What can I say, the weekend finally came where I was off to Slovakia to race in the European Aquathlon Championships. After leaving school in the afternoon of Thursday, we arrived in Bratislava late into the evening, so we pretty much found ourselves going straight into bed and left the exploring to the Friday. On Friday we had a chance to explore the city and to our delight, the weather was very sunny with a slight breeze. About 10,000 steps later we had seen lots of the city, the old and the new parts and were pleasantly surprised by it all. Although at midday, we jumped into a taxi and travelled 15 mins out of the centre, to a lake where the aquathlon was taking place. My swim familiarisation was at 4 and when I arrived with all of my kit at the lake for the first time, I was amazed by the water. It was nothing like any other triathlon I had done, where you couldn't see more than 10cm infront of you, but the water looked as clear as anything. The swim familiarisation went well and I just did one lap of the 500m, which was good to get to know the course, and I also learnt that I needed to make sure I didn't go too wide on the return from the second inflatable buoy. My Zone3 wetsuit and Zealous 2 piece swimsuit were great to test out too. Once the swim familiarisation was complete and the pre race briefing, we headed back to the hotel to get an early supper. After struggling to find somewhere to buy pasta, I finally found some, although I would have definitely have preferred my home made pasta by this point. After an early night, I found myself waking up at 7am, in order to get to the lake on time. The lake was pretty much next to the hotel, but I had to go with the strict timings of transition set up. It wasn't long before the time quickly went by and my race was starting shortly. I had a good running warm up and then jumped into the lake for a suitable swimming warm up too. The water was cold, but you quickly warmed up and luckily my wetsuit fits me really well, which helps to reduce any unnecessary cold water getting in. Once we were all brought into the holding pen, we were released and made our way to the start line. This was the first time I had done a run into the water start and I wasn't too amused because it was so so stony on the ground just at the edge of the water, so it was painful to run on. When the gun went, you didn't have much of a choice, either waddle into the water, don't hurt your feet and be slow, or just suck the pain up and run quickly in, and with the adrenaline going, that is what I found myself doing. I'll be honest, after coming out of the swim having been dunked, dragged and kicked, I staggered into transition over a minute behind the second last U20 athlete and I struggled to stay on two feet, as my head started to spin. I gave myself ten seconds in transition just to feel normal than I just ran off, with all the determination to do some catching up. Luckily the run did go much more in my favour, and I managed to finish in 5th catching several other U20s. The 5km run was done in 5x 1km laps, which made it easy to see how I was closing the gaps on people. When I crossed the line, I was relieved and very tired. The sun had been very strong and the temperature was over 25 degrees, which I am definitely not complaining about, but it did make it that little bit more tricky.
We then headed back to central Bratislava and spent the rest of the day sight seeing again and also picking up a bit of a tan (... maybe burn in some places), as it was super hot and sunny. I have really enjoyed my trip to Slovakia, and it has been an amazing experience. I am heading off home soon, and will return back to training, to prepare for a track race next weekend. Now I think I will be sticking with predominantly running in the future, as I hope to advance in that and come into the next cross country and track season strong. Love G x
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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
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