Speedy Beaver: Race report (World / European Qualifier)

National Sprint Championships, National ranking event, World and European Qualifier (no pressure then!)

To be quite honest, racing this on the back of the Eton World Qualifier last week was a lot to get my head round. During the weeks training, I wasn’t sure if I was peaking or tapering, it has all been a bit intense. I couldn’t get my head around thinking about another race so soon, and I still felt tired and achy from the last one till at least mid week!

I didn’t look at the course or anything till Friday, and decided not to camp over with my husband, staying home alone instead. I wanted and needed some quiet ‘me’ time to get my mind back in focus. I felt calm, chilled and ok. I think it worked out well for me. I formulated my race plan, and NLP plan, ignored the long lists of competitors I knew I would have to race and went to sleep feeling alright.

The weather was dry, windy, but in comparison to Eton last week, this was a mere breeze!

The Race:

SWIM:

For the first time ever, I was in the ‘old ladies’ wave, which in actual terms meant my age group was the youngest in this wave. I figured therefore, that all I needed to do was pick the right start spot and I would be ok, with all those young whippets off in an earlier wave! I opted for far right, lined up behind a person that looked like she meant business, and actually had a clear, scrum free swim, where I think my line may have been the most direct one to the first turn. A much better choice than last week! Shame about the marathon jog up the field to T1 though!

BIKE:

The bike course was 1 lap, with the long straight fast stretch into the headwind. As I set off, feeling good, it took me a good few miles to get my TT ‘chase her’ head back under control! With focus regained, I settled into my own rhythm, heart rate where it needed to be, nutrition plan under control, and focussed on good pedal strokes and aero lines, especially on the killer hill, which is where I caught some of the men from the previous wave, some of which were walking!

RUN:

The run was a simple out and back, up the back drive out of the Belvoir castle grounds. It was up all the way out, which thankfully meant that it was down all the way back! I wanted to do better at my mental focus here so I worked hard on keeping form and remembering all my NLP techniques. I had a small eye on anyone who came past, and noted when I was almost back to the field where the finish line was, that no ‘H’ runners had come past me to this point. I didn’t have a clue how I was going position wise, but as I approached the final few hundred meters, a person marked ‘H’ came past, with her supporter cheering ‘come on Katie, don’t let her get you back’. I knew immediately that this was a person I needed to beat, so I gave it everything I had, to get back past her. There was still 100m to go once I got past, and I felt sure she would attack me back, a quick check over my shoulder and she was no longer there. I had done it! This was the first high calibre race that I managed to finish on and win the sprint finish, and this was also the first race in my career so far where I did not lose a single category position on the run section.

Reflection:

When I crossed the line, being in the last wave, several people I knew were waiting for me, or milling round nearby. They all asked me how I had done. My response was ‘I don’t know, and to be honest, I am not sure that I care!’ I meant every word of it too, and I have never been able to say that before. I can completely and honestly say that I had done everything I had planned to do, executed the race plan as I wanted to, focussed throughout as best as I was able, and did not care at all about how it turned out, because I knew that I had given it my all, and there was nothing more I could have done.

Positives:

·        Chose absolutely the right line on the swim, went with my convictions and ignored what everyone else was doing

·        Kept focus on the run, throughout, remembering all the mantras my coach chimes at me!

·        Recognised and quickly rectified the fact that I was not sticking to my HR race plan at the start of the bike leg

·        Won the sprint finish and crossed the line at peace with myself, not caring at all what the result was!

To work on:

·        Start the bike leg in a focussed and controlled manner rather than like a bat out of hell, then fixing it a few miles down the road!



·        Find and keep the 3mile TT feeling and focus on the run. I can now focus my mind, so I need to now focus my body!

Mel Ryding and Helen Russell (35-39 bronze medallist and fellow TriUK team member)

RESULT:

Today I was racing many people who usually finish way in front of me. There were many established GB age group athletes, whose names I know. The field was big and the competition stiff. 8 people were racing for those 4 European places. I managed 8^th overall (top 10 in a national ranking race / national championships – I’m pretty impressed!) and beat several people that are usually WAY ahead of me, and finished up 5^th Qualifier, beating three other people who were trying to qualify. I also, for the first time, managed to hold my position throughout the run, not losing any places, which is a first. The biggest honour came when Malcolm Westwood (BTF board member, now in charge of all the age group team managers) spoke to me and said how he had just been talking about me, noting how I am getting better and better, and quicker and quicker. I feel really proud, I feel like I had a great race, with plenty of positives to go forward with.

2 qualification races, and 2 successful qualifications, I couldn't really have hoped for a better way to start my season!