A podium to kick off 2015

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

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