European Youth Relays

Last Thursday, I flew out with a team of 8 youth athletes and also an under-23 team, along with many coaches and other important roles, to Russia, Moscow. It was a long and early flight and it was very hard to adjust to the 3 hour time difference. The next day we also had another 1 hour flight to Penza from Moscow, so there was LOTS of travelling involved.
When we got to our hotel, which was the race hotel, so many country's were also staying there, we went into breakfast. It felt so wrong, we had been up since 3am so it felt like it was 5pm, not just 9am!!
The build up to the race went quite slowly. We had a good recce of the course on the friday, the bike course was hilly and tough, especially because of the wind. It was such a short race though so no holding back. The swim was fun, but tough to practise. We all practised many times diving in and also running into the water from a beach start, and this definitely helped as many of my team mates said they gained just by diving in.

On the Saturday we got to watch the Under-23 race, which we all really enjoyed. We got to see them do the course and got some feedback on the course and this was gratefully received. We also done our last minute prep and fuelled up well.
Sunday: Race Day!!
We had to get up at 6.45am as our race was at 10am, so we had to have breakfast, check in and set up transition all in time. It was really handy that our hotel was the race location. I was surprisingly relaxed in the morning.
In the morning I was sure to hydrate up on my H2Pro precision hydration drink. Thanks for supplying me guys.
The race came around quickly.
I went first leg. I had a strong swim and was out onto the bike in 1st. I quickly dropped the Russian but there was a small group who worked together to catch me. I went out onto the run in joint 3rd and thats how I finished it. I handed over to Olivia Mathias, who had an excellent leg and ended up just over 15seconds in the lead. She then handed over to Kate Waugh, who pulled away even further. At this point Liv and I couldn't believe it. Kate was over 30 seconds in the lead going onto a 1500m run. We were so ecstatic. We couldn't believe we had just won GOLD at the European youth relays!!!!!!!

After our race, we got to watch the youth boys race, who all raced excellently and finished second, although there was an incident with some cows on the course, which impeded their position. 

We also got to watch the Under-23 relay, which the 2 youth reserves got to race in along with Hannah Drewitt and Gordon Benson. So Jack Willis and Emma Clapton were excited they got to race. 

Russia was such a great experience and something I will never forget.

Well done to everyone who raced and thank you to everyone who supported me:

Copy It- for the race wheels

Gowards funeral services- for the bike box

H2pro precision hydration- The tablets which helped fuel me for my race

Vision for sport- Who gave me sunglasses

Sportsaid- for the award 

Broadland distrct council- for the grant

Carl Goose Massage- For helping me prepare for the race

Zone 3- for the brilliant wetsuit.

Post exam report

OK, so when I left off last time, I had just told you guys about my selection for the European Youth Olympic games qualifier.

This was a big race and many great athletes were there racing. It was a completely new experience for me, firstly it was a scorching day in Weert,Holland, which is very different to normal English weather, so that was one challenge to start with. The second thing was that it was my first sprint triathlon, so this meant twice the distance to what I have been doing and what I’m used to. To start with I’ll tell you about the swim; to describe it in one word.... BRUTAL. In the words of Olivia Mathias “I didn’t think girls could be that violent!”  I managed to end the swim as I’d started it, next to Sian Rainsley, so I was pleased with this. Olivia, Sian and I got in the second bike group and managed to go round the course still very fast but doing near to no work, which was, now we look back to it, a good decision. We still managed to catch the lead group which included Elizabeth Hood, so 4/5 British girls went out onto the run pretty much together, all fighting for the one spot in the Youth Olympic games. I was chuffed with my run and managed to finish second Brit girl home, just under a minute behind Sian Rainsley who had an amazing run and ran her place into 6^th place, bagging the spot for China. I finished 19^th overall and I was aiming for top 30 so I was ever so happy. As I finished I got pulled over to one side for an interview which was great experience at public talking, although i couldn’t hear a thing the man was saying due to loud music and screaming crowds!! I’m so happy for Sian and well done to all the other British girls; Olivia Mathias, Elizabeth Hood and Philippa Chambers.

