Finally the day of my aquathlon came, after lots of excitement leading up to it. My dad had come home early to come and watch me and by 5:30 we were in the car on our way to Lewes. After a not too long drive and then some navigating we found Pells Pool, which wasn't what I was expecting but I loved it! It was a huge outdoor pool, and I am definitely keen to go back there to do some more swimming. After registering and having a wonder around looking at where the transition area is and where I'll be running, and at the same time passing a beautiful lake, as shown in the photo above. I soon found myself on a light jog around the park warming up. When I was warming up there was a light bit of rain, but fortunately my leggings are waterproof, even though they don't feel it... fortunately the rain stopped just before my race. As my wave came closer I did a few last minute warm up exercises, including swinging my arms around... and looking like a nutter. After a few warm up lengths in the very cold water, I wasn't sure whether to wear a wetsuit but in the end I decided against it, although some people still wore them. I soon found myself on the start line... 3, 2, 1, *whistle*. Luckily all the waves were pretty small, which avoid everyone swimming on top of each other. However annoyingly I was in the last wave, which was definitely the strongest... not sure how I ended up in that wave but hey, it was fine. The fact that this was my first aquathlon, I didn't have much experience in swimming in a big group and in circles, instead of having my own lane and just going up and down. When I was swimming I just didn't expect it to be so argy bargy and several times I found myself push out onto the edge of the pool, having to swim the long way around the buoy. Hopefully with experience I can improve this aspect of my swim. After my 3 laps of the pool, which was 300m, the transition came and this bit I was most worried about, but when you are in the zone of your race, I just seemed to do everything automatically, although I forgot to tighten my elastic laces and had to do them just as I left the swimming pool. My new tri suit helped my transition too because I didn't have to worry about putting on shorts or a top, all I had to put on was my trainers. I charged out the pool, like I was on a mission and I quickly got to the big park and here I was to do 3 laps again, each time collecting a purple band... just to make sure everyone has done their 3 laps. Running is definitely my stronger part of the aquathlon and I was hoping to make up some places in this section and I am very pleased to say I over took 4 people in the 3.5km run. I was worried before the aquathlon whether my legs were going to feel that responsive, as on my runs the few days before they were feeling a bit heavy. Luckily they felt almost normal by the time it came to the run and although I gave the run my best shot, I think I left myself a bit too much to do after the swim. By the time I reached the finish, we were all quite far away from each other, but I am pleased to say I finished strong and I couldn't stop smiling afterwards and can't wait to do more aquathlons and triathlons in the future! The results still haven't been published and I couldn't even roughly tell you were I came because there were so many waves, so I can publish my results on twitter and Instagram when I get them. My plan for training now is to get some solid swimming sessions and introduce more cycle rides into my training plan along with my runs. I have a triathlon in August which I am working towards, so hopefully everything will come together then. Hope you all have a great weekend, and good luck to anyone racing. 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
February 2019
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