Another week, another race...Mumbles duathlon, second race of 2013

As i raced last sunday and i was racing 6 days later the plan i got from Rose for this past week was easy going, the 80 min brick session again, the conditioning run 60 min total, and the 2hr swim squad, with the saturday swim post race as a recovery. The first part of the week i was quite tired, even though i was logging some serious sleep time. I do believe that it's due to alarms, jolting you from sleep, so i will definitely try and buy a natural light alarm thingy when i can afford it amongst the other things i want to buy for tri before Turkey. I also submitted another MSc assignment this week but i had to make a decision which was to not take on board all my tutor's feedback from the draft, and to submit what i was happy with, with the time and effort i felt able to give as the tutor's feedback was to add a hell of a lot extra into the assignment, with no words left to play with into the very restricted word count. Oh well, all that matters is a pass...i have bigger fish to fry!

This was my first multisport event where my parents weren't able to come and watch me, as they had gone on holidays, so i had borrowed my father's car to be able to use the roof bars, rather than dismantling my bike which always seems to slightly knock something out of kilter on the bike. A 7:30am race start meant a 5am alarm clock and porridge before 5:30am. I had registered the fright night and thankfully the weather forecast was right and the high winds and rain had eased, and Saturday morning was cold, breezy, but dry. This race had a lot of newbies, first timers, and i helped a few guys out in transition going through some rules, and giving them tips on transition. I had also forewarned a guy i knew from my brief climbing days, who was doing this as his first multisport event, about lunnon hill - a short but very sharp little lung/leg buster. If you're not in the right gear at the foot of this hill, coming in from a very fast downhill section, then you're stuffed basically.

I had a prime place in transition, although i wasn't happy coming into T2 when another bike had squeezed into the NO space that was between my spot and the guy next to me. The marshals helped me out by shifting the offending guy's bike over but seriously, there should be some recognition of what is space enough for a bike and transition stuff, and what is just an impingement on another athlete's race, who had bothered to get there early enough to get a spot in transition.

After last's week race i had decided to wear the same gear as even though it was cold i was happy with those layers - base layer, arm sleeves, club tri top, gloves, beanie, club tri shorts, leg warmers, socks. This time i had decided to keep my garmin on my wrist throughout as i was more bothered about using the data for my run pace, rather than getting bike feedback. happy to say it worked for the duration and it was great to see my pace in the final 5k was good going. Again there was another healthy crowd from celtic tri, and within the supporters, so always great banter and camaraderie on the course, with high 5s a plenty :)

My strategy again was keep a steady pace on the run but not pushing it, get up lunnon hill without issue, and then finish the race off. This was the first time since i have had my new bike that i would be going up lunnon hill, and only my 3rd time in total. As my old bike has a triple chainset the granny gear is lower than the lowest gear on my compact chainset on the Scott so it would be interesting to see how i fared. However, i am confident that the strength in my legs is enough to get me up most things as long as i switch my brain onto grinding out the pain.

On the run out i kept Jayne Arnold in my sights throughout, Jayne is a very good runner within the club, and i also knew that Christina Smith, Kona Ironman legend, was just behind me, so i wanted to keep my pace steady. I counted that i was about 5th female and overtook one girl on the way back towards T1, but as this race had both short and long routes it was hard to know who was doing what when out on the course. The long course which i did was 5k run, 32k bike, 5k run. The bike is a tough little course, with plenty of hills and with the exposed wind it made it even more challenging. The long drag up across fairwood common felt like a steep hill given the headwind we had. There were also side winds but alas no tail wind! Twice going around corners my back wheel twitched going over manhole covers so i wasn't going flat out on this course on certain sections, instead taking caution over flat out speed as the conditions weren't worth it. One section of fast downhill was stripped of tarmac for re-laying so this made for a bumpy slow section as i didn't want to be thrown off going over bumps and stuff. This was a no-overtaking zone for that reason so i made sure i passed a slower guy before reaching the section so i could at least move away from him. The marshals were great and the traffic decent in giving way knowing we were racing. Thankfully, lunnon hill was clear of traffic and there were only 2 other guys on the hill with me so it caused no problems. Yes, the pain set in at the steep U bend near the top of the hill, but i stayed seated, kept my cadence up, and focused on positive thoughts, rather than doubts about the pain. Yes my heart rate was probably through the roof, and my breathing was rapid for a little while afterwards so i wasn't sure how i would fare on the final hill up towards the mayals from kittle. Again i was pleased my legs were strong and i didn't need my lowest gear here, only using it for lunnon hill which the lowest gear passed with flying colours, so well done Tessa (my bike)!!

