The race!

We had racked our bikes on the windy harbour the night before, and waited for an hour in the driving rain for our race numbers to be marked (which promptly washed off 5 minutes later). After a week of settling in and soaking up the brilliant atmosphere, race day had finally arrived. My fellow teammates and I attempted a hearty breakfast but as usual, I was sick with nerves. Relieved to find my bike still there in the morning, I calmly set up my transition area, trying to keep faff to a minimum, and politely chatting to fellow age groupers who I would be battling against for the next couple of hours.

There was a very serene time before donning our rubber where competitors were sitting in the bag drop tent, eyes closed, listening to Stevie Wonder 'You are the sunshine of my life', others were stretching on the harbour benches, for the first time ever before a race I felt relaxed. Wetsuits on, flem in goggles, we were herded into the swim pen for quick sips of water and good luck kisses from the support crew. Lining up on the pontoon, last minute instructions and it's time to get into race brain: calm, focused, one step at a time, keeping a lid on the pressure I always put on myself, and the sound of the klaxon 'aroouugghhhh'.

There were 83 in my wave, all in a line, we were fighting to get ahead to be at the tip of the diamond. I took it wide to avoid the argy bargy and and made a decent straight line to the first buoy. But suddenly we were out of the harbour and into incredibly rough choppy water, strong currents, sun in our eyes and indistinguishable buoys, needless to say it was messy and I relied on the teenage surfboard lifeguards to let me know if I was going completely off course. My male teammates (who are both brilliant swimmers) in the previous wave later admitted to being chicked - overtaken by the super fast girls in my wave - so it was unsurprising my swim time and everyone's else's were a few minutes slower than usual, but I came out in 27:42.

Relieved to be out the water, it was a long run to transition to grab the essentials and mount Georgina the Guru. The bike course consisted of 2 laps through Auckland suburbia then along the coast and back with a few bumps in between. The support was amazing, especially on the inclines, locals and families yelling out 'Go GB girl', well wishes chalked on the roads (a la Tour de France), I pushed hard through leg fatigue and a very nasty headwind on the way back and clocked a reasonable 1:17:10.

Another long transition run back which involved my bike being blown over and me falling on top and cutting my leg and hand on the chainring, I was back in, assessing how many other bikes were back and where I stood in the runnings. I picked up my borrowed Garmin watch (after mine had broken a few days before, good timing!) and quickly realised all the settings were wrong and I would be running blind without a clue on my pace. Without technology, I had to find a pace between comfortable and painful, and later saw it was an OK 4.45m/km, reasonable but I know I am capable of better....

The run course took us around Auckland harbour, in between yachts, locals enjoying leisurely brunches and hoards of support. It's helpful to have your name blazoned across your chest and gives you such a buzz to hear 'Go Gayler' from compete strangers. The second lap begun, telling myself it was only 20 ish minutes of pain, enjoying different support in the form of a local kiwi making slightly rude remarks about the various countries and their rugby abilities, and 5 drunk South Africans (at 11am?) who were shouting deafening support through a huge traffic cone.

The end was in sight, the blue carpet, huge cheers and the draw of the finish line, I went for it, a classic Gayler sprint finish and came in at 2:39:10, I was the 10th Brit and 51st overall in my age group, a slower time than I expected but incredibly proud to have got there and finished with no mechanicals, injuries or surprises like many of my races in 2012! It was an incredible experience and I am so proud to have been part of the team. Despite a lack of medals, my team mates and I celebrated with many a jaegar bomb and shouty singing that evening, well deserved.

What then followed was a relaxing (?!) week exploring the north island; we started by soaking in an egg-flavoured thermal spa, followed by wooded mountain bike trails, an amazing 20km walk across the volcanic snowy Tongariro alpine crossing, choppy rafting and of course a lake swim in the chilly but stunning lake Taupo. It was no surprise that we met many triathletes en route, easily spotted by their transition bags, ITU water bottles and reading their HR watches 'I'm currently walking in zone 2...' It was a brilliant ending to a wonderful experience, and I'm ready for more. Already signed up to my qualifying races for 2013 before I had even flown back to the UK - it's in London next year so it would be silly to miss such a convenient world champs, eh?

Huge thanks to my Clapham chaser teammates, coaches Dawn and Ray, physio James, family and friends back home and finally my number one supporter Nico, I couldn't have got this far without you.

Auckland: Triathletes' heaven

After a very long and uncomfortable cattle class flight, a multitude of plastic meals and rom coms, my teammate and support crew (boyfriend) arrived in NZ via noodles and ginger tea in Hong Kong, and were greeted by high winds, bursts of sunshine and frequent downpours on a beautiful city skyline and harbour of Auckland. 

Auckland before the ITU world champs is a glimpse into the future if triathletes were to rule;
Road signs indicating 'cyclists in training', fancy TT bikes filling every road and junction, runners pounding the shopping street pavements and relaxing in their Lycra outside street side coffee shops. It's an amazing atmosphere and it's the norm to chat to complete strangers about whether or not to use disc wheels, where to get the best muesli or how cold the sea will be at any junction or cafe you hang out in. The blue transition carpet is down, the stands are built and everyone is parading around in their national colours. I now regret only investing in a tri suit...

Despite our upside down body clocks, we quickly got back into training and I welcomed back that lovely 5.30am alarm. A silver wristband granted us access to lovely local outside pools and we started regular recces of the hilly/seaside cycle (fighting 50 knot winds) and industrial harbour run course, making us all more prepared (and filled with more nervous anticipation) than ever before. Yesterday was the swim course familiarisation, mainly very salty and buoyant, but goofing around with your team mates and stopping to chat around the harbour loop is far from race day s&@t fight it will be. 

