Around 6-weeks have now passed since I raced at the European
Duathlon Championships in Soria, Spain. Now that I have been able to finish off
my PhD and submit it, I can get back to updating my blog, reflecting on my
performance and the overall Team GB experience.
In the weeks leading up to this training had been going really well
and I was feeling fit, strong and super confident. I placed highly in my warm
up duathlon in Lincoln and had been PB’ing in the last three local TT’s so was
heading to the Europeans full of confidence.
I was flying out late Tuesday evening, so worked until lunchtime
before driving across to Manchester airport. Once at Manchester I checked in
stress free, and then headed to the nearest café to do some work on my PhD.
After about an hour or so, I looked at the departure board to see when the gate
was scheduled to open. Unfortunately, the flight was delayed due to bad
weather, I didn’t mind too much as that gave me a chance to do a bit more work.
Another hour passed and the flight was still saying delayed! This was now
getting frustrating as I was due to meet my Mum in Madrid airport and now she’d
be waiting for me!! Finally we got called to the gate and started to board.
Despite the delay the flight was good, the pilot was able to make up a bit of
time, so mum wasn’t going to have to wait too long for me. Once through
security I got my bag, before getting my bike and then meeting mum at arrivals.
We planned to stay in Madrid that night, with us both getting in rather late
and the race location being ~2 hours outside of Madrid. We picked up the hire
car, drove to the hotel, checked in before having a relaxing beer before bed
(just what we needed after long day).
Wednesday – Before going to bed on Tuesday we agreed not to set an
alarm so we could enjoy a bit of a lie-in. I gave mum a knock, before heading
down to get some breakfast. After a nice breakfast, we checked out and then
decided that as the weather was so nice in Madrid we would have the day doing
the tourist thing, before driving the 2 hours to Soria, where the duathlon was
based. Madrid was amazing such a beautiful city with plenty to see and do.
After pretty much the whole day we got back in the car and drove to Soria. We
were staying in a small town just outside Soria and made really good time
getting there. Then it got stressful. The apartment we had booked had emailed
proving a mobile number for us to phone when we arrived to get the key. So we
did, however they only spoke Spanish and with us only speaking English we really
struggled with communication. After numerous phone calls we decided to try and
seek some assistance by the locals (who also only spoke Spanish). Then by sheer
luck a lady walked out of the hairdressers with the key to the apartment.
Finally we were in!
The infamous Bear and Strawberry tree.
Thursday – Just like Wednesday we again agreed that we would have
a lie-in as Wednesday was pretty tiring with all the sightseeing and driving.
After a leisurely morning I decided to re-assemble my bike, so if there was
anything wrong with it from the flight I gave me enough time to hopefully get
it fixed. Fortunately it was all fine. We then decided to head into Soria to
check out the Team hotel and race location. This was pretty non-eventful as
nothing had really been done to the course and most of the GB team weren’t
arriving until late Thursday evening, however I was able to make a note of all
the important events happening in the build-up to the race on Sunday. After
enjoying a nice coffee in the hotel bar (which had amazing views) we drove into
the town to stock up on supplies, before heading back to the apartment.
Friday – I got up and decided to go for a short run just to loosen
the legs off a bit after all the sitting around in the few days before. After
that we had a bit of breakfast before mum went out for a little bit of an
exploration mission which allowed me to do some more work on my PhD. After a
few hours working mum returned and told me about a lovely café. So we decided
to walk there to get some lunch. After lunch I returned to my laptop and the
PhD writing! After a few more hours it was time for another break so we went
out for another walk and enjoyed a coffee in the sun. We then drove back into
Soria as it was the parade of nations. The parade was through the town centre,
culminating in the president of the ETU opening the event. This was an amazing
experience and was the first time I could see how many fellow athletes made the
trip over to race. As always, we (GB) had far more athletes than any other
nation even the hosts! We then drove back, chilled out playing cards, before
bed.
Saturday – This was a busy day for us. After breakfast I took my
bike out for a short spin, to serve as a gentle leg loosener and to double
check everything on the bike was working as it should. We then drove back into
Soria, as the remainder of Saturday consisted of the team briefing and
registration. This year’s team briefing was exceptionally important as
unfortunately course recces weren’t allowed as part of the course was on a
motorway! After the extended team briefing, with the comprehensive bike course
detail we then had the obligatory Age-Group team photos. I then headed to the
main race HQ to register, get my goody bag and check all the final last minute
race information. Next on the agenda was more food shopping, so I could get my
new pre-race meal, pizza (the bigger the better). Once the shopping was done we
then drove back to the apartment for dinner and an early night. Just before bed
it was time for one final weather check. Over the last few days that was one of
the main focal points on the team Facebook page. It was looking like we had brought
the British weather with us (cold, wet and windy) for race day.
Sunday (race day) – I woke at around 7:00 am and grabbed the phone
for another weather check. Fortunately it looked as if I’d be lucky as the forecast
had changed slightly and it now wasn’t forecast to come in really bad until
~2:00 pm, which was a result as I knew I would be comfortably finished by then.