Back down towards T2 and again i slipped my feet out of my shoes before transition although before my next race i want to practice this as i know i am loosing time here by slowing down. However, it does make my T2 speedy and i was pleased with my transition times, although still room for improvement here.

My strategy on the bike was consume 1 energy gel, nectar fuel - tasty!, and i have a nectar 2:1 carb energy drink sachet in the water bottle. As it was i drank less than half the bottle but that was probably because of the wind and needing to keep the bike as stable as possible for a lot of the race in the sections that weren't going downhill or uphill! I knew there was water just into the second run so i was happy to wait for that. Energy wise felt strong throughout so happy with my strategy.

Last week the second run had felt hard work, maybe because of the hard week's training i had had, but this race i felt strong throughout the second run. I could tell that unless there was another much faster woman that had already won, that i was in 2nd place. I knew that the girl who was in first was the girl who had won last week's race and fair play to her, if she can run a 19min something first 5k, beat me by 1min on the bike and then hold a 22:30 min second 5k (1min quicker than me on second leg) then she is the better athlete (at the moment ;)). As i was in 2nd i put pressure on myself to hold my run pace, thanks to my garmin, and wanted to hold off Jayne Arnold who i could see was a little way behind me on the run when it came to passing each other after the final turn. Thankfully, no sprint finish was needed, as my legs were definitely tired, but with a final burst of speed to overtake a final guy i cruised home to take 2nd female :)

It was freezing to hang out afterwards for the presentations and because there were so many novices out there it meant that times were slow and people were still racing when we finished the presentations. I had 5 layers on and i was still cold, even though i had changed out of my sweaty race clothes. Even though it was cold there was still a little crowd for the presentations and again a number of the club won a prize so well done to James Hockin, Mike Tate, Jayne Arnold, and Christina Smith. Also well done to everyone who was taking part for the first time in a multisport event. it'd be great if people were motivated to join celtic tri after this race having seen our colours everywhere. I made a point of letting the guys i helped out in transition about the club, and i always encourage other athletes out on the course as i pass them, or if i see they are struggling. It was nice to get a little cheer as i won my prize and i was dead chuffed to win a sun visor, as i had been fancying that exact one for my trip to turkey, so a job well done all in all. I hadn't been bothered about the result, having done well last week, and given the weather, but 2 podiums in 2 weeks is fantastic and making me think whether next year i focus on the duathlon races as much as i do the tris...i might be better at duathlons?

saying that though, i have worked hard on my swim and i'm looking forward to mixing it up a bit in the masses with my swim now i am more confident, but again within reason. i did make swim last night as a recovery, and boy by the end did i feel how tired i was as my energy just went and my "pace" ground to a complete halt! Needless to say i am SO looking forward to a recovery day tomorrow spent on my sofa catching up on sky+ recordings!! Happy days :)

First race of 2013

Pembroke duathlon (5k run/22k bike/2.5k run) marked the start of my 2013 season. Due to the distance and my parents coming to watch we stayed the night in a local travelodge on saturday and enjoyed a cracking game of rugby with Wales annihilating the english to win the 6 nations :) i was screaming and bouncing around like a kid :) After a pleasant meal in a tiny little pub/restaurant that you wouldn't find by chance, we had a chilled evening and a decent sleep before a 6am wake. The day was perfect racing weather, sunny, no wind, a little chilly, but otherwise you couldn't grumble. This race was the first one the season to count towards the club championships but it was also the welsh duathlon championships. Surprisingly enough though there was no chip timing system which led to a cock up with the results, which definitely put a dampener of an otherwise cracking day because the fiasco of the presentations just made you doubt the results that little bit.

As this was a club race there was a very healthy turn out and our club kit was everywhere to be seen. it's always nice to have people to say hello to out on the course, to give a little bit of encouragement to/from etc. and having rose, now my coach, and my parents there to cheer and take pictures and give feedback is always nice as well after you have finished.

