Sleep, Eat, Work, Train, Eat, Sleep- the life cycle of a triathlete.

I haven't blogged in a wee while and thought that I would update you all on my current daily doings as well as a race report for the weekend's activities.

June has been a VERY busy month for me with work. I cover the east of England with my job which I love very much, but the travelling can seriously disrupt the training I intend on doing.

In the run up to the Dmbuster I managed around 4-5 hours of training including no swimming that week.  It wasn't all that bad due to the fact I was tapering for the race. The following week involved a trip to Edinburgh for work, and this resulted in 3 days of no training. I managed to pack it all in the first half of the week before I went but having 4 days in total free of training did a few things to me. Firstly it made me feel incredibly guilty for not training, secondly I was stiff as a board come Sunday watching Will race at the British National Championships at Ellesmere. Lastly I felt that my fitness would drop off. Well I was mainly concerned as I had the Deva Triathlon in Chester coming up and I did not want my fitness to dip. Lots of people reassured me that I would be fine and I wasn't going to lose anything. But what mostly concerned me was the fact that I had not ventured into a swimming pool in over 2 weeks. The main reason being that the pool's opening times are quite restrictive and with getting up some mornings to leave for work at 7am, I couldn't even make the early starts!

So all in all, the life of a triathlete was seriously at risk of dropping off in my case. I had managed to fit in some longer runs to build me up for the distance and also doing some chainganging on the bike with Stamford Tri and Rutland Velo Club members, but I felt that this wasn't really enough for me!

Cue the weekend....... I had entered the Deva Divas ladies only triathlon with my Mum as a kind of tradition we have been following for the past few years. However this year would be on a Saturday, and the Saturday was preceeding the Deva triathlon. I then decided that Mum would need to find another runner (I ran for us last year) as I wanted to avoid injury at all costs and I would swim instead.

The Team after all the action (me, Claire and Mum)

Saturday morning was rather windy but not without sunshine, and so we turned up to Chester meadows with Claire Allen (a friend of the family) rearing to go.

I think I was the least nervous of the trio having done lots of races before and was ready to put my head down in the swim and try and exit the water as near to the front as I could.

Walking down to the start line with Will it was lovely to see lots of ladies smiling, plenty of them here to do their first triathlon. This is what I LOVE about this event, ladies only, really friendly supporters and marshalls and very encouraging to introduce people to the sport without the intimitation of strong burly men around!

Anyway, I entered the water with the other pink capped ladies in my wave and struggled to stay behind the start line. We would be making our way down the river with the current and this presented problems in trying to keep behind the line! I was then thinking about the next days race in which I would be going upstream for 350m, and so warmed up by swimming upstream. That would not be pleasant! But thinking about the task in hand, I got myself as near to the start bouy in the middle of the river as possible and waited for the hooter. Having missed the lame siren start, it was only when pushed forward I realised we had begun. Not wanting to waste such an opportunity, I surged forward and kicked hard and swam hard for the first 50 or so strokes. I was bashed somewhat and kicked in the face, but that didn't deter me and soon enough I was in clear water on my own in the middle of the river. There was a crowd of 6 or so ladies to my left swimming along the bank, however I didn't want to swim over to them as I would lose time, places and I was in the fastest part of the river.

Soon enough the finish was coming up fast and I drafted off some feet before moving in front and swimming up to the red bouy and in and up the slippery ramp into T1.

I was running hard to find my Mum and hand the timing chip over to her. Soon enough she was off and onto the bike.

 

 Left: Mum waiting for me

Right: Mum running out of T1

Below Mum heading up for the race.

What a swim! I was told I came second overall in my wave doing 750m in 11:23. My best ever time! I was pleased to bits with that as it beat my PB and last years time of around 13 minutes. Mum came in slightly off her time for last year, but literally only around 30 seconds or so and considering how windy it was she did really well. It was then onto Claire for the 5km run around the meadows.

Claire running to victory!

It was a great race all round and I think you can see from the photos, it is one to put in the diary for the next few years!

Sunday's race was to be an entirely different affair. It was a World's Qualifier which basically meant it would be of the same caliber as the Dambuster with the same competitors present at this event. I was again at an advantage knowing the bike route and the swim as well as the run having done them numerous times when living in Chester. It was also good to know the wind direction and where it would assist me and where it would be good to hit the bike hard.

Another early start (after finally switching off Andy Murray the night before) and breakfast at 5am (sneaky half an hour back in bed) meant we were all ready and prepared for the day's event.

