European Cup Race Walking, 2015 - Murcia.

I'm writing the first half of this blog the day before the race, the other half will be finished off once I have recovered!

I've spent the last two weeks back in Torrevieja training in the same place as my winter camp from earlier this year. It was quite a bit warmer over these last two weeks than it was back in February, it got up to 38C towards the end of the camp.
I was joined by an Australian walker Rhydian Cowley, who is over in Europe preparing to race searching for the World Championships Qualifying time. He was the perfect training partner, similar training patterns and he didn't have a race to focus on immediately.
We trained early, then recovered in the swimming pool - tough life!

After two weeks in Torrevieja we headed back to Alicante airport to meet up with the rest of the British team when they arrived in Spain then headed to Murcia with them. This will be my 4th European Cup for Great Britain, it's special to me as this was the competition I debuted at in 2009 as a Junior athlete, over 10k. My self and Jo Atkinson (Women's 20k) are the only athletes left from my original team.
The GB Team for the Cup looks like this:

Jo Atkinson (20k), Emma Achurch (10k), Me!, Callum Wilkinson (10k), Guy Thomas (10k), Cameron Corbishley (10k)

This time around I go into the European Cup with almost perfect preparation, the fittest I've ever been. The main aim this time is to back up last season's 12th place finish at the European Championships, in Zurich. I hope to once again be up the front of the race, being competitive as I was in Lugano back in March. The heat is going to play a major part, but having visited the course with the team I feel confident that the heat actually won't be too much of a problem as there is plenty of shade on the course, with very little of it in direct sunlight come 5pm Sunday. Keeping my self busy on Sunday will be key, I hate just sitting round over thinking everything.

My target the 20k race is to bag another 1:24:00 qualifying time for both Beijing, World championships this summer and the all important Olympic Games next summer in Rio, as well as placing as close to the top 10 as possible. So from here I leave you and will complete this once I've walked my self 20k. Here's to a top result, I can feel it in my legs!!

Ok so that hurt!

Finishing off just under the World and Olympic qualifying time of 1:24:00 in 16th place.

After what felt like a sluggish start my first 5k split was ok at 20:54. My plan was to start steady and up the pace. So I decided to do as planned, hitting 10k in around 41:30, the next 5k though I struggled with my legs hurting and my body aching I had stopped closing on the group ahead. At this point I was in 27th, but was struggling. Feeling very flat at the start of the race is possibly going two months since racing properly, which usually I do not do at this point in the season. I had done a lot of training over the last two months, so perhaps that sharpness I usually have wasn't there, however, in the long run it will put me in great shape for Beijing World Championships in August.

By 15k I was in 22nd place, slowly taking a few places. Then at 16.5k the leader, European Champion from Zurich last year, Lopez, caught me over the 1k lap and went to lap me. I decided why not to try and stick with him and see if he can drag me along. Not only did I stick by him, I actually unlapped myself which then moved me on through the pack. I ended up pushing away from Lopez. This gave me great confidence to be able to out walk the leader in the last few kilometres. That missing sharpness turned up just in time! I know for the World Championships I will be more competitive. 

Lopez and my self walking together in the last few k's.

That final 5k was approximately 20:40, my second fastest 5k split of the entire race. By hitching a lift with Lopez he pulled me along to 16th place, taking 6 more places and finishing in a much more respectable position! I ticked the boxes of my 2nd Rio Olympics time, and my 5th World Champs time! So I can't complain, especially when I couldn't execute the perfect race strategy with the pace I hoped.

After the team were able to celebrate some great performances and even the athletes who were disappointed by their own performances still cheered on and supported those who's races went to plan. Which made this GB team a great team to be part of. Standout junior Callum Wilkinson in the 10k walked European Junior qualifying time (43:00) with eleven seconds to spare with a new PB of 42:49 for 12th place. He was followed home in 17th by second British junior male and my Tonbridge AC teammate Guy Thomas also in a massive PB of 43:44. Meaning the British Junior Boys team finished in a record high of 6th place! Amazing work from those guys, with Cameron Corbishley in the mix, all year the three of those boys have bettered each other, moving them all on to great levels of performance! Well done lads! With my Olympic and World Champs qualifying times and Callum's European U20 time, 2 PB's it made for a great weekend. And even though Jo Atkinson in the 20k and Emma Achurch in the 10k (Emma all ready had the European U20 time) struggled in the race they both finished and refused to let the race get the better of them which a lot of other athletes would do. We proved to be a resilient team!
Thanks also to team staff, Andi Drake, Verity Snook and Alex O'Gorman for their support. We can't get the best from our own races without a strong support team behind us!