The next weekend was followed by another hard and important race; European Youth relays qualifier! It was back to good ole’ English weather with the North standing up to its reputation of having the worst weather in England.  It didn’t stop raining ALL day. The race was held at Hetton le Hole, a course where the IRC’s was held a couple years ago when I was still racing in Tristar 3. It was a solid swim with Sian Rainsley leading it out. With a strong T1 it just left me and Sian as the lead 2 cyclist. We had a good pace for 2 laps, but going onto the 3^rd as I took the front, next thing I knew I looked back to find I’d dropped Sian. I think I must have panicked more than anything, thinking I’d gone wrong. I kept going and tried to just keep a head of new strong bike pack just formed containing Olivia, Sian and Kate Waugh. Going out onto the run I had a roughly 10 second head start on the other girls and I knew I would have to run my heart out if I wanted to stay ahead of Sian looking back on the previous weeks run times. There were 2 laps on the run, for the first lap it just felt wrong; I felt like Bambi! But then once Sian caught me, I managed to settle into her rhythm and in the end had a reasonably strong run, finished 2^nd just under 10seconds behind Sian and then Olivia and Kate, who sprinted for 3^rd and 4^th, just under 10 seconds behind me. So the race team for Russia, European Youth relays will be Olivia, Kate and I (Sian isn’t coming due to selection for European champs in Austria!)

The weekend after that, again another race. This wasn’t as bad as it was only an Aquathon, although in some ways it was 10x harder as I had a battle for 2^nd the whole run course with Emer Winch. Kate Waugh had to catch for the first lap and a half but then went with roughly 400m to go and I was shattered. I was happy to get 2^nd and that gave me my first points into the British Youth super series, after the race that shall not be named (duathlon).  The elites were racing later in the day and as us girls had our presentation, the elites were setting up transition. It was a bit surreal just walking by Alistair Brownlee and Gomez as they set up their trainers. Kate did blush, just a little, as Gomez had a look over to us on our way off the podium. 

The day after Hyde Park aquathon, my family and fellow Eastern region athlete and England talent squad member Oliver Swallow and his family had a lovely walk around Hyde park and visited many great stalls that were set up for race day. Here we met the great “Sunwise” glasses people, who gave Ollie and I a fab pair of sunglasses each with 4 changeable lenses, ready for summer racing.

3 weekends down and only 1 to go, but it was going to be one of the hardest: Blenheim Palace Triathlon. After doing this course last year and thinking I enjoyed it, this year could not have gone more different. My swim was ok, not as good as I was hoping for but not terrible. I made the decision to take my wetsuit off at the bottom of the hill before the vertical 400m run to T1 after doing some research.  There was quite a big bike pack formed including Hoodie, Mathias, and Waugh.  I felt awful at this point. Going up one of the hills I started thinking “I’m going to get dropped, it’s ok though any position is great” My head started to drop and my lungs were burning. The pace started to drop slightly (or it may have been the fact that there hills subsided for a few minutes) which made me feel better as I could start to regain a normal breathing pattern once again. I was delighted to get off the bike! Onto the run, Lizzy Hood and I started running together. I seriously can’t remember much of the run but one conversation I can recall went a bit like this:

Me: “Water, I need water so thirs....”

Liz:”SSHHHHHHHHHHHH”

After getting the 2 cups of water I desperately needed I felt like a new woman. I made a kick from Hoodie and ran with Emma Clapton for a bit, until she dropped me for the last 800m. I was so pleased with 3rd at the end of the race, especially as I had a bit of a wobbly on the bike. So that was my second lot of points onto the British super series.

Off the sport subject, I have now finished school for good, well until September anyway when I start 6tth form. All exams done and dust,  I’m now looking forward to a hard summers training and I may even try get a part time job to fill up the 13 weeks I have off. I will update you guys again after Russia.

P.s Thanks to Carl Goose from ‘Carl Goose sports therapy’ for the great sports massage which helped me keep going for 4 weekends on the trot. Also Human performance Unit at Essex university for having me on their excellent race team and for their support!

After Easter Update.

Hey,

So last time I finished on saying how excited I was to be off to Italy and Loughborough and to say the least I was not disappointed! Loughborough was a hard week with so many great athletes being involved in the week away! I learnt so much from the nutrition side of things all the way to bike set up. All the talks were so interesting and it really helps to know about why we do the things we do when it comes to pre-race nutrition.

Italy was an experience I will never forget. The group was small but we all got along so well. The training was so different to what I’ve done before. It was great to see how the Italians done some of their training. It was really exciting and it was great to get to know some of them as hopefully we will be meeting again at international races!

