It was always on my plan to have a warm-up race before Valencia, to finalise nutrition and pacing, and generally just give me a little confidence boost. The tricky thing was finding the time to fit one in as Covid had helpfully crammed everything I wanted to do in both 2020 and 2021 into the same few months – my hen do, triathlon coaching qualification, planning my wedding, actually having my wedding and then my minimoon! All whilst juggling training for the European Triathlon Championships. Oh and trying to actually have a social life and see friends and family seen as we actually are able to now! So, despite it not being the best timing I decided to do the Cotswolds End of Season triathlon which was a week after my wedding as I didn’t really have many other options! I knew I wouldn’t have the best build up to it, having had effectively 2 full days off the previous weekend for the wedding itself, and then 3 further days will little training whilst on my minimoon – which of course I wanted to enjoy with lots of champagne and time with the new hubby seen as you only get to do it once (hopefully anyway!). With that in mind, I knew my legs would most likely asleep come race day so it took the pressure off a little bit, but I still made sure to replicate everything I would do on the ‘A’ race day – same tea the night before (trusted lentil pasta, with quorn chunks and tomato sauce), same breakfast (homemade rice pudding with almond milk and coconut sugar), and same fuelling strategy (a Torq gel 20 mins pre-swim, and one every 30 mins thereafter, plus Torq electrolytes in my drinks bottle on the bike). Although, I then took this ‘replication’ a little too far – in hindsight it was a silly idea. We were told during race registration that it was optional wetsuits as the water temperature was 20.5 degrees. I knew that there is a strong possibility that Valencia will be mandatory non-wetsuit, so thought this could be a good opportunity to practice open water swimming without the comfort of a wetsuit. In theory a good idea. In reality, the water and air temperature in the Cotswolds that day weren’t exactly the lovely warm conditions you would expect in Spain. As soon as I jumped into the water to set off on my 1500m swim, it felt as though someone was squeezing my chest so hard. The shock of the water stopped me from being able to breathe properly for a good minute or so. After a while, I did manage to stop hyperventilating and get into a normal rhythm and at the time felt OK – I was overtaking people from previous waves and even people in my own wave. However, once I had finished the race and checked my times, I realised my pace was at least 10 seconds per 100m slower than recent open water swims – clearly I am faster with my wetsuit if it is cold ish! Onto the bike and I knew something wasn’t quite right as my chest still felt tight and it took me a while again to settle into a nice rhythm, and my legs just didn’t have the power. Despite that, I really enjoyed the ride as the route took us on a big loop through lovely Cotswolds villages – it was a really nice course. I also managed to overtake quite a few people which is always a nice feeling, although two people I had to overtake twice as I turned left rather than right at a crossroads – doh! Overall I finished second fastest lady for the bike element, so not a bad result. The into the dreaded run. In my head I had a pace I wanted to run which I have been hitting in training, but sadly my body had other ideas. Twice I had to stop to walk as I just couldn’t breath – all I can think is my core temperature had dropped too much during the swim and hadn’t recovered so couldn’t function very well. I also started getting horrid blisters about 4k in, which in the end took 4 days to heal stopping me running for a bit post-race…). And I then had a panic at the finish line as I wasn’t sure I had done the 6 laps I was supposed to, so wasted a good 30-40 seconds trying to work it out. oops! In the end I had done enough thankfully and crossed the line to be greeted with a pop ice – haven’t had one of those in ages and it felt like the best thing post-race! So lesson learnt – don’t try something new on race day, even if you are trying to replicate a future race. Try it during training, or maybe just never go non-wetsuit in the UK, it is far too cold lol! But also, lots of positives to take away – no issues with my fuelling, transitions were smooth and my bike leg wasn’t too shabby. I also somehow finished 6th lady and 2nd in my AG too (and as the winner of my age group was the overall winner, I also got awarded the AG winner trophy)! Hels x
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AuthorAn everyday girl with a love of competition (and nut butter) Archives
October 2021
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