So with this being the first race of the season i wanted to use it to try a few things out and to just see where i was at. I entered the 3 duathlons as warm ups for the tri season, but i placed no importance on them. I had wanted to use my garmin during a race for the first time and practised on the saturday transitioning between having the garmin on my wrist, then onto the bike, and then back onto my wrist. I had found the garmin useful during the 5k run to keep my run pace up, but not too high as i wanted to pace myself right given that this was my first duathlon and i wanted to be sure i still had stuff in my legs for the bike and the final 2.5k run. The run felt OK, getting into transition at about 22:30. Unfortunately the garmin failed soon into the bike but i don't know why as i couldn't read the message that came up, with my garmin fitted onto my bike sideways on to ensure a secure fitting. Not to worry, i'm used to racing on feel so i switched it off and got on with putting some guts into the bike leg. I was really pleased with how the bike felt as i was flying past a lot of blokes and i certainly got a few second glances as i powered past them :) the bike course was fast, with one long drag of a hill to begin with, and then some ups and down during the repeated section on the freeway. By this time sunday traffic was starting out and there were a few tractors slowing traffic down which meant i actually had to break a lot to stop going into the back of a car, which was frustrating but i reasoned that by drafting off it at least i was saving energy. Nobody overtook me from having slowed so nothing lost here which was good. Flying back down into transition 2 and i was feeling good. I had made a decision to slip my feet out of my bike shoes whilst riding up to transition and then run down the steep little hill into transition in my socks. This was the first time i had actually done this on a moving bike, having only practised it on the turbo before, but for a first attempt it was OK, just need to not loose as much speed next time, and try and catch my feet straight on top of the shoes rather than them spinning round. What it did mean though was that i was able to run right through transition and i was speedy racking my bike and getting the trainers back on.

The final 2.5k run was definitely tough on the legs and without my garmin to know what pace i was i had to keep pushing myself to keep my pace up, even though i was tired and they were getting very heavy. Thankfully no sprint finish was called for this time but i was pleased with how it had all gone pace wise, and the fact that only a handful of men overtook me from start to finish. All in all a great first race especially given my run training has been hampered by the calf injury all winter so i knew sustained speed wasn't going to be there. As it was i placed 5th female overall, and after some corrections of the final results i also placed 3rd female in the open age group category for the welsh championships - result! Although the important result is the 5th, as the only reason i was 3rd in my age-group is because the women who beat me were veterans so they podiumed in the vets category of the welsh champs. Looking at the times they had much better runs than me by 2 minutes or more on the first 5k, and 1 minute on the bike by two of the women so still work to be done but as we're in march and my season goes through until september then i can't peak too soon can i!

What was also extremely pleasing was that there was no tightness in my calf at all, during the race, or after, and given i had run 29k in the past week, which is the most i have ran in a week for many a long month, then that is extremely good news :) I still have tenderness and a slight lump under the skin where the physio brutalised me, but the few sessions i have had with Mike Griffiths, osteopath, have gotten me right, combined with increased stretching, compressport calf guards/full legs, and cold water at the end of a shower, brrrrr!!!!! Happy days :)

GB age-grouper - how cool does that sound?!?!

As i said previously, i had decided to pay the extra £10 fee at Bala 2012 to put my name forward for european championships qualification, to see how my time fared against others in my age group, just as a marker for my performance. After completing the race i thought nothing more of it, but a week later i was told by someone who had checked the results that i had made the qualifying time - happy days! It's a complicated process, but you have to get within 120% of the winner's time (this still doesn't make sense to me), and i had managed to scrap in at 119.5% - LOL! Still, i was happy that i had made the time, even though i was bottom of the roll-down list and had no hope in hell of getting to the european champs in Turkey, June 2013, or so i thought...

In mid February 2013 i was dealt a major shock when i got an email on a sunday afternoon to say that enough people have dropped out that i was now next on the list and therefore going to Turkey, if i wished!!! Oh my good god!!!!! I was absolutely stunned and didn't know what to do. The place was mine, all i had to do was pay the race entry fee and i was confirmed. But, i hadn't expected this and therefore i felt that i didn't deserve it. I only just made the qualifying time, was i good enough to don a GB trisuit and race for Great Britain as an age-grouper??

