Back to Back Weekends of Racing

For some of you who are my ‘regular readers’ you will know that I was on a wee bit of a high following my best national series result to date, in Liverpool – British Triathlon Champs. Finally finding some form this season over the swim and run with my generally there or there abouts.

 

The London Triathlon

 

I was excited to be racing for the first time at the London triathlon. The swim included five turns on the 750m course not exactly ideal – I’d much prefer an out and back any day! The London Triathlon is the Worlds largest triathlon with over 13,000 competitors racing over two days you can imagine the size of the huge transition area.

 

T1 includes a long run from the swim, up two flights of stairs and what felt like a marathon around the perimeter of the whole transition area. After dragging my heels around T1, I soon mounted my bike and popped on to the fast, flat and technical bike course. I could see the second pack forming ahead. I worked hard to chase down the pack. I put my fabulous technical riding skills where put to good use in the narrow and twisty section around the bases of the Canary Wharf skyscrapers. I was glad to catch the pack near the exit of the concrete jungle. The remaining 12km of the bike was pretty standard, the pack worked pretty well together. I made a slight break in to T2. I knew I would naturally be at a disadvantage with the long run in T2 so placing myself first in to T2 was vital. I managed to hold up a fair few of the pack due to the narrow nature of the transition area.

 

I headed out on to the run third from the pack (yes there was a slight grin on my face). That grin was very quickly turned belly up, as I died on the first lap of the run. Completely dead!! However some positive thinking, a splash in the face and a random gel on the run course picked me up and my second run lap was only a minute faster than my first.I was a little gutted to finish 20th but I guess that’s what racing is all about – learning and adapting.

 

National Cub Relay Champs

 

Next up for me was a little bit of fun, the National Club Relay Championship. The organisers were trying out for the first time the Elite Format tag relay. Apart from the limited amount of space in transition it worked pretty well. Myself with the rest of team Sportstiks had a great time in the heats. It was a tough race totally flat out all the way for 15 mins – EVERY SECOND COUNTS!! We made it through to the final where we fought hard to take 4th place in the Final Team Time Trial. Thanks for a great day team!

 

My next blog will be about my final race of the year at the Under 20’s Festival. Exciting times!!

 

Thanks for reading!

 

HRK x