South Manchester Triathlon

Well I managed to find some end of season form for this race, my last triathlon of 2014!

Having done this event twice before and placing 2nd then 3rd, I wondered whether I was going to carry on that pattern and slip off the podium, manage to podium again or dig out a final win. And I'm very happy to say (spoiler alert) that I achieved the latter. 

My start time was 14:05 on the Sunday afternoon, the penultimate wave since we're seeded on swim times. I was going into the race seeded the fastest female swimmer, but you never know how people will perform on the day. I was looking forward to the 400m pool swim since I'd been swimming consistently since Canada, I knew I wouldn't hit a new PB but it shouldn't be a shocker. Feeling strong  in the swim and putting my new-found tumble turns to practise I exited in second, a minute and a half up on the rest of the field. While running to transition my Mum shouted my time, "5.40," I was pleased with that. With just the two of us in transition I did one of my fastest T1's and headed out on the bike in the lead.

I was looking forward to the bike because it's been I've been on form with cycling for the season. For now I just needed to hold the lead. It was a little windy but not as bad as it's been for this race before and some of the roads had some lovely new tarmac. It turned out a rather lonely 24.4km, only passing one person from the previous wave and whenever I looked back there was no one behind me to scare me into working a bit more! On the other hand it did help keep me motivated because if I held this lead I'd be out onto the run with some kind of gap to ease the pressure.

I'd just snapped the elastic band...

Arriving back at the leisure centre I dismounted and managed to clatter my bike up the kerb even though I told myself, "there's a kerb there, pick up your bike." As my bike bounced up one of my shoes fell off so I had to go and fetch that, not the best dismount ever! Rack bike, helmet off, shoes on and run. As I turned from my spot in transition I saw the next woman just pushing her bike in, now it really was a case of keeping the lead. With some pressure on me now I set off at a faster pace to get myself going and to try and make a bigger gap. But as I was climbing the first hill I felt a stitch come on slightly, the last thing I wanted right now. Up and around the housing estate I kept my vision ahead and the stitch subsided somewhat, passing some people from earlier waves kept up my morale and I was feeling really good. However when climbing up the second hill the stitch came on again, and it came on in full-force. Safe-to-say I think it was the worst stitch I've ever had. Unfortunately there were some steps to climb over a main road and I was reduced to walking over the bridge to ease the pain, while shooting wary looks behind myself to check for any opposition. Thankfully there was none near the bridge so I allowed myself to walk down the stairs on the other side too, the finish was so close now. I picked it up into a run and spotted my parents on the turn before the finish chute, "I've got the worst stitch ever!" 

I was totally chuffed to have crossed the line in first place but I couldn't do much until the awful stitch went away, so I stood with my arms in the air, bent to one side for a bit... I really, really enjoyed the race and again I was really pleased to have won, especially as it was my last race of the season! Not to mention the fact that my coach, Hamish, won the men's race too. In addition my club, Knutsford, won the team prize again!

1st place, coach Hamish and myself

From the day I performed the third fastest swim (plus run to T1) overall (men and women), the fifth fastest bike split (women) and the third fastest run split (women). And also technically my race went very smoothly. 

So now it's off-season for triathlon and 'on-season' for cross country. I'm looking forward to training this winter and even more so to the 2015 season.

Stay motivated,

Lucy

New year, new goals, new challenges

In my last post I looked back on 2013; now it's time to look onto 2014. New year, new goals, new challenges.

One of my biggest goals for this year is to qualify for the Great Britain age group team for the 2014 World Championships (Edmonton, Canada) and the 2015 European Championships (Geneva, Switzerland). If this goal were to be fulfilled the next would be on how I want to perform at both events. But I'll just take matters one at a time. Another goal, or a few little goals, is to beat last years performances in a couple of events I'll be doing again. I find that this will be a great source of not only motivation but evidence showing improvements over a year.

Here is my current 2014 race schedule:

• First of the Summer Tri (27 April)
• Wilmslow sprint (11 May)
• Nottingham sprint - World and Europeans qualifier (31 May)
• Rother Valley - World and Europeans qualifier (14/15 June)
• Boundary Breeze (13 July)
• Chester Deva Divas (27 July)
• ITU World Championship Grand Final, Edmonton - pending qualification (26 Aug - 1 Sept)
• South Manchester sprint (28 September)

The number of triathlons I have planned for this year has been helped by the three free race entries I've picked up allowing me to try out a couple of new events (First of the Summer Tri & Chester Deva Divas) and also have the Wilmslow and South Manchester sprints (same race) at the start and end of the season (aiding a comparison of performance over the winter and the season, indicating improvement).

With the way my training is going at the moment, I'm really looking forward to this season and seeing improvements upon last year. Also, I'm excited about the prospect of trying to qualify for Great Britain and where that can take me.

Working with Starley bikes has given me the opportunity to be in possession of an amazing TT bike which I can't wait to race on this year. Coupled with my bike training at the moment I'm hoping to see vast improvements in my performance from last year on the bike leg.

