Dambuster Triathlon

The Dambuster Triathlon attracts a high quality field of athletes year upon year....for that reason I have always avoided it like the plague!!! Getting your butt well and truly kicked by super-human athletes never used to be my idea of fun, but this year I was ready to accept the challenge! "The big guns, the Rutland Ripple and the dreaded 10k run, here I come!" (Apparently there would be something to enjoy in there somewhere?)!!!

The week leading up to the race saw me swim in a pool on the Monday (big mistake), run a cheeky sub 20 5k (19:55) feeling awful from the chlorine, and win £10.50 at Royal Ascot on the Horses (I'd like to say a massive thank you to my sponsors KWB Workplace and The Senator Group for treating me to this! Mark & Jacqui I had an amazing time thank you so much!)

As you know training has been horrendous BUT I am feeling much better (at last!)! When I entered this in November the goal was simple....TO WIN! Haha, a girl can dream! By March that had changed to top 5 overall and this week it had changed again to "Just survive!" How hard could it be to survive? (VERY! Trust me!) I also debated whether or not to put my name down for the Standard Distance GB Age Group Team until right at the last minute Mum said "Just do it babe!" So I did!

The night before the race we sat in traffic for about 3 hours, got lost, got hot and bothered and nearly passed out from sheer starvation and the heat from the lorry fumes! Thank God I had Chris and Mum there to keep me sane! We had tea at about 9:30pm in a lovely restaurant and then found our rooms for the night....in a small pub called The Green Man with a live band playing all through the night! Brilliant!

An early start in the morning and I got to do what I do best.....talk! It was lovely seeing everyone and it took me about 2 hours to rack my bike as I kept getting distracted. I'd like to point out at this point I wasn't eating a burger.....it was just the bread (honest!).

Once I was racked it was wetsuit on, goggles on, say good luck to everyone, including Suzie who waves me off...."errr, Suze aren't you racing?!" and off we go to the beach start. With 30 seconds to go Suzie and I are absolutely in the zone, indicated by the picture below!

The hooter went and off we ran into the lake and I stood on the biggest, sharpest rock in the world that took my breath away. Ouch! I pretty much thought about the pain in my foot all the way to the first buoy until the girl I was drafting off did this fancy back stroke turn around the buoy and I thought "ooh er, that was good!" (she did it at every buoy and every time I was impressed as I breast-stroked round!).  On the last straight we started to weave in and out of the older men from the wave before and I got a couple of kicks in the stomach but other than that I loved the swim! It was clear, relaxed, calm. I wondered at times if I should push on but settled in a small pack of four and as the marshall pulled me out of the water he said "Well done, you're 7th lady!" WOW!

The white hat really shows off my tan! Haha!

Off on the bike to take on the Rutland Ripple! I had great company in the form of Claire Shea-Shimmonds who dropped me on every climb, but then I would real her back in and over take her on the flats.  The bike was pretty uneventful and at times pretty lonely.  I knew I was cycling below par but just had to give a measured effort and had somehow moved up to 5th place.  I'm hoping there is a lot more to come on the bike now that I can start training again; it used to be a real strength last year so maybe I can start getting some form back?  A minor panic in T1 when I completely couldn't find where I was supposed to rack my bike (I had run down the wrong row!) and then I was off again on the run. I just had to relax on the run.

I held on to 5th place all the way until 7k which was a big surprise to me.  Sarah Lewis flew past but  I was still third in my Age Group, which I had been right from the word go and at 9.5k I just started to think that I might just hold on for the National Bronze Medal when the lovely Ali Moult went past and gave me a huge cheer. She had run so well to hunt me down from over a 4 minute deficit starting the run and she completed the podium for our Age Group along with Lucy Nell and Suzie Richards (who also finished first and second overall), well done girls!

After the race I was really disappointed to lose 2 places with just 500m to go, finishing 8th overall and 4th in my Age Group. But I was fastest of the non-medallists, which is a bit like winning the B race, and in my primary school years I'd have done anything to win the B race!

We stayed to cheer all the girls on who got their medals before making our way home.  It was great to see Suzie and Ali up on the podium, Jacqui also conquered her Age Group again winning the gold medal - she is just amazing, and Claire who I had been twoing and froing with on the bike had won her Age Group. Well done to all!

