6 days to go!!

Now we are at the end of the season and I have only 1 more important race to go!! The big one!! IRC's!!!!! I'm really looking forward to it even though I am really nervous at the same time!! Throughout the season I have just felt stronger and stronger and now its just time to see all the hard work pay off! I have gone all season without a single defeat in the Eastern region league so that is always a plus!!! I have done Ipswich triathlon most recently which was a great success for me and the rest of my HPU team mates aswell!

I had a great race in my home city of Norwich at the Eastern region aquathlon championships! I came out of the water first very closely followed by HPU team mate Aaron Rae! Overall I finished 6th behind team mates Aaron and Elliot but still first girl!!

Also in July I took part in the first ever Norwich six bridges river swim!! It was a 1mile course through the centre of Norwich! I arrived that morning in the pouring rain not really knowing what to expect! Once we were all in the river we lined up and got ready to start! Everyone went off very fast, including myself! I thought it would be good if I could just keep with Matt Ellis, but I soon found myself pulling away from the rest of the field!! By the end I had managed to pull over 30 seconds ahead!! I was really chuffed and got an interview for the local news!!! I got a time of 18.02 which I was really happy about!!

season update..

Ok been a while since blogged but here we are up to date with what I have done.
The triathlon season has kicked off and I have now done 6 events these are Tri  sport epping Aquathlon 1st place, St Felix Triathlon 1st place,Dornay twice with a 2nd and a 3rd,East Essex 1st place,and New hall 1st place, I have now qualified for the IRC finals in Sunderland and am sitting first in the Eastern region league,
Have also done Fritton lake Aquathlon twice and set a new swim record which was previously held by HPU team mate Sean Watson who no doubt will be after to take it back,So far all is going well and the biking at Lotus has really paid off also am now starting the track coaching for the running.so will have 6-10 weeks of intense sessions prior to the IRC finals, I need to take about 1 minute of my running time to be up where I know the competition will be,open water swimming tomorrow and then the Rob Mclean next week end so busy also its my birthday today 14 years young ha ha...
Speak soon.
Sophie.

parliament hills

Well at the end of February CONAC and I ventured down to London to compete at Parliament hills, this was for the English National cross country championships!! This is a huge event for any cross country athlete and my first time there so it was a massive deal for me! Camp was set up at the top of the hill over looking London! The weather was fantastic but a bit too fantastic for running! it was really hilly ( you may of guessed through the name)! I managed to come 69 out of 342!! I was hoping to come about 100th so was really pleased to come were I did!! Our CONAC under15 girls team came 5th out of 42 teams! We couldn't of asked for better!

UEA Counties 1500m 18th February and the rest of counties!!

Hi done my 1500 freestyle at UEA  I done it in a time of 18.37 this was a massive 35 second PB I was very pleased.
Next was the 25m pool events. On the first weekend I done massive pbs in my 400 im, 200m fly, 200m backstroke, 200m im, 100m free and 50m free. So really a really great weekend. I would have to say that my stand out performance from me was my 400m im. I got a massive 10 second pb and won my age group by over 15 seconds!!! counties was also on the next weekend as well and that weekend I had the 100m back which I won my age group for, 400m free which I got 1st in, 50 fly and 200m breastroke which I got all PB's in. So over all I had a really great counties this year! Bring on the rest of the season!!!!!

Human performance testing day

Today was the first time I ventured down to the University of Essex for the first testing day and to meet the staff and all the people involved!!
we were there for testing and talks on nutritional aspects.
ok this involved a bike test wearing an oxygen mask and blood samples were taken to look at the lactic acid levels in my blood at various times on the ride.
tough...

then running with a heart rate monitor for 4 lots of 5 mins and again blood samples.
this went 5 mins warm up... 5 mins on 11... 1 min rest / 5 mins on 13.... 1 min rest/ 5 mins on 15..... 1 min rest/ 5 mins on 17 ... 1 min rest...
I managed all the run except the last 3 mins 30 seconds on the last set...

it was tough and I slept well on the way home..
 a thank you to all the team for the great day and a great experience...
Sophie...

UEA counties Saturday the 11Th February

Today was good as it was the 800m freestyle at the UEA and I wanted a PB !!!!
my time up till now was 9.54.00
I was hoping for about a 9.48 but I swam really well and managed a whole 11.91 seconds PB and got my PB down to a 9.42.09 !!!! ....
my coach was really impressed and surprised and so was I.
I can now look forward to doing a good time at regional s.

Anglian schools cross country championships Ipswich 4th Feb..

Went to Ipswich on the coach with the rest of the Norfolk team to compete in the Anglian schools cross country championships! It was freezing! running in -1 conditions. I have never been so cold in all my life. it was snowing and the wind was awful but I really enjoyed the race and it was a great experience. It was a big decision whether to wear spikes or not but I came to a choice that I would. I was second girl home from Norfolk and came in an overall position of 7th. Now  I am just looking forward to the next round in Somerset!!!

Was supposed to do the schools biathlon semi-finals today at Crystal Palace today Sunday the 5th,,, but it has been called off due to the awful weather! Next weekend I've got my swimming 800m county event at the UEA and shouldham warren x-country on the Sunday!!

Sophie...