Swim training with Knutsford tri club is going as good as ever, proved with my new PBs over 400m and 200m from the last time trials. Also I have now been moved into lane 1, swimming with (I use that term loosely) the likes of Paul Hawkins - Pro Ironman and fellow Starley rider. As for running, I think I have shaken off the ankle injury for now. Hopefully it won't hinder this cross-country season, not to mention the triathlon season! I'm currently working to bring myself back up to full run fitness.

So with a lot to look forward to this season and the training going positively I'm excited about kicking off the triathlon season in April and striving for some good performances, especially when it really counts!

I wish you all the best of luck and success for your year ahead and all the goals and challenges you have set out to fulfil.

Until next time, stay motivated,

Lucy

Our greatest glory is not in never falling...

As the title may suggest, I might have had a little slip up. But before bringing the bad news I'll start with something more optimistic.

If you follow me on Twitter (@LoosyScott) then you will have seen my TT bike, if not...

I can't thank the guys ay Starley enough for their support and I look forward to continuing to work with them. I even got my position fine-tuned in store on the day, brilliant service.

Now moving on to the Grafham Water duathlon. Here I reiterate a great quote my coach told me after the 'incident':

        "Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising after every time we fall" 

The 'incident'? You ask. Let me begin with a brief race overview. Waiting at the start line I felt nervous, and little chilly on that cold morning. I'd be running with an injury (my ankle) and I knew it was going to hurt. Because of this my run training hadn't been up to scratch in the weeks leading up to the event. Throughout the first 5km run my ankle got progressively worse but I felt quite good, there was nothing I could do about it now so I had to run through the pain. Coming into transition my ankle was really sore but I knew that cycling doesn't aggravate it. My Mum shouted out my run time to me, just over 21 minutes. This gave me a boost because I did not expect that kind of time considering my run fitness and the pain of my ankle. Setting of on the bike I felt relaxed yet excited to be racing on my new Starley TT! I settled in and overtook a couple of people, feeling pretty good. But then at about 2km things suddenly because a lot harder. It felt like my legs had bonked and my speed dropped. The bike was still moving in a straight line and I hadn't felt or heard anything like... a puncture. It was only when I went over a little rough patch of road that the front wheel swerved a bit, this confirmed what I'd been trying not to believe. "I haven't got a puncture, I haven't got a puncture." Pulling over I prodded the front tyre, damn. All I could do was to turn around and get walking. Upon returning (thankfully only a 2km walk away) I found Mum and got a bit emotional.

Unfortunately I just got served a big dose of bad luck on that day. Made worse by the fact that there will be no team GB duathlon for me this time round. Punctures are just one of those things that can happen to anyone in any race, I'm just glad that I don't have a bad performance (i.e. myself) to blame. It's hard to get over missing great opportunities but with some amazing support from my coach, Starley bikes, Knutsford tri club, friends and family it wasn't hard to start feeling okay. Thankfully I have my running club's training camp to now look forward to in April 2014 as well as the qualifiers for the European and World sprint triathlon championships. 

So to finish on a happy note, I won't be dwelling on the duathlon because I have so many exciting events coming up in 2014 and I know that I need to look forward not back. Training, especially on the bike, is going superbly at the moment thanks to my brilliant coach Hamish Shaw (from Oxygen Addict coaching) for scheduling plenty of turbo sessions and getting me on the super weekend rides with the club. 

Also on Saturday 30th November I attended the annual Northwest triathlon series awards dinner to collect a couple of awards I had won this year. They were the Northwest sprint triathlon overall female champion and female junior champion. These were from the Boundary Breeze sprint triathlon in July earlier this year.

So there's a good update for you. If you wish to keep more up-to-date with me (almost day-to-day) then follow me on Twitter- @LoosyScott

I'll leave you with a parting shot of my bike (what else?!) and if I don't post before then, Merry Christmas!

Stay motivated,

Lucy

Sterling support from Starley bikes

I've recently been looking around for a company/shop that I can work with and who will support me on my triathlon journey. With a passing comment from the KTC swim coach, I checked out Starley (http://starleybikes.com/) in Altrincham.

 

If I were to judge a book by it's cover, I'd assume Starley to have a very good book going. Yet I think the story itself is even better. I found them to be supporting pros like Joe Skipper - definitely worth a try I thought. Also after meeting them I now know that they're supplying all the bikes for a pro tour team - certainly worth a go.

 

Here's the T2 as you'd find it on the website

 

So after a few emails and a meeting I was in the factory store today designing my very own T2! Now I'm not going to reveal the design I've gone for - that's to be kept a secret until I have my finished bike. You'll have to keep an eye out!

 

A bit of custom design going onto it

 

I'm absolutely over the moon to have found Starley and find the ethos of their company and every single one of their team I've come across to be brilliant and so athlete orientated.

 

To have been a part of creating the colour scheme for my own bike (best ideas coming from the Starley team) makes me rather excited and I can't wait to race on it on the 10th November!

 

So mahoosive thanks to the Starley team for their support (and patience with my colour choosing - that took a while!). I also picked up some kit today - absolutely love it:

 

 

Keep your eyes peeled for my post revealing the bike, here's a hint:

 

 

Until then, stay motivated

 

Lucy