Firstly I will appologise for the serious lack of blog posts in the last two weeks, it is just I have been very busy with work, but luckily I only have 3 more days left before I break up... Happy Days! I am defnitely in need from a break from work, although I am preparing myself for a large pile of holiday work! Anyway today I had another duathlon, in the same place as a couple of weeks ago, but this time it was a junior event so I was actually only racing people my age or younger, which is rare as I have got so used to racing against adults now. The distances were considerably shorter though this time and that is not really in my favour, well I could have done with the run being longer and the cycle being shorter but hey ho. Run no.1 was 1.6km, cycle was 8km and then the final run was ONLY 600m, it is basically a sprint... you can't really do too much with that. The run set off very quickly and I found myself going from being at the front of the start line, to the back quarter. I was fairly concerned by this point but I think I judged it fine, because 400m later I was the leading the girl and I am chasing the front pack of boys down, I knew I was going to have to have a strong run because my bike is still weak and needs work. When I got to transition I realised I was pretty much the only one who was in cleats and I still don't know how to do them up while cycling. This is something I seriously need to work on and is on of my challanges for the next month. After a little slow of transition, I set off on the cycle as the lead girl. On my 3rd lap I was overtaken by a girl and I tried my best to stick with her but by the last lap she was just out of my sight and I came in to transition 2nd, 15 seconds behind her, but the 600m run just wasn't enough time for me to get it back and I think there was about 10 seconds between us in the end. I came in as 2nd girl, and part of me was a little gutted not to have come in in first, but I guess its just getting more experience and I still need to work on my bike. Over christmas, I want to try and get some serious sessions in and perhaps get some brick sessions in too. I hope you have all had a nice weekend and also some better photos will be coming on soon and I will edit them onto here and put them on my instagram. One of the highlights of my day was definitely when a girl at the finish line recognised me from my blog, this honestly made me so happy!
G x
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As I don't have a race this weekend, I thought I'd look back at my double weekend of racing last week. I posted about my Kent XC League last Sunday, so here is a post on my duathlon. On last Sunday morning, I am lying in bed, the day after my kent XC League and it is fair to say my legs were feeling rather heavy. I still managed to pull myself out of bed and get downstairs for my porridge, which was topped off with some raw coconut chocolate. Once I was up I was a lot more ready to go, and once my bike was in the car and all my kit was ready, we were off. On arrival, I was very excited because my duathlon was at the Olympic park, which is just pretty awesome! After following a tunnel to the velo park, I quickly checked in with the organisers and was given my race number. I then realised I had forgotten my race belt so, I had to saftey pin my number to my tri suit... not ideal (purely because I was most worried about it getting holes in). this also meant I could grab a top to put on over my number for when I was cycling but this was fine because I didn't actually get cold in the end. After I had set my bike transition up, helped by my number one marshall, aka my dad! For the start I managed to get to the front of the line and when the whistle went I found myself in the front few. After getting into my rhythm, I quickly got up to the front and I found myself leading the run out... this was a very new experience for me. But as I came into the last straight of my second and final run lap, I had a 15 second lead, this isn't a huge lead but I was pleased to have covered my 2 miles in 13:32. I still haven't quite masted already clipping my shoes into my cleats and then doing them up while cycling, but I am still practicing lots, to try and master it. Anyway I was soon off on my bike course and I was in the lead. The bike course was 10 miles, made up of 10 laps... *yawn* that is pretty hard to keep track of and also a little bit boring doing the same loop, but surprisingly it wasn't. I think it was probably to do with being in the Olympic Park,which made it so much more cool! 3 laps went by and I was still in the lead, although this lap I was overtaken twice, and I my legs were starting to feel the burn. Nonetheless I continued to push through each lap and by the end of the 10th lap, I jumped off to find myself in 5th place. I was determined to try and catch the person infront of me in this next run, but we were all too spaced apart by this point and I came in, in 5th overall, and 1st in my age group. The last run lap was so painful and the lactic acid in my legs, was a little overwhelming, however I tried to run through it, and my legs finally got back to normal with about 100m to go. This is usually fine in a triathlon because the run finishes with a 5km run so I can run normally for the last 4km, but in this case the run was just too short, to work in my favour. I was rather pleased to have won my age group, however I was a bit gutted to have missed out in the top 3 for the overall rankings. I still need to continue to improve my bike part and this was really the main reason I did this duathlon, to continue to improve my bike racing. Afterwards we had a wonder around and we got to go and see the indoor cycling track, which was pretty awesome. I was shocked at how steep the sides are because when you see it on the tv, they effortlessly glide up and down the sides. After a busy morning we headed back to the car and set off home. I was pleased with my mornings work and my final time was 55:28 with my splits of R1- 13:32 B1- 34:46 R2- 7:09. I couldn't manage to get out on my bike this morning because of the bad weather, but I am going to jump on my turbo later. Have a good Sunday everyone.
G x |
HelloI'm Grace, a 18 year old runner, and fitness fanatic. Join me on my crazy journey through life, squeezing in an adventure in every second of spare time I have. Archives
February 2019
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