One of our coached athletes, Ross Crombie, has had a busy 6 weeks, racing in both Ironman UK, Bolton and Ironman 70.3 Dublin.

Ironman UK was Ross' targeted A race for this season with months of preparation being put in. His aim - to beat previous times by going sub-13hrs.

Ross finished in 12:11:06 and not only managed to set a huge overall PB, but he also managed to PB in each of the three disciplines. An overall personal best time by 1hr 5mins, a swim PB by 4mins, and then an 18min PB in both the bike and run sections.
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He then carried his great form into Ironman 70.3 Dublin last weekend getting yet another PB in every discipline. Swim PB by 55 seconds, Bike PB by over 20 minutes, and a run PB by over 10 minutes – taking an impressive 30+ minutes off his overall 70.3 personal best.

A lot of focus had been on the run discipline, ensuring he was able to finish off the race strong.  His training clearly paid off with not only a PB time of 1hr 35min, but a negative split too.

A huge congratulations to Ross – well deserved after months of dedication and hard work.

Congratulations to James Smith who finished the Cotswolds Classic middle distance triathlon in 4:41.32 -with very consistent pacing throughout.

He set himself the PB target of sub-5 hours and has smashed that goal.

​This is all evidence of his commitment and motivation over the past few months.  It has been a pleasure working with you for this race.

Great work, James!

Pre-Race

Ironman UK would be my 4th Ironman and from the outset my main aim was just to finish without incident.

I think it’s safe to say I haven’t had the best of luck in Ironman races so far – injury, sickness and then mechanicals.  I was hoping Bolton would be a case of 4th time lucky.

I picked up a knee injury at the end of April and spent a couple of months going to the physio with next to no bike/run training.  I spent weeks not being able to run longer than 5minutes without pain and started to doubt if finishing the Ironman would even be possible.

I came into the race the lightest I’ve been since leaving school – 10kg lighter than when I did Wales in 2014.  I knew I had to be in order to minimise the risk of my knee flaring up again.

I wrote my targets down the day before - swim 1:40, bike 6:30 and run 5:00. 

This wouldn’t get me a PB, but given injury and lack of training I knew I’d be happy if I got close to these times.

Last Sunday, around 6,500 runners descended upon Blair Drummond Safari Park for the start of the inaugural Stirling Scottish Marathon.  The route started in the safari park, and then took you through Doune, Dunblane, Bridge of Allan and Stirling University all before the half way mark.  From there you headed past the Wallace Monument to the final looped section around the city centre.  The loop went through the city centre, past King’s Knot, along to the Stirling Bridge and back through Riverside before finishing under Stirling Castle.

Despite some heavy showers the support throughout the course was fantastic.  The streets through Doune and Dunblane were lined the whole way, and it felt like the whole town was out to cheer everyone on.  Then, just when you needed the support most, in the final few miles, the crowds lined the streets through Stirling city centre.  The level of support can make or break an event, especially in its first edition, so it was great to see so many people out on the course, with their homemade banners and boxes of Haribo and Jelly Babies.

A couple of us from You Can Sport took part alongside one of our coached athletes, Ross.  Ross ran an impressive 8 minute PB, achieving a Good for Age time in the process.  When we spoke to Ross afterwards he said he was "over the moon" with his time on a tougher course to his previous best time.  This comes after months of hard work as he trains towards his A-race, Ironman UK, in July.

Ross Crombie – 3:11:01 – 148th
Craig Coull – 3:24:05 – 316th
Gregg Coull – 4:38:01 – 2851st
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Graham also, as part of his role as coach for Stirling Tri Club, helped four others achieve personal best times after following a training plan adjusted to individuals work/life balance.

Last month one of our coaches, Graham, flew over to Mallorca for his first race of the season. Here is a short race report from the Triathlon Internacional Portocolom.
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This is a gem of a race; it’s well organised, in a stunning location, and has over 1,000 competitors. They have a kid’s race on the Saturday, that are as big as any other across the world. Then on the Sunday the adults get to race over two distances: 500m/1k ...swim, 50km/100km bike then 5km/10km run. With the option to race as a relay team it has everything, including warm sunny weather.

Once the bike was rebuilt post-travel using a combination of sticky tape, self-tapping screws and believe it or not a big stone wedged under my seat to keep it in place I was ready to race. Well… take part!
The swim was in the bay of Portocolom with its crystal clear turquoise water. Once the long awaited BANG of the starting gun went so too did my heart rate. I can tell this is my first race of the season!

Out of the water and onto the bike. The route takes in one of Mallorca’s most famous cycling climbs, San Salvador. Twice. The rest of the route takes you in an undulating loop through the countryside. Finished the bike feeling good coming off the final decent of San Salvador, but with the previous 90km another reminder that this was my first race outing this year.

Onto the run, heading through Portocolom and along the beachfront to the turn point at the lighthouse. My target was top 10 in my age group (secretly it was top 3 but cracked ribs and a burst knee made me re-asses my goal to keep me motivated). I started slow but managed to get even slower! A quick toilet stop was apparently all I needed as the speed came back shortly after. I finished in 8th place, 10mins off the podium which is easy to pull back next year (providing there’s not another cracked rib!).
The finish area was as good as you will get; with huge TV screens, thumping music and a very large crowd to bring you home. There was even a free bottle of wine with your medal.

This is a must do race early in the season.

You Can Sport have been lucky enough to secure ourselves 10 slots for the 2018 edition. This will form part of a week-long training camp in Portocolom. If you are interested then email us at info@youcansport.co.uk and we will add you to the mailing list to receive more information about the event in the future.