After a car park transition practise tonight (with complete kit including swim hat, goggles and 'mock' wetsuit), it's the final stages of preparation- checking the weather forecast, eating loads of carbs, saturating my body with water, sleeping, raising my legs and checking the forecast again. We have been briefed, photographed and paraded around the city, racking tomorrow and spending the next 2 days getting inspired by the ridiculously fast talents of the elite men, women and juniors which all us age groupers desire to be. So, here it is, after 32 weeks of training, it all boils down to 2 hours and (around) 25 minutes. I am excited, nervous but most of all I want to make my boyfriend, family, friends and coaches proud.

The countdown is on

 

Time is ticking and it's now only 48 hours till I leave for NZ and my list of to do's is rather intimidating. Being an organised person, I function well with detailed lists, but it's more than just a holiday - all of the triathlon gubbins, training gear as well as civillian stuff, the important admin to sort, not to the mention the bike box I will be man-handling my bike somehow into tomorrow. I should also probably be sorting out my insurance instead of writing this blog right now...

Last weekend was the last chance for a full training weekend. It started with a long brick - 30k on the bike and then a lovely long run round Richmond Park, dodging puddles and deer spotting my way through the middle, where I inevitably got lost (bad sense of direction?).

Sunday was a cyle to test out the lovely Zipps (stolen from boyfriend) and a rather chilly lake swim. My blond speedster club mate (and fellow age-grouper) Rhi and I headed to Shepperton for some very chilly laps at just 12 degrees. We met guys from the Household Calvary Regiment who were starting a 250 mile open water relay; 5 days/ 24hrs a day charity swim this week, showing us that they are considerably more hardcore than us! I was very grateful for the tea and free biscuits which helped ease our frozen jaws and blue chattering lips afterwards. I think I must have less body fat than the early season cold swims, I really suffered! As we left, I felt a glow of pride when I overheard a woman saying '2 girls from the GB squad are here', I was quick to tell her we were age-groupers and not elites (yet!).

This week is the start of the taper, cutting two daily sessions down to one and working on speed work, as well as thinking carefully about nutrition and water water water. Exchanging last minute emails of support and encouragement from tri coach, swim coach, and physio, a very painful sports massage and having bike shop sponsor Cyclefit check over the lovely Guru. I am also extremely busy at work preparing for 2 weeks off so with time short I have been incorporating little jobs into training; 20 min speed work run en route to sports massage and RP laps en route to bike shop before getting to my desk in the morning. It's amazing the number of activities I can cram in before the work day begins!

They say it is good to try out any new kit as much as possible, so I am wearing my GB trisuit at any opportunity this week, #overkill?

A day in the life

A recent tweet from @StuHayes13: 'In meeting all day yesterday when I got home all I did was watch TV and eat. How do age groupers train before and after work.'

The daily grind of being an age grouper is all about supreme organisation, a lot of 30 degree sport washes, plenty of food and a rather limited social life. But when you have a massive age-group race looming and you love it, you make it work!

My day starts with my most popular alarm: the 5.45am. Up for massive bowl of museli and I grab the usual cyclists gubbins; inner tube, gels, cereal bars, energy drink, and arm warmers now the mornings are chillier, turning my Strava on, and head out the door. I fight my way through the Wandsworth one-way system tradesman's 6.30am rush-hour, stopping at numerous traffic lights where fellow cyclists in training chat up the lovely Guru 'Nice bike', and arrive at Richmond Park; a London cyclists answer to 'the country'. Greeted by stags roaring their mating calls, heavy mist over the fields and the sun rising over the green/ orange trees, it's a pretty amazing way to start the day.

This morning is a brick; an interval session on the bike followed by a run. I do a warm up lap before a 20 minute threshold test (till the legs burned) and then a tempo lap to finish. Anyone at RP at that time in the morning is in training and they're a friendly bunch. People chat about their training sessions, grab on to others wheels, and it's satisfying to try and drop them on the little hills, especially when they are men (!). Triathletes can be easily spotted on their aerobars wearing calf guards. Having just adopted my boyfriends power meter, I am trying to get my head around pacing myself better, which is key for a 40k TT in the olympic distance triathlon, but it's not easy to keep the power up on downhills (when I am usually braking like a Granny) and avoiding pushing 400W on Richmond Park's one serious big hill, without zapping all energy you have.

It's now school rush-hour and weaving back from the Range Rovers clogging up Wandsworth's main roads, I arrive back home in time to greet my ex-ironman neighbour who is keen to know what I've been up to this morning. Quick transition into my trainers and I'm off to the common for a quick 3k. It's then a mad rush to get home, showered, and into my commuting gear to get through central London's rush hour to arrive at my Soho desk for 9.45am. Second breakfast done and it's time to start my working day.

Come 7pm, I don my high-vis and commute home through Hyde Park runners and chauffeurs in Chelsea via the pool. Trying not to be a lane nazi (people really shouldn't do breaststroke in the 'fast lane') I do a 2k session of drills and speed work and arrive home by 9pm for a high-carb dinner and a quick episode of Sex and the City, whilst updating my training diary. It's then time for my boring (but neccessary) physio exercises and preparing my stuff for the next days training session. Falling into bed by 10.30pm and setting my favourite 5.45am alarm to do it all the next day. It sounds like a mad dash but having been training since March, I am very much in the routine and come the Winter, I am not going to know what to do with myself!

 

In other news, my GB trisuit was delivered to my office when I got back from Vegas, so obviously I had to try it immediately to check it fitted! My sponsor logos are being added this week and I'll be trying it out in my training sessions this weekend, pictures to follow...