If i did race, it would only be my 8th triathlon!    Plus, only my 3rd olympic distance! I seriously was stumped, so i posted on facebook, got great feedback from my mates and club buddies, and i also contacted Rose Jones, tri coach within the club, to seek her advice. I didn't want to rush into a decision, but i knew i needed to decide soon to sort out accommodation/flights, etc. if i was going.

I slept on it but then i started to think "this could be an opportunity to prove i am good enough, that i can excel if i train right" and "i want to do my family proud, as who knows if this opportunity will arise again, and who knows what the future holds". Plus, wearing a GB trisuit would be AMAZING, and an experience i would never forget, and i could always call myself a GB age-grouper. Additionally, if i did do private sport psychology work then having that on my CV would certainly be a bonus! How could i say 'NO'?? So, that was it, i was going! Paid my £102 race entry fee and then tried to sort out a trip out there. Due to it being late in the day availability was minimal meaning costs were up. The thing with GB age-groupers is that you have to pay for it all, nothing is free! You have to pay to race, pay to get there, pay to buy the kit, pay if you want a massage from the team masseuse, pay if you want bike help from the bike maintenance person with the team...thankfully my bank balance was looking healthy! I can's say the same now, lol!

I managed to get into the 2nd GB hotel, next door to the official one. Reviews of it were mixed, but i'm hoping if they are hosting team GB that the standards will be OK. I will stick to cooked food though, and i will take pots of porridge for breakfast on race morning, as i will have to eat at 4am for a 7am pontoon dive start into the med sea! No wetsuits as it's so warm! I am a freezer, but i also dislike it being too hot. I am NOT a sun-seeker, so i am having to acclimatise. I've started this already by wearing extra layers when running/cycling, both outside and also in the gym - i sweat a lot anyway but this means i am pouring sweat out, lol, good for the pores ;)

What i also decided was that if i was going to go to Turkey then i needed to get a tri coach. I asked Rose and she was more than happy to do this. Therefore, i have just completed the first week of tri coaching. The reason i went for this is that it means i don't have to think about my training plan, or it being progressive etc. i just have to follow the plan. What i found this week was when my mind was playing tricks on me after a lengthy osteopath session and i was tired and hungry, and it was late in the evening, i didn't think, oh i'll catch up tomorrow, i got home and got it done! it also meant that when the alarm went off at 5:15am there were no doubts, no thought of reaching for the alarm as has been happening for the past few months, and instead i was up, and out, and getting it all done. No more haphazard training, now i have a plan taken care of for me, my main challenge now will be fitting in my MSc work around it as this past week i have had no time at all to go anything so i am going to have to finish off my assignment tomorrow afternoon once i get back from my first race of the season, the pembroke duathlon (also the welsh champs, and one of our club races).

It's been an interesting first week as come monday, my rest day, my legs were heavy from the brutal xcountry the previous day, but i didn't have the luxury of the rest day and instead had to do a strength and conditioning session that left me aching until i had to repeat it 3 days later! Each session was challenging, but once my body settled into each session it got easier, although still tough. It did give my confidence for this sunday's race though that i can maintain a high pace on the run without my heart rate maxing out, as i was having to go pretty fast to get it to rise into Level 2 heart rate zone (that got worked out for me by Rose from doing a bike test with her), and even harder to get it to raise into the higher part of level 2! Thankfully, as i write this, it's saturday, my rest day finally, and i've spent the morning filling the fridge having not had time all week to do anything other than train, work, train, sleep. I've also done prep for the race tomorrow, practising changing an inner tube and using CO2 canisters for the first time. Now i just need to finish off packing all my kit for tomorrow as my parents and i are staying down in pembroke tonight so my alarm will be set for about 6:15am rather than 4:30!! Looking forward to the race actually, less nerves as no mass swim, and it's also a short sharp race so a good tester. There are about 24 club members racing, which will be great to see, and i imagine a lot of banter will take place too.

Before all that mind you, there is the small matter of wales v england in the last game of this year's 6 nations!!