I then started my pre-race breakfast routine, counting back three hours from
the race start, so started to eat my breakfast at 8:20 am. After breakfast we started
to pack the car up and headed back to Soria so that I could rack my bike etc in
good time ahead of the race start. Once parked, we heading to transition and after
a quick look around at all the other competitors, I was happy with my choice to
wear a short-sleeve base layer under my GB tri suit, as it was pretty cold. With
about 45 minutes to go before the race start I did the final transition check,
making sure my kit was still all ok, checked tire pressure for one
last time and had a final run though transition before the all-important
caffeine gel. Now it was time for me to go through my pre-race warm-up routine.
With 10-minutes to go we got called to the start/holding area, so gave mum my
jacket, said goodbye and the joined all my fellow Age-Group athletes and
nervously waited for 11:20 am and our official start time.
With about 5-minutes to go we got called forward to the start line and I was able to get a good spot quite close to the front. The MC then started the race build-up, my heart rate started to increase and it was time for me to get my game face on! The 10 km run was four laps of a 2.5 km loop that snaked up and down the local town park, with about six 180 degree turns. The klaxon sounded and we were off! The pace was seriously fast but I tried my best to stick to my original plan of pacing it for at least the first km. At the first 180 degree turn it gave me a chance to get a rough idea of my position. I would say I was about middle of the pack and was really happy with that. The remainder of this lap I was running side-by-side with another GB athlete although he was in the age-group above. After snaking the park, we headed out to pass the start/finish line, before commencing the second lap. This was the main drag and probably the longest straight section, so I was able to settle into a bit of a rhythm now as all the turns were quite disruptive. I started to pull away from my fellow athlete and started running on my own. These next two laps were a bit of a mental battle as I was right on the edge of my threshold and all the 180 degree turn points kept putting me in the red! I continued to hang in there and on the fourth and final lap, started thinking about the bike coming up with deflected some of the pain! I entered T1, put my helmet on and was out of transition, jumping on to my bike after the mount line. This went super slick and was on to the bike where I hoped to move up the placings.
One of the many turnarounds
The bike course was three laps of a 13.6 km loop. The bike course was a bit of a beast, which was amplified by the really strong winds. Although there was plenty of straight non-technical parts there were a few round-a-bouts, a couple 180 degree turns and plenty of hills. Normally, I’m not too bothered by the wind living in Hull, because it’s always windy. However, on this occasion it seemed like every climb on the course was into a headwind! The only good part to that was some of the downhills were accompanied by a tailwind! After exiting T1 the first few km’s took us away from the town centre and onto the course proper. Although there were a few gentle rises I was able to keep it in the big ring and start my usual task of catching some of the faster runners on the bike. The course then turned left onto the motorway section, which was easily the toughest bit of the course it was probably 5 km uphill, most of the climb wasn’t too bad but there were some really steep sections making it really hard. It then levelled out and I could then see the 180 degree turn-a-round point. I got back on the tri-bars and pressed on. Once rounding this point the wind was behind me for most of the ride back to the start/finish line, so I kept aero, got in the biggest gear I could and smashed it all the way back. On the second lab the bike course got even tougher, the wind picked up and we were now greeted with sideways rain and hail. This made the going really hard and for parts of the climb I had to shift down into the smaller ring (on the front). Despite this, I continued to gain a few places, which boosted my confidence nicely. The plan was to gain places on the hills, where I was feeling the benefit of my strength training and then hammer the flats and the downhill. I kept on pushing as hard as I could for the remaining laps and stuck to my nutrition plan, making sure I kept fuelled for the latter stages of the race. After the turn around on the third and final lap it was a downhill smash back to T2. As I turned the final right hand turn (close to transition) I un-Velcro'd my tri-shoes, slipped my feet out and rested them on the top of my shoes ready for the dismount line. I jumped off my bike just before the line and raced into transition for T2 before starting the final 5 km run.
Smashing the bike!!
The final run was just two laps of a slightly modified 2.5 km loop, similar to the first run. I exited transition and was quickly into my side, running well considering the tough bike. I was feeling really good and was pushing hard to try and move up the field and/or hold off athletes behind me. The best part about the snaky course was there was plenty of opportunities to who was in front of you and who was chasing you. The only tricky bit was working out if they were in my age-group as the run course was now pretty busy. However, with all these competitors I was able to use them as carrots, thinking right catch them and onto the next one. I kept on pushing and quickly ticked off lap one. As I reached the final turn-a-round I was confident that I wouldn't get caught, but couldn’t see anyone ahead of me, but kicked on as hard as I could just in case there was someone just out of site. I didn’t catch anyone else but crossed the line buzzing as it I had put in the best performance I could have hoped for.
Final kick to the finish.
I finished 12th in my age-group and 3rd Brit, in a time of 2:21:51. I was over the moon with this performance especially and felt that I couldn’t have given any more. Unfortunately, unlike in previous years as I finished just out of the top 10, which meant that I did gain automatic qualification for 2018’s ETU duathlon. However, I have already eye’d up the qualification race so I will be hoping for a successful race there, so I can wear my GB tri-suit for 2018.
Cheers!!
As always a massive thanks to my sponsors Meridian
Foods and Coconoil, as well as my coach Ian
Mayhew (Gears & Tears). A special mention
has to be made to the University of Hull who helped support me for this trip.
Also thanks to all of my fellow GB athletes who helped cheer me on and
make this an unforgettable experience. Lastly thanks has to go to my Mum,
who was my number one fan in light of Sally not being able to make this race
(first one she's ever missed!).