Verity Snook, Emma Achurch, Jo Atkinson, Me, Callum Wilkinson, Guy Thomas, Cam Corbishley, Alex O'Gorman, Andi Drake.

What a great trip! Time now for some relaxing at home, drinking coffee and playing Fifa! Then next week it's back on it, as we build up to the World Champs 20k Trial in June, hopefully confirming my place in the team for the Worlds in August.

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Thats it for now, till my next adventure, be your self, or even why not try to better your self. And remember enjoy your self because before Part B there is always a Part-AYYYY!!!

#TomWalksFast

Crazy Spring Training

Spring training, it was the perfect opportunity to get another big block of work in between Lugano 20k and the European Cup on the 17th May.
That was the plan any way.

After a solid performance in Lugano, I had a slightly lighter period of training to allow my self some recovery time from all the races. We decided not to do another more international 20k's this spring to allow my self a big block of training, to raise my fitness to the next level. By the beginning of April I was back in the swing of things ready to put in 6 big weeks of training. However, life sometimes gets in the way and I had the first disrupted weeks of training of the year. Little niggling pains and a very random cold meant I didn't get the most out of those first two weeks of training and, because I over think everything, I panicked thinking my season was doomed!!

Of course this is just any athlete always thinking the worse and after a week at home where I put in a decent week of work I was feeling far better. That week finished off with the British Athletics National 20k. I was not targeting this as a race, but planned to use it as a tempo session and do just enough to win. In the end my training pace was still enough for me to win the race by over 10 minutes. Which is slightly disappointing in terms of depth in British walking. However, with a strong group of juniors walking 10k on the day, and a few others having bad races for one reason or another, was it not for that my victory would have been much closer than it was.
I was happy with my time of 1:29:16, as that was my second 20k session in 3 days, both in the exact same time. A real indication that I am in fine form, after all 1:29:00 was my PB in 2011, now its my training pace! I was also very proud to lift the National trophy for the fourth time in my career. I hope to better the current record number of wins which stands at 6, by the end of my career.

I started off strongly and maintained my pace throughout the race, I even had the chance to enjoy my training session and make the most of the winning feeling!

Having done a total of 25k that morning (I did 5k before the race) I was pretty relieved when it was over, as I had put away the first big week of training since Lugano and my legs were feeling it. However, I still had time to do my celebratory victory dance as you can see above.

Getting my hands on the trophy again along with another British gold medal was a nice way to round off all the racing I had done through March and April.

This week of decent milage and high quality work was a springboard back into form and I truly felt back on track. I went on to clock another couple of big weeks of training from that meaning April ended up being a decent month of work, which we hoped for. Panic over!
The fatigue was building up from all the big tempo work we doing, and despite some painful sessions I didn't let the fatigue stop me and my resilience really showed through. It hurt a lot!! - as you can see here... #PainFace




Next week I head back to Torrevieja where I spent a month training back in February to prepare for my next race. It is close by to Murcia where the European Race Walking Cup is being held on the 17th May.
You can see the full GB team for the Euro Cup here... European Cup GB Team. This will be my fourth European Cup, I made my GB debut at this championships in 2009, in the Junior boys 10k, so it's pretty special to me.

It could be a bit of brutal race if its a very hot day, so it's important to have the exposure and I please to have the opportunity to head back to Torrevieja two weeks prior to help my preparation for the race. I hope to back up my 12th place finish from last years European Athletics Championships in Zurich in Murcia next month.

On a slightly more serious note, a couple of European race walkers recently have failed drugs tests and both admitted to cheating. I have been asked my stance on this. My stance is not up for debate, I have been asked a question so here is my answer. If you fail a test, serve your ban, return to athletics if you wish, but with a life ban on international competition, no exceptions, the same rule for everyone. Its the athletes own responsibility to know what they put in there body, there are many aids to help the athletes, e.g. the WADA app. That does not mean companies do not have a responsibility with their products. But if you have any doubt on a product, especially with supplements don't use it. I'm not sure why a healthy athlete would use them any way, the risk of cross contamination is high and there is always a far better, natural source of the supplement they are using.
Thats got that off my chest!

I'll update you all if a few weeks from Spain with my final preparations for the European Cup. I'll also let you know if I've got a tan of any kind. Fingers crossed.

For more information on me head to TomBosworth.com
You can follow me on Twitter @TomBosworth or like my Facebook Page.

#TomWalksFast