Planning next season

So i had to consider what i focused on next season. In my first season i just entered all the local races i fancied, and then added in Bala as an additional olympic distance. For my 2nd season i had more clue about having a base phase, a build phase, and then race phase, and how this affected training. Therefore, when looking at races, i considered the ones i fancied, but also looked at how they fitted in with what i identified as my 'A' races. Having flirted with the idea of ironman wales, with the hype pretty inspiring when you're cheering on the sidelines, i spoke with Rose from the club and decided that with my MSc affecting training time, plus my own goal of seeing how fast i can get, i decided to stick to focusing on olympic distances (1500m swim, 40k bike, 10k run) with sprint events (750m swim, 20k bike, 5k run) as a warm up roughly 4 weeks before my main races. i also decided to enter the 3 local duathlons (run/bike/run) as i might actually be pretty decent at this given swim is my weakest sport of the 3.

However, during the winter months i was still battling with my calf injury which was hampering my running distance wise so having already dropped out of merthyr mawr pudding run i also decided not to run the llanelli half marathon as i hadn't got my mileage up. However, i did partake in 3 of the 5 xcountry races within the local league competing for celtic tri. This was challenging, but great fun, and brilliant to be part of a mass team event like this. Seeing all our club colours together is pretty awesome!

Hopefully we have done enough to get back promoted to division 1 for the ladies. The last 2 races were proper xcountry, trail, mud, sharp hills, the lot! The last race was our home race in margam park. Not only was it bitterly cold, there was also a stinging head wind which made running seem like being stuck in mud and being forced backwards. That 4 miles felt like 10! results are pending, but given the turn out i'm pretty confident both men and women's teams have done themselves proud :)

What is encouraging is having decided to ditch physio because he had no clue basically and seemed to be haphazardly guessing, whilst inflicting great pain in my calf each session, i have switched to a local osteopath, Mike Griffiths, who is better known as batman in triathlon circles, and just a few sessions with him, coupled with an increased stretching regime, plus using my new compressport calf guards and full legs for recovery, has meant that after a run my calves are no longer tight (apart from a stupidly hilly xcountry 8 miler a couple of weeks ago). So, just days before my first duathlon, i'm confident my calves are almost fully recovered...this shows that complete rest isn't always the cure, and i'm happy with how i handled my injury, regardless of the criticism i got from some quarters on Facebook. Next up, exciting, but anxiety provoking news led to a major decision...

My first off-season

So, end of a season, a successful one at that, and boy was i ready for a holiday! i had committed to taking a complete rest, so i even went away, which for me is very rare on my time off from work! I'd always fancied cornwall, so i booked a stunning apartment with a surreal view of the bay in front of it.
 

I took my mother with me, as she had not that long ago had a knee replacement (her second one) and having been couped up for a few months within the same 4 walls i thought she might appreciate this view! I took 8 days off from exercise - 8 whole days!!!!! plus, with running i didn't run for 2 weeks to rest my calf injury. I hadn't not exercised for this long since i was a student probably, during term holidays. Not that i didn't do anything, i did go on a long walk around the coast, plus, how could i not when the next town along was my namesake!

I would definitely go back here, it was idyllic, and i ate whatever i wanted to, enjoying traditional cornish cream teas with clotted cream :) i had lie ins, watched dvds, had a few beers, and generally just thoroughly chilled out. If i did come back though i'd have no problem bringing me running shoes, or my bike, as there were some cracking places to go off exploring.

I started a part-time Msc in Sport Psychology in september, and the impact this had on my training was totally unexpected. I only do one module per term, so attend one 3 hour lecture a week but the assignments for this first module totally took over my life and i wasn't a happy bunny. I had to prioritise study over training regularly in November and i didn't appreciate this at all! Happy to say though i got a merit for that module, with my first assignment getting a merit, and my second getting a distinction, so at least the work paid off.

