Tiszaujvaros 2015

On the 1^st of August a group of us flew out to Hungary for a training camp, leading into a European Junior Cup race on the weekend.

The training out there was really good, with the beginning of the week being slightly harder and longer, and towards the end it was more race specific stuff. We got to train in a 50m outdoor pool which was right opposite our accommodation so that was lovely, especially when it was really hot out. The cycling out there was also fab, mainly because it was lovely landscape and the weather was always really warm, although there was a few nasty storms whilst we were there.

Every day we had a weigh in first thing in the morning, and then before and after each session. It was really surprising and interesting to see how much you could lose through sweat during something like an hour easy run, which could be around 1.5kg. Thats why I found using my H2pro hydration tablets so handy and really kept me on top of my hydration whilst I was out there.

The Tiszaujvaros European Junior cup was different to most, with a semi-final on the Saturday, then the top 14 girls in each semi final and the fastest 2 losers got through to the final on the Sunday. They were both super sprint races, so slightly shorter than normal Junior races, but possibly appreciated in the scorching heat. I had a decent semi-final, coming out 1^st in the swim with a 15 second advantage. I then done the whole bike on my own, but by the end I only had a few seconds over a very large pack. I ran alright and it felt reasonably comfortable, finishing 10^th in my heat. It felt tough due to the hot temperatures and it was harder than I thought it would be to qualify. On Saturday afternoon we got a short recovery ride in and a stretching session which helped a lot.

On Sunday I was ranked 21^st going into the final, which was off the semi results. I got a good place on the pontoon, with Ffion Harrett on my left and Olivia Mathias on my right. I had a good start and didn’t get too caught up and got in a really good position around the 1^st buoy. I finished the swim in 3^rd place, with a little group of 5 of us away a little. We got together really quickly and worked so well together in a chain gang to open up the lead from 30second to around 70seconds. I was really feeling the heat now and didn’t have a great run, although I managed to hold onto 6^th place, which I was really happy with. I was so pleased for Olivia who was also in my bike group who went on to win the race. Also Bronwen Owen ran through the field so well and finished 2^nd. It was very helpful having both H2pro and Vision for sport sunglasses out in Hungary helping with the Heat and sun. As always a massive thank you to SportsAid and BNY Mellon for helping me out thorughout the season. Tiszy was such a great experience and I was so pleased to get my first top 10 in a European Cup.

 Now really looking forward to Mallory Park at the beginning of September and hoping for a really positive result there also.

British Championships

July 26th were the British Triathlon Championships, held in Liverpool. We travelled up on the 25^th and arrived at about 2pm after a 7 hour journey. We visited the expo site and I visited the Zone3/My Triathlon and Precision Hydration stands. I needed to borrow a wetsuit because mine was misplaced in Geneva (when I was out there competing in the European championships), so Zone 3 kindly lend me a Vanquish which is the suit I have now. It has such good flexibility and allows for very fast transitions. I had a good swim, although at the beginning it was quite messy and rough, but I managed to get clear water after about 150m and started to make my way through the field. I got out of the water about 8^th, but exited T1 in 7^th because of a slick transition. 

The bike group I was in consisted of five other athletes of high ability, and it took me a while to get on the back of it and get my feet in my shoes, but once I did I could start to work with the group and try to stick with them. At the end of the cycle there remained just four of us in our group, with three other competitors ahead of us. I went into T2 at the back of the group, but again I had a good transition and left third out of the group. I had quite a good lead over the other juniors in the race, but I still had to work hard because I knew there were strong runners behind me. The wind was quite strong and I could feel it working everyone very hard. I managed to hold on to first and I’m so happy to win my first super series and National race. I am now the 2015 British Junior Champion. Thank you so much to Carl Goose, for giving me a massage the Thursday before the race, it really got me ready to race and feeling fresh. Also thanks to Precision Hydration for getting me ready to race and supporting me. Another massive thanks to Zone3 for lending me a wetsuit. SportsAid and BNY Mellon are also a massive help, funding me to be able to have these amazing opportunities. I’m now so excited to be off to Hungary next week for an England Talent Squad camp as well as a European Cup race on the 8th of August.

