World Duathlon Championships

World Duathlon Championships
Nancy, 23rd September 2012


Preparation

The lead up to this race was probably more physically and mentally draining than any other race I'd prepared for.  Peaking in April for Israel was tough enough but to have a long slog through May, June, July and August to peak again in September made the season feel like a very long one! Since qualifying for this race back in March so much has changed: I have moved house, had 2 new jobs, joined a new triathlon club, sold my bike and bought a new one, fallen off my bike (twice), developed a phobia of running that results in stomach cramps whenever I try to push myself, lost a bit of form and a lot of confidence oh....and I hadn't completed another duathlon since!  I had pretty much ruled out doing this race but then the night before the deadline I suddenly thought, "what if I never get another chance to race at this level ever again" and "I've done so well to even qualify for the race, I should just go and enjoy it regardless of result or position."  So in a mad panic on the day of the registration deadline I paid my £135 race entry fee (!!!!) and decided I was going to become a world duathlete!

TEAM GB!!!

Nancy

The race itself was in Place Stainslas in Nancy, France which was perfect for a duathlon!  With its golden gates and an architectural ensemble so unique, it was listed by UNESCO as early as 1983.  The square was the perfect place for transition and on the final stretch of each lap of the run you could see the transition (and finish) from ages away.  We arrived in Nancy on Friday evening about 9pm, much later than expected.  The journey had been long and tiring and so it meant a quick dinner for us with the lovely Sarah Rhodes and her mum Caroline before trying to get as much sleep as possible (with a 6am alarm clock ring!)

What our Mums do for us! Caroline & Nina at some unearthly time in the morning!

The next morning was spent frantically registering, checking kit, building bikes, practising the run course, doing a recce of the bike course (which was an absolute disaster after getting completely lost and cycling the wrong way down many a one-way street!) and going to a race briefing.  Amongst the hustle and bustle and rush we did manage to watch the elite racing and I have never been more inspired! In the women's race a pack of 4, including GBR athlete Katie Hewison broke away early on.  They looked so strong and I was in complete awe of them.  On the bike 3 broke away even further, Katie still amongst them and they began to lap the field.  In elite racing if you get lapped you have to drop out so one by one the elite field started to dwindle as these 3 athletes showed they were in a class of their own.  On the final run it was anybody's race to win but the Australian athlete had more than the others and ran incredibly to put a massive gap between her and silver medallist Katie.

Elite women's run

As we saw Katie running down the finishing stretch I felt really emotional, rather than feel disheatened to have come so close to gold she was beaming, waving to the crowd, full of joy and happiness with a massive smile on her face.  To see her so proud and enjoying it (despite the fact she was probably absolutely dead on her feet) was inspirational! What's more was she saw Mum waving our flag and took it off us to run through the finish waving the GB flag high.  I told myself that if nothing went wrong tomorrow and I made it round my race in one piece, I too would wave the flag high and be smiling and thankful.  We also used this opportunity to have our picture with Katie (thank you!!!) and later we spoke to elite athlete Phil Wiley who is just as lovely and we spoke to him about our training.  He came in as the highest placed Brit in 6th place (massive well done!)

With Katie Hewison - what a star!

The night before the race I have never been more nervous!  I have struggled this year with putting pressure on myself, it's like the better I've got the more I've expected of myself and I didn't want to let anyone down. Mum and I went out for dinner and talked about anything and everything other than the race!

Out for dinner

The race

On race day I was surprisingly calm.  I suppose everything has been done by then and you're just relieved ot get on with it!  I knew the girls would go off quick so I started off a bit more conservatively and found fellow GBR athlete Sarah Mackness to pace myself off.  I tucked in just behind her and we started off steady before beginning to pick the other athletes off one by one.  The route was a 4 lap run out to a gorgeous park, around it, before coming back into transition and turning around for your next lap.  For some reason they had made our runs longer, adding a dog-leg into each lap which they needn't have done as the run was at least 2 minutes long and was closer to 11k than 10k.  Anyway, Sarah was running incredibly strongly and began to pick up the pace and I was conscious that I hadn't been running too well recently (well, all season!) so I stuck to my own pace and came in off the 1st run in about 9th or 10th.

Just keep running!

I had a quick transition before heading out on the bike.  I'm normally so happy on the bike and use it as a real opportunity to make up lost time on the run but I'm definitely a power cyclist; I do best on long drags or out and back courses whereas this was a 5 lap route with so many corners and was (in my opinion) incredibly technical.  Having had a nasty fall off my bike just 2 weeks before that led to a hospital trip I was incredibly cautious on the corners (literally coming to  a dead stop) before absolutely blasting it as hard as I could again to pick up the pace.  It felt a bit like fartlek training or sprints and I tried as best as I could to go as quick as I could when I felt safe, and then erred on the side of caution on the technical bits as the last thing I wanted was to fall off (again!!) When I got the official results I was massively disappointed with my bike split but that said, at the time I was mega happy to finish the course in one piece and not lose too much time so that's the feeling I'll choose to take forward with me.