What i found over the winter though that my early morning swim sessions were not as often as i'd like, and now having to work 9 hour days to make up the time i spend at uni meant i was generally more tired. I kept things ticking over though, doing regular turbo sessions during the week and having quit Kevin Pullin's swim squad i started going to celtic tri swim sessions regularly which i really enjoy. Swimming with club mates makes it more sociable for me, not that i didn't like who i swam with before, just that i know my club mates better i guess so it's good to spend more time with them. I also find the club swim sessions suit me far better time wise, so glad things worked out the way they did. As for my running, well with my calf injury i had decided to pursue NHS physio treatment, as sports massage alone wasn't enough. However, i didn't have much faith in the physios as they seemed very unclear about the diagnosis and were very vague when i would regularly ask whether i should train or not. This resulted in a lot of bashing from Facebook 'friends' who criticised me for continuing to train, but, i knew in my mind that this wasn't a 'tear' or a 'pull', this was something that was unaffected by distance, speed, etc, and was like a switch, 'on' then 'off'. As it was i was doing short runs twice a week and decided to pull out of the merthyr mawr pudding run due to the cold weather, uneven ground, and having to run through water. didn't think that was the best treatment for my calf!

So, on to xmas and another year spent with the family at my brother's in America. We even headed up the mountains and there was me thinking - "i wonder what it would be like to cycle this", although when we were over 5000ft up and the road was completely iced over and the scenery was all white i didn't think i'd see many bikes.

This photo just brought us to a standstill, a sea of clouds beneath us with the sun starting to set, Simply breathtaking...

Last race of a successful season

Wow, so we're at the end of september and i am sooo looking forward to some time off and a holiday. these last few weeks the training has just been ticking over as the races have been thick and fast in september plus my calf is still painful when running so just trying to see this race out and rest up.

Another dry day at Port Eynon and this time i wasn't concerned about getting to transition early as this race was  only about getting it done, so we arrived at a decent time, saw some celtic tri buddies, and still got my bike in a top stop in transition. I always like to put it next to quality TT bikes as the thinking is they are bound to be out of T1 before me leaving me lots of room to sort myself out. It was cold this morning so i made a conscious decision to put a long sleeve cycle top on for the bike and also wear gloves. I wasn't bothered about taking my time in T1 if i had to, this race was about enjoying and not flat out racing.

The swim was 2 laps of 750 metre with a beach start and a run back onto the beach after each lap. This was great for supporters to get more action shots. I started towards the back and did the whole hurdling leg action into the sea, which again was nice and calm. I took a more direct line this time, even mis-sighting a buoy completely as i was aiming for one up ahead without realising i was going off course with the buoy next to me - the lifeboat soon appeared, oops! i wasn't the only one though and the shape of the swim course is less of a rectangle and more of a 'T' which means after following the buoys you then have to swim out at an angle to the furthest buoy before the horizontal section. i had a guy swimming near me who was zig-zagging his way and kept bumping me so i had enough of this and put a kick of speed in there to get clear of him and from then on the swim went well, my best yet in terms of comfort and feeling like i was going a good speed. back in for the second lap and tried a dolphin dive but didn't quite work so once i was waist height in the water i just swam.

Out and into T1, wasn't rushing so put a long sleeve top on, put my gloves on and off i went for a leisurely bike ride. This was the first time i got to try my new bike on hills, having only gotten it at the end of august, so used it only a handful of times including bala and glynneath. It is a scott foil contessa (female version of the foil 20) and it's a road aero bike, which i chose after my deliberation about whether to get a TT bike. It's super sexy black with a purple stripe which is evident from behind. The gearing is different though as my trek was a triple and this is a compact but i fared fine on the port eynon hill and i was flying down the other side of cefn bryn. I really enjoyed this bike route, very up and down, with some fast places, and some long drags of a hill, probably my best type of course. It was also great fun on the way back to T2 to pass the fancy dress competitors who were doing a sprint version. I did chuckle at a few of the costumes i passed - fred flintstone!

Back into T2 and out on the run. This run course was brutal. Onto port eynon beach again and a long stretch down there before cutting over the sand dunes that grind you almost to a halt and then up one of the steepest hills i've ever run up - norton hill (?). Many people were walking up here so i was encouraging them as i was shuffling past them to keep on going. Rob Govier was at the top of this hill telling us "just 10 more metres to go" - HA! 10 more metres and yes we flattened out as we reached Bank Farm but then we had a stretch along here with the caravaners watching us in their prime spot overlooking the gower, and then another long, long hill up to a turn point. This was not a fast run! The banter on the course was good though with many of my celtic tri male pals worried about being "chicked". Unfortunately, this run course was 2 laps!! So, back down the hills, back along the beach a little way before again cutting up over sand dunes and then back along the path that took us back to the start, and back round we go again! At least i knew what was coming this time though so i just kept going, not pushing, although on the downhill after the last climb i did think "right, this is the final bit now, you can speed up and make up  some places". I have good stamina and always another gear to go into even after hard climbs so i felt pretty fresh now going back down to the beach and back towards the finish, the end of my season!