June + July 2015

Blenheim triathlon is always going to be a really tough and challenging race, with it being one of the only races in the super series with tough hills in both the bike and run course.  Previously I have enjoyed Blenheim, but have also found it extremely hard. This year was something else. I had a good swim, coming second out of the water, with many thanks to Zone 3 wetsuits.  Then came the steep uphill to transition, and this is where the race went downhill for me. I just had absolutely nothing to give. There wasn't anything I could do as several people ran past and away from me.  I got on the bike in the chase pack and tried to work hard, but it was challenging when only a few people would share the work. The last 2.5km run didn’t go much better and I finished 12^th. This was really disappointing for me as this was the European Youth relay Qualifiers and I have been selected for the last 2 years and was hoping to go back and reclaim our gold medal from last year in Russia. But it was one to forget and to move on to the next race.

My next race was the European cup in Holten, Holland. It was set to be a hot one, with temperatures soaring up to 42 degrees. I made sure I kept well hydrated throughout the build-up to the race, using my H2PRO Precision hydration tablets which were a massive help. The race got moved from early afternoon to 5pm, to try and race in a slightly cooler temperature. Thanks to vision for sport for helping me protect my eyes from the strong sun. I was quite a low number so was early going out onto the pontoon, so got to pick a good position. I had a clear start, but then I got really beaten up and dunked. I managed to go around the outside and get clear water again. I found myself near the front of the pack and started to push quite hard. There was a little breakaway of a few swimmers ahead but I was at the front of the next pack. I had a quick transition and got into the front group, with only 1 person in the breakaway ahead. It was a quick course and I stayed with the front pack. There was a crash at the bottom of the hill and this allowed there to be a break going into the last 400m, and I got caught up behind this. I felt strong going out onto the run and felt as if I ran well. I was really pleased to finish 14^th in my second ETU cup.

I attended a sportsaid day with BNY Mellon on the 8^th of July called the Play Brilliant event. In the morning I went to the Athlete Lab London with my BNY Mellon buddy Andy Gibb and a group of BNY mellon workers and clients, where we did some cycling on the bikes. We also did some filming there and an interview. It was a really lovely venue and also tough work, but fun and enjoyable. Then we attended the event with the other athletes. We got to watch people show their sport and see some equipment as well. It was a lovely afternoon and really interesting to watch others who perform at international level show  their sport.

My next race was the Junior Mixed relay in the European championships in Geneva. We travelled out as a team again and I had a few days out there before the race which was nice and relaxing. I got to watch the individuals, both junior and elite the day before my race. Again it was very hot, so using my H2PRO tablets was really helpful to stay on top of my health and hydration. The race was short and I was on first leg, which I liked. I had a good start, but the first buoy was very close, so I got a little caught up here and got a little delayed, but I soon got going again and tried working through the field. I came out of the water 4^th and made the front bike group. The bike course was very tough, with a big, steep hill in it. I kept with the bike group, but had quite a bad 2^nd transition, going out onto the run a little behind the leaders. I felt I was running a lot better than I have been, and once I got some water from the aid station on the run I felt really strong. I handed over to Jimmy Kershaw who was prior to Olivia Mathias and James Teagle. We had a good race and managed to finish 7^th in a tough field. It was such a great experience and Geneva is such a lovely place to both visit and race.  I’m now really excited to race at Liverpool next weekend for another race of the British Junior super series.

I would also like to say a massive thanks to Swimzi for taking me on as a Brand ambassador. I'm really excited to what has to come of this new partnership.

May 2015

May saw the biggest race of the Season so far, it was the European qualifer race in Llanelli, Wales. We got there quite early the day before, so I managed to get a good meal and nights sleep before an early start the next day. We had to get up around 5.30am, as the race started really early at 8am. I didn't have a great swim, although my transition made up for it so I managed to get in the front bike group. There was a group of 6 of us who worked together on the bike to get a big gap away from the the second pack. I hadn't been running to great but I was starting to find my form and this was were it had to show. There was a little gap created quickly between me and 2nd and 3rd. but My the first turning point, a quarter of the way through, I managed to close this and we worked well together then. At half way, Livvy and I made a kick and managed to pull away from 4th place. Bronwen Owen managed to overtake us during this next section. We were running stride for stride until 400m to go, but this is where Livvy has the strength in her legs over me and she managed to kick away to get 3rd. I was still really pleased with 4th though.
The next race was Hyde park aquathlon. I loved this race last year and was really excited to be back. I had an ok swim, with both me and Livvy swimming stroke for stroke. I came out of the water 3rd, with quite a big gap to 1st. Lissie had such a good race and she was running really strong. I came out of transition 4th overall and just couldn't get going. By the time I found my form there was about a 100m gap to the next person. Kate went passed me and managed to finish 2nd in the end and I held on for 5th. In the closing stages of the run I could feel I was closing slightly but it was too much to make up so late. I felt strong though which is the main thing.
I'm now really looking forward to Blenheim next weekend and hopefully should race well.
 have a strong race.