With Mark & Jacqui at the finish

In the car I spoke to Mum and Chris about my disappointments and they were both super encouraging (as they always are), and helped put some perspective on it.  All things considered (i.e. illness and lack of training) I had done my absolute best, which is all you can do.  I'm slowly starting to get a bit of form back and I am super encouraged by the support from my friends; people seem to genuinely want me to do well and that means a lot!  Thank you! Also, it turns out that I got the first qualifying slot in the 30-34 Age Group for next years Europeans in Geneva which was a nice surprise!

So, had I challenged myself? Absolutely! I had massively stepped out of my comfort zone! And had I enjoyed it? Yes! I loved the swim, enjoyed the bike, loved the course and most of all, enjoyed seeing so many friends from across the UK. The event was amazing, the organisation was fantastic and I would definitely go back again!

Results - Age Group (4th out of 23), Overall (7th out of 195 finishers) - full results can be found here: http://www.pacesetterevents.com/dambuster-triathlon-live.php

Thanks for reading and happy training! :-)

Blenheim Elite

I first raced at Blenheim Triathlon as part of a relay team in 2009;
I was so excited to go back this year to compete in the elite race.

Chris and I were joined by royalty (aka Suzie Richards, recent winner of the World Duathlon Championships and Slateman) on the Saturday night and we chatted so much (and laughed so much!) that by the time she stopped talking I was completely exhausted and trundled up to bed close to midnight for all of 5 hours sleep before we left for Blenheim Palace in the morning.

So how is Blenheim Elite different to the usual  races I've done?

Blenheim Palace is a stunning location for an event!

Well firstly, it's fast! Incredibly fast! There is no letting up here, these girls mean business! 

Secondly, the elite race is free. And everyone loves a freebie! 

Thirdly, there's prize money....although see point one about having to be really fast! 

And finally, it's a drafting event, meaning after the 750m swim you are allowed to tuck in on the bike for 20km before the run section.  

Now point 4 would be great if you could tuck into a pack of good cyclists as they go much faster than solo riders. But to make that pack you have to be out the swim faster than a mermaid (back to point one!) and if you miss the main pack after the swim, you're race is pretty much over. So with this in mind.....the goal (and the only goal!) was don't mess up on the swim!

So into the water (a lovely 18 degrees), and off we go and I actually (unlike Liverpool elite last year!) held my own! It hurt! It was fast! But I was roughly keeping up in the mix. Out of the water in a huge PB of 10:54.  A good start!

Except Blenheim has a testing 600m run uphill from the lake into T1. At this point Natalie Seymour, Eloise Du Luart & Suzie Richards all overtook me (if you have seen them run, you will now why!).  I initially thought I could make a good cycle pack with them but this soon turned to bitter disappointment when I came into T1 about 10 seconds behind them and watched them all form a group in the distance.  I jumped on my bike but it was too late. They were gone. And because they are super talented and would no doubt work hard in a group, that 10 second deficit turned into around a 4 minute deficit by the end of the bike!

So instead my bike was mostly solo for the first lap, picking off a few other solo riders, going over the T1 run in my head thinking "I was right there!!" and "How did I miss that group?" and "It wasn't even my swim that let me down!"  In between these thoughts I joined a small group of 3 and recruited a few others along the way - with every person we caught they jumped on the back.  Unfortunately the group wasn't very effective at all so it was more like being out for a Sunday jolly.  Looking back I was not tactically smart at all, I towed a lot of people round and let impatience get the better of me, but I learnt so much and got to experience the importance of decision making (or lack of!) in drafting racing.

The run was undulating and tough but in a stunning setting.  Having the palace as a backdrop was amazing!  I eventually crossed the line in a disappointing place of 25th senior elite lady, miles behind the girls I wanted to be racing with, but with bucket loads of positives and memories to take away.

I had a mix of emotions after the race:

1. Relief! Thank god it was over! That run was painful!

2. Euphoria! I was killing myself laughing with Hannah and Suzie shortly after the race and completely forgot all about the pain and decided this was the best day ever! 

3. Disappointment! Once the results were listed I wanted to rub them all out and start again.  I was frustrated to not show what I can really do. 

4. Determination! Once I got home and went for a quick spin on my bike I started to think about how I could use this experience to better myself as a person, and an athlete, and try to bounce back faster for the next one.