I wasn't concerned about time, and had no idea how i had done when i finished, i had just really enjoyed the race. I always like to stay behind after the race for the presentations, just to cheer on everyone who has done well, and to see how many of the club have won something. I even indulged in a post-race massage for once because of how tight my calf was and how tight my ITB band was one side. My father had popped back to the car as i had almost forgotten about my bike back in transition (a common theme across the season, doh!). Anyways, it was only when results were posted that i found out i did 2:41, which wasn't bad given i did bala in 2:35, and this course was far, far tougher. What was the major surprise, which resulted in my actually laughing out loud was that i placed 3rd female!! In a race that i was taking as a training race almost and took my time in transitions, awesome!! However, even if i had raced quicker i still don't think i would have gained any places as the winner was 14 minutes ahead of me! A long-course GB age-grouper - fair play!

But, all things considered, i was pretty chuffed with my first season of tri, lots to still improve upon, but a decent starting point nonetheless :)

Shattered...but home race calls

By this stage of the season i am shattered! I have found that the day or 2 after a race my mojo to train just isn't there as much, even though i wouldn't say i was particularly tired. But what i have found is that my usual routine of early doors training sessions have been completely disrupted due to fitting all training in with some late evening training sessions and as a result my routine is all of the shop. I have decided that the last 2 races of the season, the supersprint club race and the gower olympic are just about getting them done as i have achieved what i wanted to at bala so was happy with my first season. By this point in the season a persistent calf pain was making itself known when i was running. I have always suffered with tight calves after running but this pain was new and only came on when putting pressure on the ball of my foot (i changed to forefoot/midfoot running in december 2011). I started to get weekly massages from Vicki Lewis SMT, to get me through the end of the season. I was concerned that it might be a tear but the pain was dull and consistent, rather than increasing in severity or being sharp and shooting. During races the pain also disappeared, due to adrenaline i guess.

Glynneath supersprint is hosted by my club, celtic tri, and i know the route really well having ridden it many times. It was a 400m pool swim going off at set times depending on your estimated time, with a 21k bike and a 3k run. The weather for this race was pretty miserable but i can't complain given how nice the other races have been. It was lovely to see so many friendly faces and the banter directly before the swim was great fun. This is marked as an ideal race for beginners to get their first taste of tri so i made a point of encouraging people along on the bike and run as i passed them ;)

there were only 2 people in my swim lane including me, but i was swimming at the same time as some of the others in the club who i knew were better swimmers. I was off first, with the second guy 10 seconds behind. i struggled a bit with the lycra swimcap as it was already wet and i only just got it on before i was due to push off so that was a bit anxiety provoking but the lane timer was very encouraging. The guy behind caught me about 1/3rd into the swim leg so i let him pass me but then quickly jumped on his feet and drafted off him for the rest of the race, ideal really! out into T1 and the rain had set in so my helmet was full of rain and somebody had knocked my bike which annoyed me. i put on an extra layer because of the weather and also i wasn't going flat out really. Off out on the bike and i quickly caught the others from my swim wave which i was pleased about. I settled into the bike but the weather and a cheeky little breeze made the slight rises on the course seem like leg challenging hills! Back into T2, wave to the parents, had to shout at a newbie to move who was sitting on the floor in transition doing his shoes, etc & i was trying to rack my bike where he was! off out for a 3k sprint, and sprint i did. racing back into the finish i swore out loud in front of children (oops) because how much effort i put into it, but it was worth it as i was currently sitting 1st female with only better swimmers than me left to come in...as it was a club race members had brought in cakes and stuff for the stall so i treated myself to a slice of homemade cake and what a slice i got served, lol! Then came the presentations & WOW, i won! :) happy days! Ok, so it was mainly beginners in the race, but i also 'chicked' a lot of the blokes in the club so i'm being a gal with a target on her back, lol! Given how shattered i am now in the season it was still nice to get a win :)