Before I went away to Loughborough and Italy, I participated in the British Elite Youth Duathlon championships. Let’s say it’s a race I definitely will not forget anytime soon. So, it started off better than I hoped, I managed to keep up on the first run with Kate Waugh and Liz Hood, which gave me quite a bit of confidence. As we got on the bike I was feeling really strong and really trying to push the pace but then...... MY PEDAL FELL OFF! ( I blame the mechanic. Aka Dad)  The panic that went through me in that moment was ridiculous. Luckily I didn’t come off my bike, but the thoughts that went through my head at the time I am laughing at now. I was thinking I could ride with one pedal. I had about 5 and ¼ miles to go! So that was never going to happen. Even though I didn’t finish I still took many positives from the race and wasn’t too upset for too long. Well done again to the girls who made the podium: 3^rd; Liz Hood, 2^nd Emma Clapton and 1^st was Kate Waugh.

Between then and now I found out I have been selected for the Youth Olympic games qualifier in Weert, Holland, where \I will be competing in my first sprint triathlon and that is in a couple weeks time.

In the mean time I will continue training hard and revising for my exams with my first being on Friday! It’s a busy month ahead and although there is a lot to be nervous about, there is just as much to be looking forward to.

Quick update on the swimming front of things; I just competed at the east region championships, where I got my 200m backstroke NQT! I also got over a 2 second pb on my 800m free ( already got my NQT so now got it my a little bit more), so my time is now 9.17.26! This is giving me a lot of confidence going into Weert where the swim is 750m so I am looking forward to see how this goes. I medalled in every event individual event I swam and I really enjoyed the relays I participated in. Overall I was really happy with the weekend.

I also participated in one of my first 1500m track races a week ago. I was really happy with the race and I know I can do even better as I get more experience as track is so very different to road running.

Thanks for reading. I will give another update in a few weeks time after Weert and I will give the update of how I get on! 

Thanks again to all my sponsors for their help and support. 

P.S My bike box (sponsored by Gowards funerals services) came in really handy again when I went to Italy and my lovely new Mavic wheels (sponsored by Copy it) helped me and the other British girls fly up the Beautiful Italian hills. I also got to wear my new Zone 3 vanquish wetsuit in Loughborough when we done several mini races, LOVE IT!

Goodbye 2013 and hello 2014...

Hey,
Its been quite a while since I've posted anything, but it's been such a manic year I think I've needed quite some time to get my head around it all.

So when I last left off, I'd just got back from Hungary. So after that I just had 1 more race, which was the under 20's festival. This time it was a quite head to head battle with my really good friend Elisabeth Hood. It was close but Liz had the edge on me on the run and went flying to take first, and I finished in 2nd, closely followed by Olivia Mathias, who also had a great race.

After that race there was the presentation for the overall series as well. I was so happy as I managed to come 4th, 5th was Olivia, 3rd was Megan Mcdonald, 2nd was Liz and 1st was Bronwen Owen.

After the season ended I managed to get into the England Talent squad, along with all the girls above and many more great triathletes. This took me off to Spain for a week just before Christmas for a really great, but very intense training camp. It was really enjoyable with so many laughs and great training was done. I learnt a lot and am looking forward to my next camp with the England talent squad up in Loughborough. Straight after this I also have another camp away with a smaller group of us to Italy, so I am really looking forward to all of this to come.

So far I have done many cross country races, included Norfolk schools, where I won, and Anglian schools, where I finished 5th, and I am now through to English schools, which is in the coming months. I have also done Norfolk county championships (1st) and I have competed in southern county champs/ parliament hills, where I was chuffed to finish 21st!!!

On this swimming side of things, I was ecstatic to achieve my 800m free style national time and the open water, which I thoroughly enjoyed last year. I look forward to competing at Nationals in July.

Its been such a great last season and hope to achieve just as much this year and hopefully with the help of
-Gowards funeral services, who ever so kindly sponsored my bike box, which came in very handy for Spain and will be for Italy.
-Copyit, who have generously given me sponsorship for a great pair of wheels.
-Zone 3, who have given me help on my journey and by giving me a reduced price wet suit, I will be able to use this on future training camps  and this will help me improve endlessly.

Thank you ever so much for all the support and help along the way and I will keep you posted more regularly on my doings and results.

   

UPDATE

  

Just got back from Hungary after a week away with triathlon England/ British triathlon. It was a training camp leading up to the Tiszaujvaros ETU Triathlon Junior European Cup, unfortunately I found out when registering on Friday that I was in fact not allowed to race due to my age, along with 3 others. Things like this happen and it was no one’s fault! It was still great to be there and watch the race and be able to train with everyone there. Hopefully I will be there next year with being able to race and now I know the course and how the semi final to finals work. It was a great experience.

