I kind of went in to the race this weekend with an open mind. Not having a good winter of training at all I felt I only really started my winter training in February. I've started to slowly get back some form on my swim, but still a lot of improvements to get back to my normal speed is needed.
The race was in a weird format. You were put in a heat with both boys and girls and it depended on what time you entered over a 400m swim. As I have quite a brisk 400m swim time thanks to my 17 year old self, I was ranked fastest girl going in to the race, which meant I was the only girl in my race and the rest were boys, and the heat after me were all boys.
It was a 750m pool swim, sharing the lane with two lads I was the last to set off, leaving 10 second gaps. I was instantly lapped by one of the lads which set things off from the start. I wasn't out the swim last, which I could possibly try to see as a positive. The bike was one loop of 25km. The race was draft illegal, meaning you're not allowed to sit on people's wheels in the race. However, whilst I was on my way out on the bike, quite a few people I noticed hadn't grasped the concept of 'non drafting'. I failed to see how they weren't pulled up about it, however you're only cheating yourself at the end of the day. The course was super windy, so I reckon they saved themselves a lot of trouble and time by helping each other out.
It was a very, very lonely race for me. I was on the bike course completely alone and it made it quite a boring battle being the last girl out on the bike course and not knowing where anyone else was. I went out hard for the first half of the bike and felt pretty good however I prefer the hustle and bustle of a race and being in a pack. Not because it's usually draft legal (although that helps) but I feel like I'm actually in a real race situation and you actually know where your competitors are! I get you're always meant to be racing the clock, however with starting in a wave of boys, I didn't feel as though I was actually in any race. I could feel that my stomach felt funny on the bike but didn't really know what it was, until I got into T2 and was standing upright rather than being as low as possible to hide from the big winds on the course. I thought I had a stitch at first going out on to the run, and I've always been told to run faster when you get a stitch so it goes away, however this pain was getting worse when I tried to run harder. I stopped around 7 times on the run course. The pain was so frustrating because when I stopped the pain disappeared. I had no choice but to literally jog the run and felt so disappointed with the day as a whole. I think walking/jogging a 24 minute 5km explains the pain. Turned out I had a bad stomach cramp which is still lingering in my stomach whilst writing this.
Although it was definitely the worst race experience and race I've ever had to date, I'm super happy to have got my race suit out and given it a good go. You can't help the situation you're put in to and you just have to get on with it. I thought I'd be crying at how appauling I raced, but it's literally one race out of so many I look forward to doing and it literally can't get any worse than this weekend. Due to my operation in January I've said I'm focusing on the end of the season where I really hope to get a few good hit outs.
Stay positive and stay happy.
Leah x
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