April 2015

April saw the first England Talent squad camp of 2015, being held at Welbeck Defence College near Loughborough. The week was really good, starting with just the 10 England talent squad members, then slowly more people arriving during the week. The training was really good and I felt really strong on both the swim and the bike. During that week I had a bit of a niggle on the side of my foot. Lyndsey the physio there wasn't quite sure what it was as it was in a quite unusual place. It got less painful during the week so it was probably just a pull. I found it so hard to have to stop and not do some of the training as it is something I haven't had to do before, but I know that it is really important to listen to your body and know when the time to give in is. At the end of the week was the time trails. On the Saturday we had an 800m swim and on the Sunday we had a 20km bike to a 5km run. I was really happy with my swim, posting the fastest girls time and quite a big gap between second. Although this was good, it meant that on Sunday I would have to go out on the bike on my own, meaning a hard few laps, especially because it was one of the windiest days ever (only the duathlon/10km was windier). I rode about 3-4 laps until the girls behind caught me, which there was 4 of. They were probably the hardest 4 laps of the race. I felt the pace had slowed up a lot since they caught me so I kept trying to work hard. The side wind around the bottom of the course was horrendous so I made sure everyone was drafting to the slight right of the riders wheel in front, to help us stay ahead of the behind groups. I felt strong on the bike, but as soon as I got off my legs were non-existent. I had done so much work on the bike that I had nothing left. In the end I finished 4th overall, so I was still really happy.

The mini London Marathon was also in April. This is one of my favorite races, because the crowds, atmosphere and scenery is break taking, along with the running. We went down in regions the day before and stayed over at Royal Holloway College, so there was so many people there. I felt as if I had a really strong run, running around 30 seconds faster than I had 2 years ago. It's weird because 2 years ago I knew absolutely no one going to the race, but this year I basically bumped into someone I knew every 5 minutes. It was a really great environment to prepare in, with everyone being really excited and motivated to do well. We had a lovely time walking around London afterwards and we managed to watch lots of the Marathon in a really good place.

Easter Meet 2015

Alex Pinniger and I

I always really enjoy and swim well at Easter meet, probably because its a home meet and a large part of the enjoyment is probably the Easter eggs up for grabs, which is always a great motivator.
My first race was 200m Backstroke, even though I never train backstroke, I always really love racing in this event. I was just hoping for a decent time, because I know that I had done little work on it due to focusing on freestyle for my triathlons. But when I came away with a 2 min 23 seconds and a 2nd, I was really chuffed. I was just off my PB but I exceeded my expectations in this event.
I then got the chance to go home for a while and relax before the 800m freestyle which wasn't until late afternoon, so just to fill the time I managed to fit in 2 of the hunger games films, so really good relaxing happened.
I then got back and did warm up, and my race was first after so I had to get ready pretty quickly. I was quite excited about racing this because this is my favorite race to participate in and I was feeling pretty strong.
When we first set off, the girl next to me went out really quickly and I needed to stick with her to stay in a good position, but after 200m she dropped off a lot and then there was just 2 of us at the front. I felt really in control of the race and I had been working especially hard on my turns as this is something that had let me down previously (triathlons are open water so no need to worry about them too much). After 500m I found myself a little bit in the lead, having 1 or 2 seconds over the other girls. I felt strong still and continued to pick the pace up. By the last 100m I had about 5 seconds over the rest of the field and I managed to hold this into the finish. My time was good, but just off my PB, so I was pretty happy about the swim, although I couldn't help but be slightly disappointed with the time as my coach, Alex, said I was on for a PB up until the last 100m.

