English
“Ending the Season On A High In Barcelona”
So firstly apologies in advance this blog is going to be a bit scatty, technical difficulties and all that!!!
Ok, so before my last blog was published, it wasn’t actually finished, so I’ll start by adding the bit I missed out in the last one, at the start of this one, (hence the scatty-ness)!
So here we go . . .
Before I left for Dallas, I headed down to Milton Keynes to see John Dennis at www.velomotion.co.uk so he could attempt to make my road bike suit a time trial race! So, changing my bike position, it worked out great, and John got me in a comfortable position so I was ready to go. I am going to head over there again once Wiggle give me the new Focus bike for next year, so I can get the most beneficial position for my races next year. Thank you john for fitting me in before Dallas!
Ok, now for the Barcelona report . . .
This was my last race of my 2010 season. I hadn’t long got off the plane from Dallas; in fact I landed on the Tuesday morning and flew out again on Thursday afternoon!! Not complaining though, as this is the part I love . . . racing! So, I set out on Thursday for Barcelona, not alone though, I was joined by Mum, Dad, Carrie, my cousin Carli, her partner Sim and family friend Wayne! What a crowd, and I have got to say a huge thank you to these guys, they made my last race of the year really special!
Before the race I couldn’t do much at all really, racing the weekend before, and making sure I adapted to the different time zones from Dallas, UK and Barcelona = nightmare! In Dallas where I left Stuart and Michelle, Michelle threatened not to set me any training programme between the 2 races to prove a point, but I think that I would have over trained, so thank God I persuaded her to send me a programme, without that I don’t think I would have got to the start line, never mind won the race lol!
So, race morning I was up nice and early at 5.30 and my poor sister Carrie who was sharing a room with me also got up at that time, but she did get a nice breakfast so I think that helped her get out of bed! Down to the restaurant and I had a couple of strong coffees and a Powerbar, (if it’s an early start like this one, I can’t stomach much, but a quick Powerbar fix sorts me out) and Carrie had some eggs on toast and a hot chocolate (or two!). A few of the other athletes were in the hotel as well, including Javier Gomez!!!!
It wasn’t long before I was on my bike, cycling down to the race to set up transition . . . in the dark!!! The transition area was huge, with loads of people taking part, but there was a huge distance from transition to the swim start, and the in’s and out’s of the massive transitions were a bit of a mission!!!!!
After I set up transition, and worked out the big runs in’s and out’s I went over to the swim start where I met up with the support crew, handed over my bags and went for a run warm up before testing out the sea, the waves weren’t as bad as last year thankfully, and it was quite warm which I was pleasantly surprised at.
Just before 8am, I popped a Powerbar double latte gel, and was ready for the start at 8.10am and as we ran into the sea the sun rise was just coming up in time for us to see the first buoy. On the beach start I don’t think the men liked a women on the front of the line waiting to run in, but hey ho lump it lads, and get used to it! That’s the great and unusual thing about this race, you get to race with the men, swim with them, draft off them and try and beat them on the run! Love it!
10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, and I’m off, the short run into the sea and swimming with the waves wasn’t as rough with the men as what I thought it would be, but it did seem to take a while to get to the first buoy (I suppose it would do swimming against the waves) then a straight line across and back into the beach.
My legs didn’t feel great running on the beach up to T1, but there was defiantly time for me to get these into gear as the run was sooooooooo long to T1! T1 wasn’t as smooth as I usually like it to be, probably because I don’t usually have to think about a race belt, but this race I did, so as I went to run off with my bike, I spotted the race belt on the floor, so quickly shoved it on and off I ran.
On the bike I could see 2 blokes in front of me, but I couldn’t quite catch them on my own, but a group of guys were close behind me so I jumped on their train, and managed to work with them to catch the guys in front, but Gomez had a group with him that contained about 8, so I had no chance to draft off the World Champ! The gap grew from my group to Gomez’s to about 3 ½ minutes by the time I headed out onto the run, but I just did my thing and bolted out of T2 and ran as hard as I could. Some of the blokes in my group did the same and I tried to hold on to them for as long as I could and then just kept pushing. I felt ok (ish) until about 7km then had a bad patch for about another km and then came good again and got to enjoy the last km through the fantastic crowds that surrounded the run course. As I came down the finishing straight, I spotted my Dad, so the high fives began until I got to the finish and grabbed the finishing ribbon! Winner!
When I finished, I went over to my support crew and found my Uncle, Auntie and two cousins had also come over to watch, as they were leaving to go on their holiday close by, so was great to have everyone there. It was great to finish my season with a win, and having my family there, smiles on everyone’s faces and a big cheesy one on mine! Now, I’m back home for a day, and I’m going on a weeks holiday with my good friend Zoe, and I’m under strict instructions not to take my trainers, and mum has already said she will be checking my suitcase to make sure I haven’t popped them in!
I want to say a huge thank you to everyone that has been there for me this season. It’s had its ups and downs and you guys have been there through both. Thank you to all my sponsors that have helped me so much this year, you guys are the best, and I truly look forward to working with you next year, there are exciting times ahead.
I have got to end my final race report by saying the biggest thank you to Michelle Dillon (the best coach and friend in the world) and Stuart Hayes (Skeletor), for all you guys have done for me this year. Much love to everyone and for everyone that’s having an end of season break, enjoy, you guys deserve it! Triathletes are a unique brand of special people, looking forward to 2011!
