English
A year later and another sunny day for the Suso Eton Youth Super Sprint Triathlon at Dorney Lake: this was my first ‘proper’ Triathlon last year and I came in 26th! The high water temperature meant that wetsuits were out of the question unlike last year and I could not wait to get in the lake as the heat continued to soar. The swim was a 400m loop around the lake, I powered out in the swim but it was a bit of a mêlée and looking back I do think I could have done with a bit more attack at the start.
After the swim heading into T1 I was in the middle of the group and once safely out on the bike circuit soon found myself in a small drafting group of four. I really should have been ahead in the larger group but I took the long way round out of transition not realising that a group had cut through the middle of the racking. This lost me more than a few seconds and meant I needed to really work hard on the bike, but I settled back into the smaller pack rather than making a break into the bigger pack ahead – that was a mistake! I can only put it down to the heat – I felt that I didn’t want to overdo things and leave myself short for the run. T2 went smoothly – unlike last year when I was fortunately caught by a marshal – avoiding a nasty crash on the way in, it shows how far my bike skills have come-on.
My run continues to be my strength this year. But it was hard work in the midday heat. Although I was disappointed with my result: it felt bad after the ‘high’ of Blenheim the week before, I was the first South West girl home and still in the top ten for my age group!
This result has secured my place in the SW Team for the Inter-counties (IRCs) at Parc Bryn Bach in September. I am now doing more bike work and have added a set of ‘fancy’ Elite Ghibli parabolic rollers to my Kit list to get me warmed up / down from the bike. There’s certainly a knack to it and at first it’s a bit like riding on ice until you get confident – I found a wheelie bin really useful (wheelie useful ?) as a support in helping me to start up.
I will take the lessons learnt in preparation for the London Tri next weekend, I then have to hot-foot it up to Salford for the UK Biathle Champs on the following day: with a bit of luck I’ll have a few slow days after that! It’s a pity that the Biathle World Champs later this year are in Dubai – and as much as I’d like to compete I don’t think I can justify the expense, so I’ll just have to make do with a GB placing this year.
This weekend I am doing the final selection event for the GB Team for Modern Pentathlon, so I will regrettably have to miss out on the National Aquathlon Championships at Hyde Park – though I’ll only be a few miles away at Medway. It will be a very intense day and I need to finish in top 3 to qualify for Europeans in Bulgaria. I am well prepared and quietly confident.
