Richard Gibbs
Lincoln, United Kingdom
Triathlon
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My name is Richard Gibbs and I am a long course triathlete.
This past weekend, 19th Aug 2017, I qualified for the Ironman World Chapionships Kona Hawaii on 14th October 2017, by winning my age group, 25-29, at Ironman Kalmar Sweden this past Saturday, 19th August in a time of 9:13:33.
I am 27 years old and have been competing in triathlon for only two and a half years. I am hoping to be competitive in my age group in Kona this year and have ambitions of becoming a professional triathlete in the near future. I am determined and ambitious, once I set my mind to a goal I will go to the ends of the earth to achieve it. I think this attitude has helped me achieve something many long course age group athletes spend years trying without success to achieve.
I have not always been an endurance athlete. The majority of my sporting life, up to the age of 22, was spent playing football at every opportunity. I wasn't too bad either, I had trials for professional clubs as a youth player but nothing seemed to stick.
The obsession with football continued though, I joined the British Army at 17 yeas old and once basic training was done and dusted, football was back on the top of my agenda. For the next 5 years, I would play football as much as possible, representing the regiment I was posted too as well as the Brigade, even managing to get selected for the Corps team on the odd occasion.
Football came to a crashing holt at a 6 a-side tournament in 2012, I suffered a Grade 3 tear in my Anterior Cruciate Ligament.
I was chasing the ball when I went to turn at speed, my studs stayed planted in the ground and all I remember was a distinct popping noise. All that followed was the most excruciating pain i've ever felt in my life. If I wasn't surrounded by hundreds of other British soldiers, I may have been reduced to tears.
18 months, two operations and a complicated recovery period was the end of my footballing career. I needed somewhere to put the energy I had previously put into football.
I'd always been a casual runner since the day I joined the Army so that was the logical way to go. With the injury behind me, I decided to enter a half marathon and train with the goal of achieving a sub 75 minute finish. My training weeks were averaging 70-90 miles and things seemed to be going well. However, with no real structure to my training I again picked up an injury 1 week before that half marathon and that was the end of that.
I needed a sport that wasn't going to constantly pound the knees for hours on end with no respite, this is when I decided to enter a triathlon. I figured that with the amount of cross training, a lot of it non impact with the swimming and cycling, would whet my appetite and decrease the risk of injuries. Touch wood, since the day I switched to Triathlon I have remained injury free.
My first triathlon was done during my football days on the camp I was based it over in Germany. The swim was in a 50m pool and I remember having to pull myself along using the lane rope throughout the 400m swim, in-between some shocking freestyle and dodgy breaststroke. Out of the pool and on to a bike that I had borrowed from the stores on camp, it did the job but I wouldn't say that it was fit for purpose, from there I got onto the run, my strongest discipline I thought, how wrong! That was the first time I felt that unique sensation you only get from running off the bike. I finished the race, said never again, and that was that....in my mind.
Post injury I decided I would really focus on Triathlon, in 2015 I took part in a handful of triathlons at a distances varying from sprint up to half ironman. I had a decent road bike at this point and my swimming was now coming on, I still wasn't fast but I could comfortably hold the stroke throughout the swim, I was so happy when I hit 40 mins for that 1.2 mile swim at Challenge Weymouth at the end of that 2015 season. I was also doing ok competing on a road bike however there was some jealousy when people would glide past me on aero TT bikes. The run has always been my big weapon, I always seem to run well off the bike, and its an advantage that still serves me well to this day.
When the 2016 season came around, I was due a bonus from work so I decided I'd had enough of bike envy and decided to invest in my Giant Trinity Advanced pro TT bike. This seemed to have an instant impact, I completed Outlaw Half Nottingham in 4:42:17 and finished my first full Ironman in Bolton, in 11:04:30. I was also regular getting onto the podiums in some of the local races around Lincolnshire. Things were going well and I seemed to progressing well.
Having completed my first Ironman, I decided to invest in a coach to add some structure into my training. I emailed Simon Ward at thetriathloncoach.com and we both decided that it was a good fit, from there I cracked on with winter training.
Throughout winter I managed to stay injury free and away from illness, I also made it my mission to keep very consistent, throughout the 11 months of training leading in to Ironman Kalmar I only missed 1 session, and that was New Years Day. I also ensured that my nutrition was as good as it can be and I was managing to get at least 8 hours sleep a night. This was hard with work at times, and there were occasions where i'd be up at 4 in the morning on the turbo trainer to get a 2 hour session in before work but the times I had to do this I would go to bed earlier so I would still get the 8 hours I required. As the winter months were coming to an end I was feeling fitter then id ever been in my life.
I took part in Fleet Half Marathon on 20th March 2017 and managed to get the sub 75 min finished i'd nearly killed myself training towards a few years previously, all this off reduced running miles as the emphasis was on my swimming and bike. This result gave me a massive confidence boost that the winter training had paid dividends.
The first multisport event I took part in this season was a Duathlon at RAF Scampton, I managed to podium, finishing 2nd overall, with a sub 16 minute 5km run split, all this having completed an easy 8 mile run the morning before the race.
Second race of the season was Nottingham sprint, stints are still a race I struggle with as my swim normally leaves me too far to catch, however a strong bike and another fast run split helped me podium again, finishing 2nd in my age group.
Next race was one that would really shed light on how good my winter training had been, Cotswolds 113 Middle distance triathlon. I managed to swim an 11 minute PB completing the 1.2 mile swim in 29 mins. My overall finish time was 4:16:40, finishing 8th Overall and 2nd in my age group. Confirmation there that the winter training had been executing perfectly.
My final 'B' race was Outlaw Half Holkham. On a very windy day on a tough course I managed to win my age group in 4:28:30 and second age group finisher on the day.
My 'A' ace this year was Ironman Kalmar in Sweden, a truly spectacular race with outstanding support. My run would serve me well again in this race as I produced the 4th fastest age group marathon on the day and 13th fastest overall.
Next stop is the Ironman World Champs in October, for now i'm having some R&R and training will begin again 28th August.