St. Neots Triathlon Series Race 1

Sunday was the first of the St. Neots Triathlon Race Series, with another 2  later in the year.   
I was meant to use this race as a 'training race' and concentrate on the bike specifically.   However, when it comes to racing, I don't like to watch everyone else try their hardest and not do the same.   So, despite my coach's orders, I went and raced the whole thing as hard as I could. 


The swim was a very big start with all the men and women who were doing the sprint race going off at the same time. I was expecting it to be a very rough start, especially from the experience I had from the previous race where it was more like a boxing match than a swim start, but since Perry taught me how to get away quickly, I was out in front with the top 3 men from the start! The rest of the swim was good as I had the men to draft from, especially going against the river's current on the way back towards the transition.  I was very pleased to be the first woman out of the lake.


Being my stupid self, I ran past my transition spot coming out of the swim but eventually realised that I looked like a right melon and found my space.   I think I had the fastest transition 1 involving a wetsuit that I have ever done - 43 seconds!  And probably one of the fastest in the race.  It and my swim gave me a 40second lead on the 2nd lady. 

What was meant to be the main section of the race, the bike section ended up being my worst - in terms of time!
At the beginning of the bike leg, there is big hill that I usually find easy to get up, but this time I felt like I wasn't moving. Like I was cycling in toffee.    I put it down to my hard swim and carried on, but it carried on throughout the whole bike section.   It was only after the race (so after doing 24.9k on the bike) that I realised I had a puncture!    
No wonder my legs were screaming at me.  But I'd only managed to lose 4 places after my good swim leg - I would just have to finish with a good run and see where it took me.


I had a good T2 and came out of transition feeling good and with my fastest 2.5k run on the first lap (according to Perry's timings) and managed to overtake 4th placed lady.  My mum shouted that 3rd placed lady was just a few yards in front of me as I headed out onto the 2nd and final lap, so I dug deep and overtook her with around 500 metres to go.  Running into the finish felt good but my time was well down on the last triathlon here, but lessons learned today - don't ride 24k on your bike with a puncture as it feels like 48k!


Considering my times were down so much on the bike due to the puncture, I still managed to claw back into 3rd female overall - but 1st U20 female.  So not a bad race all in all.    However, I am looking into purchasing a pair of carbon race wheels with the financial help I am now receiving from my sponsors Pedal Potential   @pedalpotential  as I think this would help with the weight and add some extra speed on the bike section.  


 Some rather large adjustments to my training plans from Perry now that all my big qualifying races are over and in preparation for the biggest race of my career so far - World Triathlon Champs in September.  Oh I can imagine the aching muscles already :/  


I would like to take this opportunity to thank my sponsors for helping me to reach my milestone dreams so far, without whose help I would be struggling right now to do so much;


PEDAL POTENTIAL -  identify and support talented young athletes, with a passion for cycling, who require a degree of financial assistance to realise their potential, progress within their chosen sport and achieve success.



Sovereign Play Equipment -  professionally manufactures fun and exciting play equipment in the UK and supplies schools, businesses, and local authorities nationwide.

P.A.S Pro Athlete Supplementation- Leading the way in providing batch screened research driven sports nutrition performance for the elite of professional football, rugby, cycling and athletics in the UK, ensuring that our athletes and teams are supplied with safe but effective products.

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