Holmfirth is hilly!

It's been a while since my last post, mainly due to the lack of racing or exciting stuff, but I now need to report on two races, the second to follow this in quick succession!

My first race of the 2014 season was in Holmfirth, West Yorkshire. First of the Summer Tri (along with Last of the Summer Tri) is a sprint triathlon series run by a Knutsford tri club member, Dave Armitage. It consists of a 400m pool swim, 24km bike and 5.7km run. That latter two stages consisting of many ups and downs!

10 days before this race I returned home from Portugal after a 10 day training camp with my running club. Unfortunately I neither swam nor biked in Portugal, just ran - a lot. So coming into the triathlon, if I didn't have my bike legs or swim arms at least I had my running legs and a tan!

Mum and I drove to Holmfirth the day before to have a little course recce and to avoid the need to wake up at an ungodly hour the day of the race. Driving through the town to the leisure centre I could see cars parked at crazy angles, roads that seemed to go straight up and sheep that appeared to be defying gravity. The idea of racing on my Starley TT bike was slipping out of my mind and I was pretty sure I'd be using my roadie, good job I took both just in case! Upon driving round the course we encountered hills that even the car groaned to get up, but hey, all the more interesting and challenging right?!

The gradient profile of the bike route

After a drive, a cycle and a short run we made our way to the hotel just a short drive from the race location. What we didn't know was that it was Huddersfield's last football game of the season (a sport which I do not follow closely) and so everywhere was pretty packed. Brilliant, I thought. I better not get woken up in the night by loud football fans. Following dinner tucked away on a table for two in a restaurant full of lager drinking football fans, Mum and I went back to the room to chill out and try to watch WTS Cape Town - which failed miserably due to some very awful WiFi. Oh and Huddersfield lost 2-0...

Race day! After a not-too-early alarm, some breakfast and squeezing two bikes into one elevator we made our way to the leisure centre. After registering and racking I hung about in the changing rooms ready for the start. I was the second wave into the water, just 20 seconds after the first...

Having only had one swim session since being home from Portugal I was slightly nervous about being able to perform in the swim. Usually I can tell from the first two lengths whether I'm really with it, and I really wasn't. Nevertheless I completed the 400m and tried to forget about the below-par performance. Getting out of the pool was extremely difficult on my tired shoulders and I then proceeded to slip on the grass into T1 and knock my head on a pole. What a fabulous start!

Out of T1 and onto the bike which consisted of 3 loops of 8km. This worked quite well as my mum was shouting the time gap until the next female competitor behind me, this kept me working to try and hold a gap. I thoroughly enjoyed the bike leg, even with it's short and sharp and long and steady hills, because the downhills were great! Throughout the bike leg I kept my eyes on a guy in front of me and then passed him just before coming into T2.

Jelly legs to the max, I racked, swapped and unclipped various items and headed out for the 5.7km run. Yet upon exiting T2 I passed the second place female just coming in. 'I've got to get a move on'. Up the first long hill I passed a few men and felt to be making good ground however when the gradient switched and I began to stride out downhill my ankle absolutely killed! Not this injury again!? I was forced to slow it up a bit because it hurt too much to maintain the pace. About halfway through I was passed by the 2nd woman who said 'well done' upon overtaking. Even though I was being overtaken I enjoy the sportsmanship we get in this sport. The best thing I could do now was to hold a decent pace and try to place a good time since the race was done in heats, so you're not always racing next to those you're up against. With the end in sight I picked it up for the last 400m and my ankle calmed down a bit after the gradient levelled out.

In the end I managed to hold onto 2nd, only by 6 seconds and claim 1st in the open age-group category. It was hard, it was hilly but I really enjoyed this race because of the challenge and I'd love to do it again.

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

Looking back on 2013

Happy New Year! I hope you had a great festive period and new year, and also that you got right back to training on January 1st to clear any fuzzy heads.

On Boxing Day myself and my family drove up to Scotland to visit family and I had the chance to get a couple of steady runs in. Even though it was extremely windy (as in blow you sideways) and rainy, I must say I thoroughly enjoyed getting out and taking in the lovely surroundings. I wouldn't find it hard to go running or cycling in a place like that.

Also in the last couple of days I have finished the Brownlee brother's book (a Christmas present): Swim Bike Run, our triathlon story. I must say, if you haven't read it then you are really missing out. For one, I must admit, I rarely read. And two, never have I finished a proper book in 5 days. Not only is it an amazing insight into the lives of two of the best in the sport but I found it very inspiring and motivating. So if you haven't got a copy, you know what to do.

In this post I'm going to look back on 2013 (briefly hopefully) and later I shall post about my plans for 2014. We're going to go right back to the very start...

