The wait of over a month since my last triathlon was finally over, I was meant to have a triathlon two weeks ago but I had to pull out because of illness. To make my weekend even better, I had exeat this weekend, which means I have no Saturday school, which is why I could do this triathlon today. After spending most of my Friday being excited for today, I also managed to squeeze in some time to eat some pasta! My mum was not amused at having to make me a different tea to everyone else, I had to be pretty persuasive that the pasta will make a difference and I need the carbs! After not a ridiculously early start for once, we left at 7:20. Of course we could only leave, once I had had my porridge. Once we had parked up I made my way to the registration, I wasn't quite anticipating the long walk but 20 minutes later, I got to the sign in. After accidentally saying I was in wave 3 and not wave 5 (meaning that the organisers were faffing about everywhere because they couldn't find my race number) I got my race pack. They also pointed me towards big cardboard boxes full of free-bee gels and water bottles, it was fair to say I was in my element. Anyway after all this I had to go and set my transition up, which did take a while as I was making sure everything was in the right order, to save me as much time as possible. Eventually I did make it down to the lake with my wetsuit on all ready. Wetsuits were optional but I decided to wear one anyway, and almost everyone was thinking the same thing too. As we waited and had our pre race briefing, I was starting to get pretty hot in my wetsuit and all I wanted to do was get in the water. Also a lovely woman came up to me and asked if I had a blog, and that she recognised me from instagram and that she was a keen reader of my blog. This was so lovely to hear! Luckily soon enough we were walking towards the water to get in, so I jumped in pretty quick, however I was not expecting the water to be quite so cold. I had also heard some horrible stories of the lake at Hever Castle and had been told not to touch the floor, as it is really slimmy. I managed to avoid touching the floor, thankfully but I couldn't avoid the fact that the water was so murky. Personally I don't really mind that I can't see anything, I do really enjoy open water swimming, even though lots of people definitely do not agree with my opinion on it. Soon enough the swim was off and I was thankful for this, as I was slowly getting hypothermia. I had got a good place on the start line so I tried my usual tac-tic of sprinting the first 100m, to try and avoid all the argy bargy. Thankfully this worked and I found myself with the few girls leading the swim. When we got to the far buoy I found myself in second but the woman in front was slowly getting away from me, so I tried to speed up and I caught up to her, so I decided to sit on her hip for the rest of the swim. I found myself coming out the swim in second, which I was pleased about. However my mum on the other hand wasn't expecting this, so her photos are a bit of a mess because she didn't expect me to come out of the water so near the front. It was a nice short 100m run up to transition, which gave me some time to get my wetsuit off and of course catch my breath too and get my legs working. My transition was a little slow but I was off on my bike just after the woman who came out the water first. There were lots of people leaving transition when I was, because all the waves were merging together at this point, which did help make it clearer to know where to go on the bike. After passing my swimming coach, who was volunteering at the event I made my way off out onto the course. The bike course went surprisingly quickly, considering this is the bit I least enjoy and always worry about the most. The fact that the event was so well marshalled made it so easy to know where I was going. I found myself getting overtaken on the down hills and I was overtaking them back up the hills. I think this is because I don't have much confidence going crazy quick on the downhills, so hopefully this is something I can improve on. As I came towards the transition area, I definitely thought I was meant to be dismounting 10m too early, which is why in this photo my legs are all over the place. After a quick drop off of my bike, I was off on the run course and my legs didn't feel that bad... okay not as bad as my last triathlon that is, they still felt like jelly. I have recently been doing lots of cycle then running training to try and get my legs used to getting off a bike and to start running. The run was all around the grounds of Hever which was so beautiful, however the first 1km was not pretty. This was just one long slog up a hill, not what my legs wanted. Once I made it to the top of this I started to pick up the pace and overtake people, which was a nice confidence boost. My last 200m I was pleased with because I could finish strong, even though my legs felt like logs by this point. The last 2km went surprisingly quickly, even though I kept looking out for the 3km sign but it never came, I was soon cheered on by the marshall saying, final sprint. Perhaps I just completely missed the '3km' sign. At the end I was offered a glass of coke and took it immediately as I had been told by so many people to drink coke after swimming in Hever Lake because otherwise you get sick. I then munched down my banana and then a mini soreen loaf, followed by a whole bottle of water.... oh and then some free water melon which was handed out, I also managed to get this all over me! Afterwards mum and I went for a walk around looking at all the stores, and I was keen to pop into the castle triathlon merchandise store and I came out with a finisher top! I then went to the timing tent, were I could print off my ticket with all my splits on. My final times were:
Swim (400m): 8:32 T1:1:38 Cycle (20km): 46:57 T2: 1:18 Run (4km): 18:57 Total: 1:17:22 It was called a super sprint but they didn't have the option of a sprint, so I went for this one, as it is only a bit shorter than a sprint. When I was looking at all the break downs afterwards, I saw that my swim was the second fastest overall, which I was really pleased with as my swim I have been working on a lot recently. However my bike time is in need of some improvement, compared to the rest of the top 10. I came 8th out of 346 women, and it is fair to say I am so chuffed with this result! The professional photographs aren't out yet, but when I get them, I will post them on twitter and instagram and add them onto this blog post. Love G x
1 Comment
Evie Brailsford
9/25/2016 08:30:04 am
Hi Grace! Great blog post! It looks like you really enjoyed the race. Well done for your amazing swim, I think I need a few tips from you :) looking forward to reading more of your posts! 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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