There was a serious car accident which delayed the start by around 15 minutes, this delay did help us a little as we were having had to wait in the toilet queue for longer than I cared to.

Wetsuit donned, and parents found, we walked the 10 minutes or so up the race start. I was feeling rather nervous at this point in time, as you can see from the photo below.

Feeling rather apprehensive about the swim, I was just trying to steady my nerves. Will was off ten minutes before me in the preeceeding wave, and so I could watch him swim past, I can now pick out his storke quite easily and therefore identify him in a crowd of neoprene. I was pleased to see him up with the top lads in the top 10. Then it was time for us to get in the water. Again it was a slightly cooler feel than I had been swimming in, but certainly not as cold as Dambuster. I warmed up before trying to find myself a place near enough to the bank, so as not to swim in the full current pushing against us. The siren sounded and this time, unlike yesterday I managed to push my watch to record my time. It was a mess of bodies and lots of pulling and groping again. I was pleased to get to the turn around bouy and finally swim with the current. I then worked my way through the swimmers. It seems to be that I am able to push through when the swim is slightly longer as I think others tire a bit more quickly than I do.

Anyway finally out of the water in about 30th place (according to the parents) and running into T1 I glanced at my watch and saw it read 20:30..... NO WAY! I was shocked but then pleased that I had swam so well. Kicking off the wetsuit in a record time, I then grabbed my helmet and glasses, then the bike and I was off.

The mount line was halfway up a slope and I could forsee lots of people falling off, so I made my way a little bit further up the slope and onto the grass before setting off.

The bike course is pretty good, although lots of turns which means that you often have to slow down and break your rhythm before settling back into it.

I saw Will around 30 minutes into my bike ride which was encouraging, although I spotted he was in a kind of pack, and thought that he would get done for drafting (which he unfortunatley did and got a 2 minute penalty). The heavens did decide to open up on us and the rain was pretty cold, but  I was over halfway and over the bike course by that point so I knew I was on my way home. It was an uneventful ride for me, getting passed by the quicker men from the wave after me and some ladies, but mostly I managed to pass around 10 people although  probably lost more places.

I was pleased to clock a 1:24 for my ride of 25 miles (or just over) and although not much quicker than the Dambuster, I felt good for it and pleased that I had the legs to carry me through. I had spent a considerable amount of time on the tri bars which felt really comfortable, however coming into T2 I lost my place on the racking AGAIN, which lost me around 15 seconds or so and then grabbed my shoes and cap before exiting onto the run course.

It was 2 laps of 5km each around the meadows and Chester's Grosvenor park. It was not really flat or hilly, except for a couple of short sharp uphills which took it out of you and I had to slow to a walk once or twice and got rather dizzy.

It was great though as I was running with a girl from my age group and we kept exchanging places throught the entire run course. Sometimes I would be in front and she was on my heels and then she would move in front. I was determined to beat her. Anyway on the second lap at the water station, just after one of these short sharp inclines, I lost her and she moved around 50m in front of me. I thought then that was it and game over just to concentrate on my own run. We then moved across the suspension bridge into the park and I could just about see her still.

It was then in the park that I managed to find some legs and move a bit more. It was good to have someone to chase.

The final stages of the run I managed to keep up with a guy in front of me and we were then right behind this other girl. The the final downhill followed by the finish gantry. I pushed past her and sprinted for my life to the finish. I had done it!

I was pretty pleased to see that I had outsprinted her and done myself proud. It was a fantastic race and really well supported. I had struggled on the final parts of the run however with a really sore back, and my back was playing up as I walked around the finishing area. I think it was the amount of time on the tri-bars which did that, I will have to work on that for next time!

What a race! Chester Triathlon club knows how to do it well and I have to give them credit for organising a fantastic weekend of racing and having some great goody bag bits too!

It was a great way to finish off 6 races and now I have only a couple of fun short races to look forward to.

I decided to enter the Bedford Mini Classic which is on at the same time as the Bedford Classic as I didn't really want to do another Olympic distance (I am still relatively new to all of this) and I wanted to enjoy some training for a while without racing. It will be a good event as Will and a load of Stamford tri Club are doing it too (I have also convinced my StepDad Mike to come and do the mini version). It is a 200m swim, 15km Bike and 3.3km run. Something of a training event that I can go and smash!

I am happy just doing some solid training for a while. I have the Bedford Mini Classic on the 29th July, then the club relays in Nottingham Bank holiday weekend in August before the final race of the London Triathlon in September. It is a good finish to a solid season.

I hope that everyone has had a good week of training and racing!

Kerry x