January-March

I started the year, just like the year before, with lots on cross country races. However an ankle injury (still undiagnosed) decided to stick with me for all of them, yes every single one. This ruined races like the Northern championships, the Inter Counties and the English Schools. After all the cross countries finished I took a fortnight off running and hey presto, the injury disappeared. For now....

April

This month was much more enjoyable than the previous three. Firstly my running club (Vale Royal AC) headed off to Portugal for a two week training camp. Although rather brutal with two sessions a day, including a sweltering track or XC course set, I had such an amazing time out there. A big plus was wearing a crop top and shorts or a bikini most of the time = an extensive tan!

Two days after returning from Portugal I had the Lancaster duathlon to race in, my first ever duathlon. A 5km run, 20km bike (hilly and windy!), and 5km were to be covered in glum and drizzly British weather. I managed 2nd place female, which did surprise me but made me very happy indeed!

Finishing straight of the Lancaster duathlon (do I look tanned?)

May-June

Dreaded exam time at high school. With nine exams to nail, it was certainly a stressful period. Some I felt more confident in than others, but that's like triathlon disciplines right? You've just got to try harder.

When exams had finally passed we had our high school prom and then a very long summer holiday to enjoy! But before you could relax, results day came around. I was extremely nervous when collecting my envelope and my reaction to seeing my grades was to burst into tears. A bit dramatic but I got 10 A*s which put me in a good mood for days.

Final high school concert in prom gear and playing the drums (not my normal instrument!)

July

My first ever sprint triathlon: Boundary Breeze. Excited? Yes. Nervous? Too right. I remember racking my aluminium road bike near top end carbon TTs with deep section wheels. All of which I was familiar with because I've read about them and looked at them and wanted them.

The swim was non-wetsuit, I was happy with that. I came out of the water in second place, 'how did I do that?!' I thought, and then out of T1 in first place. 'Okay lets see how this goes.' Two women passed me fairly quickly, the sound of carbon wheels thumping past. I came into T2 in 5th then out in 4th. I had 3rd place in my sights straight away, 1st and 2nd were too far ahead to catch now. Catching 3rd at about half way I held the position to come in 3rd in my first sprint triathlon. This race also won me the titles of Northwest Sprint female and female junior champion. Something of a triple whammy there. From this event I knew, I really liked this sport.

On the bike at Boundary Breeze

August-September

Surprise surprise another injury. My knee this time. Thankfully this one was easily diagnosed and easy to treat yet not so easy to recover from. In my case of "runner's knee" I had to strengthen the VMO muscle of my right quadricep specifically. Unfortunately due to the high impact of running it required a lot of strengthening (and some kinesiology tape). After 4-5 weeks the injury had gone yet I had a triathlon to do, South Manchester sprint. After 4 weeks of no run training, I was a little anxious. In the race I clocked a 400m pool PB (5min 52sec), an average bike, and a run that was 5 minutes slower than what I could've got if I was run fit. Still the former two disciplines helped me come home in second place, a promising performance for my second sprint distance. This was my last triathlon for the year.

Also in September me and Mum went down to London to watch the World Triathlon Grand Final. It was amazing, enough said!!

 Meeting Jodie Stimpson!

Me and Mum meeting Lisa Norden!

October

My 17th birthday!

November-December

This month saw the Grafham Water duathlon end badly with a puncture (from glass I found upon inspection of the tyre). So no GB team for now.

The Northwest regional triathlon awards were held at the end of November where I picked up my trophies for my result at Boundary Breeze in July.

Now remember I said my ankle had disappeared? Well it's reappeared. Two physiotherapists and a doctor haven't been able to reveal this weird injury, hopefully a recent MRI scan will shed some light of the subject. I have an appointment soon to look at the images.

On a more positive note, in December my tri club held it's annual swim gala (the first for myself) and awards party. What I learnt from the gala is that I cannot do breaststroke, I cannot sprint but I can certainly do 200m freestyle. It was great fun all the same.

Finally we have of course: Chirstmas and New Year, and both were wonderful, happy celebrations.

This picture makes it look like I'm half decent at butterfly

The Northwest awards night

Well that's my year, rather briefly outlined. It's definitely had ups and downs; injuries came and went yet my triathlon performances kept my motivation high. I'd say 2013 was the year I started to take triathlon seriously, stepping up to sprint distance and trying out duathlons too. Now with my coach Hamish from Oxygen Addict tri coaching, my tri team and my running club, I hope to make 2014 very successful and I'm ready for the challenges. 

I will post again soon about what I have planned for the 2014 season but until then keep that winter training going and read the Brownlee's book.

Stay motivated,

Lucy