Race Report
n Sunday I competed in the National middle distance championships where I had a great race and managed to get the win. Feeling over the moon doesn’t do justice to how happy I am with how the race went. Before the race I knew I was in good shape after puncturing in Bala on the bike in a good position and after a solid result in the Liverpool 5150 where I got 7th place the week before.
The day started very early I got up at 4.30am so I had time to let my breakfast digest in time for the 6.30am start, even at that time in the morning you could tell it was going to get hot later in the day and after the weather that was in Bala a few weeks previously that would be very welcome.
Anyway onto the race and I had the game plan of going hard on the swim as one of my mates had told me about a few people who were racing that were quick bike/runners but not so quick on the swim so I wanted to get a lead on the swim, maintain it on the bike and hopefully have a cushion on the run which I would be able to hold on to.
I started hard and got in to a small group of 2-3, there were two more ahead and a large pack behind. The pace didn’t feel that hard but I new we had distanced ourselves from the main pack and I didn’t want to waste a lot of energy just getting a few seconds when the race was going to go on for at least another 3.5 hours after the swim. So I was content to sit on the feet and let the others in front do the pace setting.
Out onto the bike and my dad gave me a time split of 1m 50 to the leader and informed me I was in 3rd place. I thought YES I’m in 3rd but Bloody Hell 1m 55 down that is going to take me at least 20-30 miles to catch him up. Luckily I passed first place after about 5 miles and then just settled into a rhythm which felt pretty hard but not so hard that I would be unable to run off. I also thought that as the cycling is my strength if anyone was to catch me on the bike I thought that they would really suffer on the run and as I would be fresher I would be able to put them to the sword.
I started the run and oh my god my legs felt horrific, I thought just keep it together for 3 laps and if your still in the lead on the last lap adrenalin will get you through. Anyway I got the first lap done and actually felt pretty good on the second lap but the third lap felt really bad and I just kept thinking it’s mine to lose now and I knew that my Dad and mate would have said always the bridesmaid never the bride if I had got caught and I thought I’m not having them say that to me so I just buried it, and gave it absolutely everything for the 3rd and 4th lap. The pain was excruciating and even as I right this on Wednesday morning my legs still feel nailed but the win made it all worthwhile.
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