So, for me, the best bit of racing is catching up with friends afterwards and it was so nice to see everyone! When I told Chris I was off to get my bike out of transition he knew that would mean an hour of chatting en route to everyone! It was so nice to speak to the girls and I chatted to Kim about her future travels to Kitzbuhel, Kirsty about her wetsuit dilemma, Katie about her massive successes in the French Grand Prix, Hannah about her mad swim dance, Lou about her Pontevedra tip, Natalie & Elo about their Elite debuts, Leanne about her Xterra races and then had a lovely picnic with Chris, Suzie and Suzie's family (thank you for the food!).  I'd like to say a massive well done to all the girls; win, lose or drawer it's the sportsmanship and fast, fair and fun racing that makes it so worthwhile. 

So my final thoughts: I am not an elite triathlete (despite friends at work asking if I am going to race in Rio 2016!!) and so I am extremely grateful to the organisers at Blenheim Triathlon for giving me this experience, it was amazing and I'd love to come back next year! Not all races go how you want them to, but bad races don't define you....they strengthen you. So now it's time for me to practice getting my wetsuit off without removing my timing chip before the next race!

European Aquathlon Championships

After missing the British Triathlon Champs two weeks ago I was so happy to feel well enough to go and race in this event in Cologne, Germany.  Although May has pretty much been a write-off in terms of training, and I had started to feel pretty down as there's only so long you can keep your spirits up for, I was actually really excited to enjoy some girlie time away with Mum and enjoy the city break.  (I have since discovered the cause of my illness......I am allergic to chlorine! It's so bizarre it's funny! I am actually allergic to training! Not the best news for swim training but so happy to have an answer!)

Cologne's Cathedral

Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city after Berlin, Hamburg and Munich (who said this blog wasn't educational?) and is an absolutely beautiful place. It was to host the European Aquathlon event, the first one of it's kind (I think?!) consisting of a 1k swim/5k run. I have not done an aquathlon since 2011 and even that was just a 400m pool swim/3k run so this was something different.  Unfortunately it clashed with the World Duathlon Championships in Pontevedra which I really wanted to do but I knew a duathlon would take too much out of me given my current health so going to Cologne was a chance to race in a country I have never raced in (thus another flag for my nomination bracelet!) and without the faff of packing the bike away it was easy, simple and cheap as chips!

My nomination bracelet showing countries I've raced in -
I still need to buy the Majorca and Portugal flag,
then just 3 more to go until it's complete!

Mum and I travelled with Anna and her Mum on the Thursday and spent the afternoon exploring the sights. We somehow ended up in the Chocolate museum chatting to some rather cool Americans who were visiting from South Carolina.  They asked what brought us to Cologne and when I said "We are here to race in the European Aquathlon" they burst out laughing and said "YOU?!?" Errr...Yes me!! Then they did the whole back-tracking thing and bought our drinks for us (I think they felt bad!)

Cakes Galore!

On the Friday we got the open top bus around the town and visited the city's famous cathedral.  Our race was a leisurely 3pm start on the Saturday which gave us a chance to watch the elite's who were off at 2pm. With the course being in a sort of dock, and the run being two out and backs along the river Rhine, it was great for spectating and fab fun to cheer on my friend Emma who had a cracking race and also Hannah who sprinted her socks off at the end of the run to just miss out on Gold. Super inspiring performances.

Love my mum's photo skills chopping people's heads off!
Here we are learning from the elites what do eat post race....schnitzel?

Thanks to my new approach to races I wasn't nervous at all and just looking forward to getting stuck in. I didn't realise quite how 'stuck in' until the start of the swim when I had someone swimming over me for a good 300m. It was relentless and as I had someone on my other side there was nowhere I could really go.  Eventually she moved away but it took me that long to recover from it that by the time I got to the half way turn around point I realised I hadn't thought about anything to do with my stroke and was swimming with some old bad habits.  The 500m return stretch was much better in terms of having clear water to swim in but I was all by myself analysing the huge  gap that had developed between me and the next swimmer in front and I knew it would be a tall order to make that up!

I'm in the middle pack of three in the top left hand corner desperately trying
 to keep up with super Mermaid Charlotte on my right!