A few weeks ago I also raced at British triathlon Championships in Liverpool. As always Liz Hood, Hermione Waterman and I swam together an then went out onto the bike together and again Megan Macdonald caught up and worked us very hard on the middle leg!!! As we went out onto the run, Meg and Liz managed to scrape a 5-10 second lead on me! the run consisted of a 2 lap out and back course! here it was down to the 3 of us racing it out! The other girls were running together and I wasn't going to be dropped! After the first lap I was about 3-6 seconds behind now! After the U-turn, Meg made a big kick and left Liz, I knew I would have to go as well. Here I passed Elisabeth and pulled away from her but Meg was going really strong and just managed to pull away and get the win! I managed to hold onto second which I was ecstatic with as it was my first podium of the season!! Hopefully I will carry on this medaling at the last race of the season at Eton! I will update you after that!!!

HOLLAND- European youth relay champs

Well this was it, the biggest race of my life so far!
I was so nervous. Luckily we went over to Holland on the Monday so we could recover from the 8 hour journey to Holland by race day (Thursday). The week went really nicely. we done some gentle tapered training whilst we were out there which was helpful.
When race day came I can honesty say I think I was the most nervous one there; I was going first in the relay, which I think didn't help calm the nerves but in the end I enjoyed going first.
The race went well to an extent; I had a great swim, coming out second to a french girl. the swim was great because we got to do a pontoon dive start which is something I have never done before, so that was a nice change. Once out of the swim, and on to the bike, there was a massive pack of us all together, including the other GBR team 1st leg, Grace Cook. Off the bike we were all together. I didn't realize at the time but I forgot to put my helmet in the box, which got my team a 10 second time penalty. On the run I ran my hardest knowing that we had the TP. I then handed over to Leah Peploe, who had a great leg and who then handed over to Elisabeth Hood. Liz, like Leah, had a great leg but had to endure the time penalty whilst out on the run, but overall we finished 4th, 20 seconds behind 3rd, which was the other GBR team. I felt awful afterwards for getting the time penalty but I just took the positives out of the race in the end. Overall it was a great experience and I will now ALWAYS remember to put my Helmet in the box!!!!!!

MY FIRST GB CALL UP

Well, its been a while and I've been very busy.
Lets go back to the first race this year! Loughborough duathlon. The first race in the youth super series. Its my first year in this age group and gosh I was nervous. I don't/ didn't like the running at this point but I tried my hardest and managed to grab 6th place. I was very pleased with this result and hoped to keep around there all season.
Next race up was the Triathlon at Eton, Dorney Lake. It was a scorching day and the adrenaline was pumping. I was more nervous for this than Loughborough as It was the European youth relay qualifier race. I knew there was some great athletes there and I would have to work really hard but it was something I was willing to do!!! Once the swim was over and we went out onto the bike I was 2nd. Once on the bike we were working hard trying to drop people as far as possible as we knew who the great runners were. There were 2 crashes on the bike and luckily I was not near the first but the second I managed just to swerve around!! On the run at one point I was in 3rd and then one of the amazing runners flew past and went on to finish second. Overall I managed to hold onto 4th, which would have meant travelling reserve although there were many appeals from crashes and what not. We didn't think I would be anywhere close to qualifying so this was a massive surprise. The week went by and we were hopeful ( but not expecting) an email about being in the team. Monday-no email. Tuesday-No email. Wednesday-no email. By then we had given up all hope and I can even remember my mum saying " You'll get in next year". Thursday was a normal day. I went to school, followed by running. I got out the shower and heard mum and dad frantically calling me down. There it was. The email!!!!
This year they were taking 2 girls teams. Until the race we didn't know the teams. HOLLAND. I was going to Holland. I was so excited. But I had to calm down and focus on training as the following week I had Blenheim palace triathlon.
Here again was the top triathletes in the country. This was such a beautiful and massive venue, I had to do it justice. I went out looking forward to the race and to try again come in the top 6. I raced hard all the way and there was a breakaway pack of 4 of us on the bike and as I have a weaker run, I finished 4th, just and I can see that my running has improved by the time difference this year from last year.

So now in the super series I am currently ranked 3rd after Blenheim. Hopefully by the end of the season I won't have slipped out of the top 5!!
 So all in all going well and staying uninjured, healthy and fresh.
I will update you with a whole blog all about HOLLAND!!!!!!!