dogs lately? i am actually getting scared of going out running or cycling.
Later that evening i did a swim session, the main set was 4x300m off 4mins but i only did 3.5km then got out, i felt like i was swimming with an elephant on my back!
Tuesday morning I did a 35min run on the treadmill, I started off really easy moving up the pace every few mins until I got into a comfortable stride. Then I had a swim session and although the elephant was still there I did manage the whole session. We did 4.3km which included lots of small distances such as 12x25m, 10x50m, 8x75m, 6x100m followed by 6x150m of drills.
I took my specialized bike to the bike shop for a new chain and retaping of the handlebars so it looks like the cobwebs are coming off the Trek bike if I am going to ride on Wednesday...

Past 7 days

2006-11-12T04:02:00.000-08:00

The past week i have been off training becasue i have been ill with gastroenteritis. I am feeling much better today and will start easing back into training tonight with a swim...

2006-11-05T13:40:00.000-08:00

I got up early on Wednesday and went for a 2 hour ride, it was really windy and doing a 10% climb into head wind is not nice!
In the afternoon I went on a 13km steady run with Jutta, she was tired so she only made me do 3 short efforts of about 30 seconds. It took me a while to get into the run but once I was warmed up I felt good.

On Thursday I did a 30min easy run then I headed over to the gym where I did 45mins of stretching, some core work and a few light weights.
Later we did a 5.3km swim session. We did 6x250m off 3:30 which was ok because we got loads of rest, followed by 10x100 alternating between backstroke and f/c.

I only did 1 session on Friday, I did a 2 hour ride, nothing eventful, I felt ok even though it seemed to be head wind in both directions!

2006-10-31T09:54:00.000-08:00

Training this week has been a bit hit and miss, I did a brick session on Friday in the Gym which was: 2x (30mins bike into a 20mins run) at a maximum sustainable pace.
Saturday I went on a 2 hour flat ride, without pushing myself too hard because I didn’t want to be sore for the race the next day.
Sunday morning I ran about 15mins to the County X-Country Championships held in Hubbard’s Hills. The course was a tough 2 loops of 3km on really hilly and uneven ground. I raced pretty well, in the first lap I felt great, but towards the end I really started to hurt… maybe I didn’t quite pace myself correctly. I lead the race from start to finish, got my 1st win of the season! Afterwards I ran back home for 15mins as a cool down.
Later that day I had a 5.5km swim session, we did lots of small sets of efforts and drills and also some fin work. I also did 1000m pull.
When I woke up on Monday I could barely move legs, I think racing in my spikes was a bit of a shock to the system. I decided to take it easy so i went out on a easy 30min run and later that day I also did a 30min spin on the turbo to try and ease out the legs.
I felt better on Tuesday, spent most of the day Christmas shopping, however I did manage to get in a 1:30 ride before it got dark. Now I am just about to head to the pool, it’s a 90min session so hopefully we will get around 5km in…

2006-10-27T03:32:00.000-07:00

On Sunday I did a 1hour session on the treadmill, I did 15mins progressive warm up then increased the speed by 0.5 every 5mins until I couldn’t go any faster, then I went straight into a 10mins reducing cool down.
Then I went straight into the pool for a 6km set. We did 1km backstroke followed by 8x75 f/c, 6x125 f/c, 4x250 f/c, 2x500 f/c. By the time we finished I was completely dead as I hadn’t eaten anything between the sessions.
On Monday morning I did 1hour on my bike on flat ground, then in the afternoon we did a 4.5km swim session which consisted of 14x100m turnaround time 1:30. It wasn’t too hard as we were coming in on around a 1:15-1:20 which is pretty comfortable.
Tuesday was a fairly easy day I ran to my Grandparents in the morning, which only took me 40mins. In the evening we did a 4.6km swim session, which were mainly small sets of drills and technique. We did 1km pull at a strong pace, that was good as I love long distance pull because I really feel like I am working!
Yesterday was a hard day for me, in the morning I set off on my bike not really knowing where I was going, I found a really nice hilly route which I will definitely ride again. In the end I rode for just over 2 hours. Then, despite the really bad weather I met up with Jutta for a really long run, we ran at a comfortable pace for 15km and then she made me do 2x1km uphill efforts! I was pretty tired when I got home and looking forward to sitting in front of the fire with a cup of tea and some chocolate!

2006-10-25T06:03:00.000-07:00

Wow! This is truly inspirational....

In one of the ironman races they did, they had punctured on the bike and there was no way they would make the cut off, but try as the marshal might to get him to stop there was absolutly no way he would, so he kept going and finished in the dark.
It puts a lot things into perspective really, like how lucky we all are everytime we are out there training or racing, no matter how much it hurts!

The past few days....

2006-10-21T10:30:00.000-07:00

I got up early on Wednesday and went for a 30min steady run, then after driving across the country to take my mum to the airport, I did a 2 hour undulating bike session along the local back roads where there is minimal traffic.
Thursday it rained all morning so I decided to do a run on the treadmill, I did 50mins working on high cadence and increasing the speed by 10 every 10mins. After lunch I went out on my bike for a 1 hour spin to help my legs recover from running, and then in the evening we did a 4.7km swim which included 6x200m reducing the times on each 200m followed by 10x50m efforts.
On Friday I felt like I needed to get a longer ride in with some good climbs (well as good as you can get around here!) so after some motivation from the guys at TT I set off in search of some hills and ended up being just over 2 hours! Later that day I went on a 30min run to loosen up my legs as they felt really heavy, then I headed out with a friend for a good Indian curry! :)

Another great quote: "Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass, it's about learning to dance in the rain!"

