First tri of 2010!

I headed off to the Cotswolds on Saturday (8th May) for my first tri of the 2010 season. Dave said that it would be wise of me to do a warm up event at the beginning of the season and this was the only one I could find with places still available. The weather was definately not ideal. It had been cold all week and the lake was currently around 11 ̊C. Fortunately I had done a few weeks of open water training with Swim for Tri at Stubbers since the begining of easter so I vaguely knew what to expect.

The race started in waves 10 minutes apart and the 111 women were off first. I was pleased with my swim and led from the beginning. It was only 400m, so not long enough to really get into your stride. I had fitted my new tri bars for the bike, to see if I liked them, as the course was one long flat loop. I kept expecting to be caught but was still ahead after the 20k bike! I got lots of cheers as I ran into transition and out on the 5k run round the lake, which was nice and scenic. As I got to the end of the two lap run, the tape was across the finish as it was a great feeling to run through first. Now all I have to look forward to is Blenheim!

Beginning of season update

I've been off here for a while, what with a heavy load of training as well as A-Levels and some kind of social life. Well, the winter training season seems to have come to a end so it is time for an update. First the good news, I was able to secure a SportsAid grant through the Dave Aitchinson Foundation which enabled me to buy my brand new carbon bike, complete with race wheels – beautiful even if it isn’t pink!

My first race was the National Duathlon at Loughborough. It was a very cold and windy day but I was looking forward to giving my new race bike its first outing. Sadly things didn't quite go to plan on the day, but I am going to wipe it from my memory and move on to the next challenge!
The following weekend it was off to Spain for a week training with the HPU team. I had such a great start to the week as within half a hour of the first bike ride I was on the floor and the brand new bike had its first scratches! All in all though, the week was fantastic. We had great fun and trained really hard. I only wish we had been caught by the ash cloud as I’m sure we would all have loved to stayed longer!

On returning from Spain I had the last of my winter running commitments, the London Minimarathon. I love taking part in this as the atmosphere is fantastic. We run the last 3 miles of the marathon course and the spectator support is amazing. I was pleased with my result because this was my last year in this event and 11th was a solid result, just ahead of my HPU team mate and training partner Armanni. For some reason in the heat of the moment I have decided to enter the ballot for the full event next year. Why, I have no idea!

South of England Schools

On Saturday 6th of February me and my HPU team mate Armanni travelled to Reigate with the rest of the Essex Schools cross country team, as a result of our performances in the trials a few weeks ago. The top 16 from each age group were selected to then compete against a number of counties throughout the South of England. The race turned out a lot shorter than I had been expecting at only 4,500m but it was a very interesting course with wooded and open sections which livened things up a little. I ended up coming 9th in the senior girls age group (school years 12 and 13) which I was very surprised and extremely happy with. So now there are only a few more cross country races left before the tri season really begins to kick off, so lets try to make the most of them!

X Country season is truly here :)

The snow and icy weather in the last few weeks has meant that X-country has pretty much been a no go. However this week the sun has started to do its work and that meant that the Essex Schools X country race was the first race of 2010 not to be cancelled. The course had not dried up though and after less than 5 minutes of warming up I was covered from head to toe and my feet were soaked. Because I am in the Under 20 age group, all the races I have done this season have been combined with the senior women and so they have been a lot longer than the 4800m I had to run. I was more nervous than I should have been knowing that the result would determine whether I was selected for the Essex team or not but I ended up coming 3rd in the senior girls age group which I was so chuffed with! I got my first Essex schools medal and I now have to race in Surrey in a few weeks time and in the National Schools Championships in Manchester in March. It just goes to show that the work you put in at the beginning of winter really can pay off!

First HPU training day of 2010!

Yesterday, (16th January) was the first HPU training day of 2010 at the University of Essex. We started with a turbo session which I thought was going to be much easier than a 2 hour road ride. It wasn't! After that we had lunch and our coach Dave Parry gave us a triathlon based quiz which my team definitely should have won. This was followed by a less exhausting mental toughness session which was extremely interesting and we all took a lot away from it. Then we had a run drills session followed by a short(ish) run session which would have been more enjoyable if it hadn't been freezing cold and pouring with rain! The day was concluded with an hour of core stability exercises and stretching which rounded everything off nicely. So that was the first session of 2010 and I'm sure that there will be many more :)