With my last post being quite a while ago I thought I better get back on here and write up a little race report from my first triathlon of the 2015 season.
On Sunday 19th April I competed in Chirk triathlon, a pool-based sprint run by Wrecsam Tri Club that my coach dubbed as a 'competitive season opener.' Naturally I pretty nervous but also excited to get back to racing after a reasonably smooth winter's training.
In the third to last wave at 1:48pm and feeling confident with my current swimming form I was looking forward to getting the race underway. Feeling good in the water I could see that I was pulling away from the other guys in my wave, keeping me working and not to mention concentrating really hard on counting out the 16 lengths - something I always manage to struggle with. On poolside my mum timed my swim and was able to tell me later in T2 that I clocked 2 seconds off my PB for 400m, something I was surprised to do in a triathlon but is a good sign for how swim training has been going.
After a smooth T1 it was time for the bike leg which was basically 11.5km uphill into a slight headwind and 11.5km back down. I wasn't bothered about having managed to forget my Garmin for this because it was a good one to go off of feel. I found a good rhythm to get me up to the turn around point then going back down was quite fun and provided a slight rest from the uphill effort. Coming back into transition I managed to get my feet out my shoes successfully given that I practiced this once the day before in the middle of a ride... Bike racked and throwing my helmet and glasses to the ground (which I now regret because my glasses are a bit wrecked) I put on my running shoes and prayed that I'd survive the 5km ahead.
In the couple of weeks leading up the the race my running hadn't been normal because of a calf problem so I was not only hoping that that wouldn't play up but also that my form hadn't deteriorated too much. As I kind of expected I felt horrendous for the whole run but on the plus side my calf didn't hurt, not that I was necessarily thinking on the positive side at that time.
What seemed like an eternity later and with a very welcomed "500 meters to go" from a marshal I sped up a bit and was so grateful to see the finish line get closer and closer. Afterwards my mum and I waited for the results presentation and I really wasn't sure of my overall position with it being my first race of the season and knowing it's a well contested race. I was delighted to place 2nd female and win my age group, a good result to start the season. Looking back over the results with my coach I was very pleased to have the 6th fastest swim and 20th fastest bike splits of the day, showing some good form for the start of the season.
My next race is the St Neots sprint on 10th May, a European and World qualifier and also the British sprint champs. However my main reason for doing this race is to get an open water triathlon in before the end of May as Nottingham is my focus for qualification. So I'll try to keep nerves at a minimum as the field will probably be stacked!
Thank you to Wrecsam Tri Club for hosting such a great event, I can see why it sold out in 25 minutes! And many thanks to Active Cheshire for their support.
Stay motivated,
Lucy
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