I exited the swim in about 14th place overall in 15 and a half minutes which was about a minute slower than what I expected/wanted. Getting up out of the river was a laugh in itself and I decided to go for the Damsel in Distress act, throwing both arms in the air at the same time, being hauled out by the German Hunks. Great, I'm out. Up some steep steps and I'm into transition with my lovely friend Helen Russell (deja vu from Turkey) and just as I'm about to put my trainers on my timing chip rips off my ankle and flies across transition. A quick dash across transition to retrieve it and I'm off on the run.

Running Happy

I tucked in just behind Helen for the first part of the run not knowing how I would feel thanks to illness etc. She pulled away from me a little but if there's one thing I have been able to train this month....it's my mind....and I used my tips from Chris Janzen at Triathlete Mind to refocus.  The nature of the course meant I could see the race unfold infront of me.  Natalie Thomas was having a storming race and had a clear lead.  Charlotte was about a minute up on me and at the turn around point I could see Kerry in fourth about three quarters of a minute down. It was close! I felt strong and both Kerry and I were running around 19 and a half minute 5k pace, slowly closing Charlotte down but the gap was too big to close. On the start of the second lap I overtook Helen and gave her a shout of encouragement and although I knew I couldn't catch Charlotte I wanted to give it my all.

Job Done!

Crossing the line was amazing, it was fab to be back racing! I had finished 3rd in my Age Group, 5th overall with a solid-ish swim and a great run (which in fact turned out to be half a km long). Not long after, Anna crossed the line with a huge smile on her face to take the silver medal in her Age Group and Mum and I cheered her across the finish line.  We celebrated afterwards with photos and Erdinger Beer.

When it came to the prize presentation, my name was not called out and instead the bronze medal was presented to Kerry who had come fourth.  I'm not normally a drama queen but I was so upset I felt my eyes welling up. I couldn't understand why I was not being presented with the medal that I had raced so hard for?  I tried to explain to the organiser that I had come third and he asked what my race number was. I told him I was number 119 to which he replied "you did not race!" I most definitely had raced but it turned out my timing chip hadn't worked.  I then tried to explain to the girls who were giving the medals out that I had come third but they probably didn't want to cause a scene as everyone was applauding and cheering. Kerry could see my protests and was really gracious in presenting the medal to me as it was an honest mistake and she gave me a big hug which helped calmed me down a little!

Feeling completely out of place getting my medal
Loving the pom pom girl though!

Afterwards Helen, who speaks fluent German, managed to explain to the organisers that I did race and could vouch for where I came in the race, as could the other competitors,  so to make things easier they gave me the same time as Helen minus two seconds, which although not 100% accurate, suits me absolutely fine, and I was so grateful to Helen for her help as she went to so much trouble to help me! Thank you!

So with a certificate and medal in hand it was time to celebrate with the other GB athletes. We hit the town and in true scouse style, hit McDonalds in the early hours of the morning!  On the last few days we enjoyed a boat trip down the River Rhine, shopping in some German Markets and I found a love for running again getting in some relaxed jogs before it was time to go home.

A very informative sign on our open top bus tour!

I'd like to say a massive well done to everyone who competed. It was a great event and although it was a much smaller scale than usual, the quality of athletes was still high - so high in fact that anyone in my Age Group could have competed with the elites and not come last! Massive congrats to Natalie & Charlotte who took the Gold and Silver in my race and also to Kerry who pushed me every step of the way, you will be on that podium next time! Huge well done to Anna and Helen (and thank you for your help!), to Mary for being lovely company and cheering me on, Dermot & Bill for getting me on the start line (your patience with me is much appreciated!) and finally, Chris and Mum who are just the best!

Absolutely love my Mum!

The day after my race I got some fabulous news that three of my most favouritist people in the world medalled at the World Duathlon Champs in Pontevedra.  Jacqui won the GOLD in the sprint distance, Jess (who I have been coaching for the last 8 months) went from (in her words) "a fatty bum bum to a BRONZE medallist" (also in the sprint distance) and Suzie aka BIG SUZ won the GOLD in the standard distance! Chris and Alister also made their World Championship Debuts and I sent them all tons of love & congrats vibes from Sunny Cologne!

So next on the list for me is Blenheim Elite on Sunday. I am totally there to make up the numbers but if you fancy seeing someone coming last and enjoying every moment of it, then come and support me on Sunday at 8:55am!