Following my IronMan 70.3 in Swansea in July 2025 and not achieving my sub-6h goal, I decided to achieve a secondary goal that I set for 2025, which was setting a PB over the olympic distance (which was my first tri). So I signed up for the Dorney Olympic triathlon in September 2025 with one goal: beat my 2h57 time from my first triathlon in 2024.

Post-IM 70.3

In the weeks following the Swansea Ironman 70.3, I slowed down training throughout July, with a smaller running volume to let my left knee rest, a focus on cross-training (in the form of racket sports and reformer pilates) and more social rides with friends (including my longest ride - 130km).

Unfortunately, I also had my first big bike crash while on vacation in August in the Dolomites (Italy). While descending on a gravel bike on a steep downhill on paved road, I was going too fast to avoid a patch of small rocks in a sharp turn and fell hard on my face. This put me out of any triathlon training for a solid 2 weeks. I therefore had 1 month to carry over my middle-distance triathlon shape for the Olympic triathlon in Dorney. Additionally, this massively lowered my confidence riding downhill (which is probably for the better now that I look back!)

Post-accident training

In the weeks leading up to the race, I returned to structured training for the month of September, aiming for 2 swims, 2 rides and 2 runs per week. The goal was to increase confidence on the bike and in myself.

I slowly got a bit more confidence back on the bike at high speeds, but still struggled on descends and sharp turns. A big boost in confidence was running the London Big Half Marathon race spontaneously with my sister to cover a bib that was going to go to waste otherwise, and running mainly in Z2-Z3 to finish in 2h02.

Race

Swim

Come race day, the swim was truly freezing from my perspective, with the water at chilling 12 degrees Celsius! It was my coldest swim ever and it gave me a serious headache (I come from a warmer country, I don’t deal with cold water very well…) It took me 34 minutes to complete with an average pace of 2:13/100m, a forgetable performance, but at least I finished!

Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/15951039968

Bike

Following a very quick transition of 2m22s, I started biking the eight 5k laps on the west side of Dorney Lake. I only got into a good rhythm on the 3rd lap as I was shaking from the cold for the first 2 laps. After warming up, I managed to hold a constant 33 kph over this flat course to finish in 1h08m.

https://www.strava.com/activities/15952023673

Run

The run was uneventful (which is a good thing as it went to plan), holding a very constant pace of 5:14/km across the 2 laps on the east side of Dorney Lake. Everything was on point here, and the only thing I regret is not pushing more as I was at an average heart rate of 163 bpm, and could have pushed harder on the second lap.

Overall, I finished in 2 hours and 38 minutes, beating my original Olympic triathlon time at the 2024 London T100 by 19 minutes, which was the goal.

Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/15951040032

What’s Next

I’ve got big plans for 2026, as I’m getting a new TT bike, aiming to improve my swim and aiming to run HM distances faster. I’ve signed up for the following races to test myself next year:

• Tour of the Peaks (190k bike race with 3900m elevation gain) in May 2026
• London T100 in July 2026
• Ironman 70.3 Weymouth in September 2026