First Standard Distance Tri 2017

After a very long 6 hour drive to Chester, it was time for me to do my first standard distance triathlon of this year.  I hadn't done any before this time because the European Aquathlon Champs were sprint distance, and also the European Sprint Triathlon is very near, so my training had been slightly changed to accommodate them.

​Chester is a beautiful place, with its rolling hills (that are very similar to the Welsh hills I trekked across in March for my DofE) and lovely flowing rivers.   If I wasn't racing, I would have loved the whole area and its surrounding towns.  However, I was racing and unfortunately that meant the course used every beautiful thing in the area to its advantage:  the swim course in the cold river was against the flowing current, making it ten times harder than usual; the bike course featured many of the hills that I said about, turning my legs to jelly; and the run course was a constant 10k in the boiling summer sun, draining me of energy and cramping both of my hamstrings and both of my quadriceps up (really need to sort out my nutrition before the World champs ).

But other than that, it went really well!!! :')

​I finished in 1st place in my age group and therefore have qualified for the World Triathlon Championships in Rotterdam this September!!

​Now the real training begins :)