Giving it my all on the bike

The second run was 2 laps of the first run and having been too scared to take my hands off the bike to have a drink or gel (sorry Boss!) I was really struggling energy wise to find any sort of form.  My whole body felt like it had siezed up and I had completely forgotten how hard duathlons are!!! That said, I had started the second run in 6th place and held my position throughout.  As I came towards the finish I felt really emotional.  Sometimes it's the hardest races that show you who you are and I felt so proud to have done it and given it my best shot.  I got the GB flag from mum and ran through the finish with it held high! I was hoping for a top 10 finish but anything can happen in racing and so I was just over the moon with 6th, especially as I'm a much stronger triathlete than I am duathlete.

Thanks for the flag Mum!

Review

It was so nice to meet so many of the other age group athletes; Suzie, Sarah, Becky, Kate, Bex, Sam etc.  I was so proud too of my close friends Sarah and Stu who also put in fantastic performances (thanks for the support!).  I am so glad that I decided to do this race after so much deliberating and not being sure if I was really good enough to go and do it but I read something recently that struck a cord with me: "Why seek out the tried and true, instead of experiences that will stretch you?" For any of you that read this; I'd like to say a massive thank you to all my friends at Northbrook who helped me to get fit enough and strong enough to qualify for the GB Team in the first place! Thanks for your support, help, advise and belief!  A big thanks of course to Boss and Boss's boss, Steve Casson for contstantly reminding me to believe in myself, and Mum - for travelling here there and everywhere with me, getting up at the crack of dawn and even staying in hotels where there are no kettles or tea bags; and Chris for putting up with me!!! It's been such a long season for me and I'm so ready for a rest (AND PARTY SEASON!) but until then there's one more race next weekend to go......in the sunny location of Malta!

Proud to be British!

Forest of Dean - DNF

I ventured off to the Forest of Dean Duathlon today to defend my title that I won last year. It was meant to be a good warm up for the Worlds in 2 weeks time and a chance to test out the new Road Bike that I had bought after selling my Kuota.  To say the race didn't go to plan is a bit of an understatement! The run was turned from a 10k to an 11.5k run and was all up hill! The sun came out just in time to make it feel like really hard work and I went off a bit too hard which I soon regretted! I've also had a bit of a bug for a few days (must be Chris's dodgy cooking!) so had to take a toilet stop at 6k but still managed to enter T1 in 3rd place.

My lovely new bike

Out of T1 in 2nd place

I was out onto the bike 2nd female thanks to a quick transition.  I was confident that I could catch the leader who was about a minute ahead and was majorly excited to eat up the tarmac on the new pinarello. Unfortunately, I had been on the bike less than 5 minutes before I was in a heap on the middle of the road! The ride out from T1 was over shales, gravel and loose chippings and was lethal! That with a cattle grid, a loose board, men zooming past in a 'non-overtaking zone', a sharp left turn with gravel galore under my wheels, a car speeding towards me and a marshal who could have done with informing us of the hazards was too much information for my brain to process and as I tried to brake the bike went from beneath me.

I lay there for what seemed like ages but probably wasn't that long.  The marshal then tried to help and pull my handbars back into place and get my chain back on.  I thought I can either go back to transition and seize up or chase the 3 girls that had since overtaken me and get back into a podium position.  I chose the latter.  However, after a little tootle up the road I was soon turning back to ride to the marshal to ask him to help me with my brakes (which he did).  I then set off again - this time remembering Amy Forshaw's inspiring performance to come back at the British Middle Distance Championships following cramp and a puncture (and although she just missed out, I was in total awe of her efforts).  Back on the bike and heading in the right direction I was now in 5th but unfortunately my bike didn't want to play ball.  The brakes weren't responding and I had lost my nerve for cornering.  I tried to carry on as much as possible but when I got to a 17% descent I didn't want to risk it and ran down it instead (a good bit of brick training I thought! Haha!) It was a long cycle/walk back as there was not one single marshal on route and not one cyclist offered to help which was a shame given what a friendly sport this usuall is.

When I saw Mum back in transition I couldn't help but cry, more relieved to be back I think.  There were no first aiders so it was a long drive home to get cleaned up.  The negatives of this race are clearly apparent but the positives are that I gave it a really good effort to get myself back in the race and at least it happened now and not in 2 weeks time in France.  Chris (my hero) has cleaned the bike up and fixed the brakes and gears and it looks as good as new now.

So there's 2 races left for my 2012 season.  I'm looking forward to bouncing back from this and moving on to bigger and better things.

"The difference between the impossible and the possible lies in a person's determination".
- Tommy Lasorda