Andy Gibb and I,

The next day I just had my 400m freestyle in the morning. I didn't do warm up because my race was the last heat of the last event in that session and it was more beneficial to get an extra hour in bed. I was looking forward to this as it had been a while since I had done a 400m and my 800m split looked really promising for a PB in this. I went out quick, but I was still in roughly 2nd or 3rd on the hips of the girl next to me. I managed to keep with her and now I had confirmed a 2nd place. I was still on her hips going into the last 100m and this is where I really tried to put everything into in. I made up a little ground on the first 50m but then on the last 50m I really gave it my all and was so close to getting her, but unfortunately  she just touched me out, but I still got a 2 second PB so I was really happy, and  silver medal to go with it.
After this race I met up with my Bank of New York Mellon and SportsAid buddy, Andy Gibb, for the first time. It was great to have a chat and lovely to meet him and talk about the things we might be doing this year.
The last day of racing was Sunday, I had 2 more races, 200m freestyle and 400m IM.
The 200m wasn't great, I can never seem to get into a 200m, and by the time I do its the finish. But I still did a decent time and managed to get 4th place here.
Then I got to go home for a little bit again, where I had lunch and relaxed by playing Mario Kart on the Wii with my brother (which if you have siblings will know isn't an overly relaxing situation).
I headed back to the pool and again didn't do warm up because my race was at the very end. I was excited for this race, I really enjoy IM because it's really different, even though I can't do breaststroke to save my life.
On the fly, a girl to my right went out quickly and I stayed just with her. On the second length of fly I managed to just pull past her and gain the lead. I knew I had to work really hard on the fly and Backstroke if I wanted to be in contention for a medal due to my appalling breaststroke. I had a decent lead after the back, which was quickly taken away on the breaststroke, but I still managed to turn in 4th place, just behind 3rd. I knew I had a strong freestyle so I really dug in hard here and managed to pass and pull away from the girl who was in 3rd. I managed to hold on to 3rd until the finish and I even got a 2 second PB. I was really pleased with this and happy that I could come away with another medal.
Overall I had a really enjoyable and successful weekend.

I am now looking forward to going on camp this week with the England Talent squad in Welbeck College, Loughborough.

British Duathlon Championships 2015

This was an interesting event to say the least, on Sunday the 29th of March.

I was really excited and optimistic looking into the race, feeling better and stronger on the run than previously and also on the bike.

I had really good preparation, with my favorite meal the night before, steak and chips, and a decent nights sleep. My race wasn't until 1.30pm, so I felt really relaxed in the morning and all I really wanted to do was stay warm and dry, as the weather was  shocking.
I got to the venue quite early as I was eager to see the conditions on the course and what it was like again, as after a year I had pretty much no idea and forgotten, plus the fact I hadn't made it around one bike lap last year may have been a large factor about why I wanted to forget. I saw some of the youth racing and it looked pretty rough. The wind was really picking up and it was so cold and miserable.

The Junior boys who went off just an hour before and the weather was really terrible. There were lots of crashes and falls just due to the really intense winds. I must admit at this point I was getting pretty worried. We got called for briefing at 1.10pm and this is when they announce that our race (the junior and senior women) would be turned into a 10km straight run, no cycling due to the wind scheduled to pick up even more than what I already thought was manic. But it did put my mind at rest a little because it was going to be about who actual makes it round, rather than who gets round the quickest. People were quite dubious about a 10km run as many had never raced that far before, but I had raced a couple and felt quite relaxed because I knew I had gotten

Try and spot the runners through the rain!!!!

some really decent road running in prior to the race thanks to my coach Jane Clarke.
Everyone went out pretty quick, with a huge lead group going round together for the first lap of 4. I then dropped back because I knew I shouldn't try and keep up with some of the best senior runners, such as Emma Pallant, who went on to win. But I managed to catch up Sian Rainsley and another girl, we managed to work together well, as a chain gang style due to the awful side and head wind, especially going up the little hill there was!!!
I felt quite relaxed at halfway, seeing we went round in roughly 19 minutes. I was hoping to just keep with the other two girls for this lap,(this was when the weather got the worst and I got blown 2 meters sideways whilst running along the top straight and the rain was coming down so hard I could barely open my eyes) but when I managed to stick with them for the third lap of four, they really picked up the pace in the downhill and behind wind section. I really wanted to just hold on for as long as possible and I managed to until the very last 400 meters, where they both kicked away and I just had nothing left. I could see the clock ticking away and I really wanted to go sub-40mins and I was so happy that I did. It was the first time in a 10km that I have done under 40mins and especially in those conditions I was really thrilled. We quickly got whisked away into the athletes lounge where they gave us a foil wrap and a drink, which was warmly accepted. I came away with 4th Junior girl and 11th overall. I was really pleased with both my positioning and my time.