2006-10-17T14:06:00.000-07:00

Sunday was a “legs off day” we did a 6.2km swim session which included: 10x25m, 8x50m,6x100m,8x50m,10x25m strong pace but keeping all the repeats equal, then we did 15x100 as negative splits, which is actually a lot harder than it sounds!
Yesterday morning I went for a 12km moderately paced run, towards the end I did 5x1km as 600m hard, 400m easy. I felt good during the efforts, really light on my feet… I haven’t felt like that with my running for so long, so that’s a good sign.
In the afternoon we did an easy swim session, it was 3.7km, the main set was; 2x300F/c Pull followed by 6x100m F/c as kick/swim and then 10x100m F/c.
Today I missed my bike session, which annoyed me because I am really looking to build back into a full training load within the next few weeks and I can’t afford to miss sessions when my training load is fairly light. I went swimming this evening and we did 4.5km. We did lots of small sets of drills and some IM work, the main set was supposed to be 4x250m pull but I ended up doing 2x500m pull because I didn’t make the turnaround time… so I feel like I really worked my shoulders tonight.

1st week back finished!

2006-10-15T15:10:00.000-07:00

I only did one session on Friday, i rode for 2 hours on the hilliest route i could find, which is hard because i live in a really flat place. Anyway i managed to get a 10% climb in so i did do some work!
Yesterday i went for an hour spin on my bike on flat ground, just focusing on a light gear and leg turnover after fridays ride, then i went straight into a 30 min hard run which felt really smooth and fast. I always seem to run better straight off the bike than i do in normal running training.
In the evening i went to a Speedo league swimming gala for my local club and swam in the 100m backstroke and breaststroke and some 50m relays which was fun becasuse i got to meet up with some swimmers that i havn't seen for ages.

So my 1st week back into training totals are:

Swim = 7 hours
Bike = 7 hours
Run = 3 Hours

2006-10-12T10:43:00.000-07:00

So my first full week back into training is going well so far, Yesterday morning I went on a 13km flat run with Jutta, we kept the pace moderate and even enough so that we could talk, it’s always nice to have company on long runs!
In the afternoon I went out on my bike for 1:30 focusing on leg turnover and working at a higher cadence than I usually ride, as my legs felt heavy and lactated from the run in the morning.
Today I got up and went straight out on a 30min run, it was rather eventful as I managed to get chased and knocked off my feet by a dog! However the adrenaline afterwards really helped because from then on my run felt really light and smooth.
This evening we did a 5.5km swim, the main set was 800m,400m,200m,100m max sustainable pace with 20 seconds rest inbetween, i worked hard and averaged 1:15 per 100m. The rest of the session was kick, drills and pull of varying distances and then we did a huge swim down!

I came across this quote today and I love it: “Pain is temporary. It may last a minute, or an hour, or a day, or a year, but eventually it will subside and something else will take its place. If I quit, however, it lasts forever" ..... Lance Armstrong

2006-10-11T02:10:00.000-07:00

Finally I feel like i am starting to get back into training now that the off season is over.
On Saturday we had the National time trials for the British Triathlon Development programme, I had a disappointing 3km run time but it was really windy, i managed to stay on Mary's feet for the first 2km but i dropped back over the last km, my legs felt so heavy! in the end i was about 50seconds off my PB. Because i didn't run well i was more determined to make up for it in the 400m swim TT, I did a 4:41 which was good as it was pretty close to my PB! I swam with the boys and they set off on like 1.05 so i think that helped!
Sunday was a full day, we all did a bike set up exercise followed by a Turbo session working on fast cadence and 6x1min 1 leg drills. Then we swam 4.7km, main set was 50x50m moderate with every 3rd 50m hard while Jack was underwater videoing are technique. Then we did a track session of 3x3x400m. The 1st set was 3km pace +10s 2nd 3km pace + 5 and the 3rd was 3km pace. It didn’t feel good because I was tried and sore from the TT’s the day before.
Monday was much more relaxed, a legs off day, I only did a 4.5km swim session, mostly long easy distance with 8x100m hard off 1:30.
Tuesday I went for a ride for 1:30 on mostly flat ground but at the end I did 2x800m hard efforts up hill. Then we had a swim technique session, we did loads of drills but finished off with some harder work 5x200m hard with 10seconds rest between.

Who I Am And What I Do

2006-10-08T13:44:00.000-07:00

Hi, my name is Jessica Towl, i am 19 and i have been a Triathlete for the past 4 years.
This site is designed to keep you updated on my Triathlon training, races, sponsors, and coaches.

I have just completed my final year as a Junior Elite, so now i am moving up to the Under23 where i have to compete at Olympic Distance rather than Sprint Distance.

Last year i spent 10 months living at training in Perth with the University of Western Australia Triathlon Club, where i trained around 20 hours per week. This was a fantastic experience from which i became a much more rounded triathlete as my recent race results proove. I would like to thank my coach in Australia Grant Landers for all his help.

As a Junior i have represented Great Britain at the Euorpean Realys in Italy, In the Salford ITU World Cup, In the Junior Elite race in Geneva Switzerland and in the ITU Perth Cup Australia (My first senoir race)

My best perforamce to date was my Podium Finish in Geneva Switzerland where during the run i overhauled the former European Champion Daniela Ryf to claim the bronze medal.