Rother Valley: The race that wasn't

It’s been a tough weekend, and not in the traditional sense. My season started fantastically well, with two races and two qualifications. Having pre-entered all four qualifiers, I then had to decide whether to race the other two.

I decided not to race QE2, the race that would have occurred on a third consecutive weekend, but kept Rother Valley in mind, simply as a good quality training session.

The events that happened at the lake on Thursday were to change the complexion of my weekend completely.

Swim disaster
I went for a swim at the local lake, easy recovery swim, nothing too strenuous, having had a sports massage that afternoon and a race coming up at the weekend. I was on the first of 3 800m laps round the lake. This lake is navigated by means of a series of buoys which you swim through, roughly following the cable pulley that is use by the water skiers. At the top of the lake, I was heading for the buoys to navigate the turn. I could only see one. I soon found out why. I crashed head first into the other one, which was fully submerged under water. Normally this would not be too much of a disaster, but these buoys are fixed onto wooden posts, not chains, like you would normally expect. It took me by surprise, to say the least, and I felt my right knee jarring as I was knocked sideways unexpectedly. I completed the swim, (all three laps) and thought nothing more of it.

When I got up the following day for my taper brick session, the knee felt a little sore. Hmm, I have pulled a muscle, I thought. I carried on. As Friday progressed, it got worse. It became sore to fully extend that knee, and it was at this point that I began to grow concerned.

On Saturday afternoon I called my sports masseuse and asked could he have a look at it. I am not usually one to panic over a bit of pain; however I am also very rarely injured, so I do take pain rather seriously.

Verdict

Phil Croney my masseuse, was kind enough to squeeze me in for a quick once over at his home on Saturday afternoon, which I very much appreciate. To be honest, I feared the worst. I knew, deep down, that this was not just a little pull. He told me that I had strained the medial colateral ligament, and that racing on Sunday would be foolish. A tear rolled down my cheek. Although expected, I was still devastated.

I sat in the car and cried. I had to try really hard to get my thoughts back under control. All I could see was injury, you can’t run, you can’t race. With the European championships in two weeks, I struggled hard not to go into blind panic.

Context

I have never until this weekend, had to pull out of a race through injury. I guess you would call me lucky. All it means is I am finding this a real struggle to deal with, and right now am not feeling terribly lucky at all. This knee is also what I call my ‘wibbly wobbly knee’, by which I mean it is the knee that has had an ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) reconstruction operation almost 15 years ago, and therefore less stable at the best of times. For those who do not know, a ligament reconstruction operation involves replacing the torn ligament with a tendon graft. That means the joint will never perform 100% as it used to, and I have to work hard on muscle strength to keep that knee working at its best. It is also an operation that I was told had a 10 year shelf life, after which it will begin to loosen again. I know, therefore, that I must now be very careful with it indeed, in order to get the best possible recovery.

What now?

I sat with frozen peas on it all evening, 15 on, 15 off. By 10pm the ice was beginning to feel quite normal and not at all cold! I have been advised that I should not run on it for a few days, so I called my strength coach David Sutton and made an appointment to see him for some strength coaching on Sunday morning. He reassured me that he is experienced with MCL rehab, so I look forward to further instructions and advice.

I am trying my best to stay positive. I could have ignored Phil and gone to that race anyway. He said he apologised that I had gone to him on a wasted trip. Not at all. I went for advice, and the crucial question, will racing make it worse? The answer was yes, so there really is only one option from there. That doesn’t mean that I can’t also get upset. I am, I am devastated.

I have always been the one to read, research, and seek/follow good advice. I believe that is what has kept me relatively injury free all this time. I don’t intend to change that now.

I will do as I am told, recover well, and I WILL BE BACK!

Top-10 target for Melanie in Beijing

Published Friday 3 June 2011

Wellingborough athlete Melanie Ryding has qualified for the World Triathlon Championships in Beijing.

She finished fourth in her qualifying group at the Eton Sprint event where she managed to hit one of her best results.

Despite the weather causing havoc, she finished fourth and beat two others also trying to qualify – rounding off a result which means she should make the age group squad for the third year in a row.

Ryding said: “The conditions were really challenging, the weather was absolutely horrendous, the crosswinds made life very difficult.”

With the European Championships taking precedence for her before Beijing, Ryding is targeting a strong finish to proceedings.

She added: “I turned 40 early this year which means I’m in a new age category so hopefully I can break into the top 10.

“I’m hoping to finish where my nearest competitior finished in last year’s event, so around eighth.”

After losing four-and-a-half stones in just four months Ryding began triathlon training in 2007 – making the World Championships team for Great Britain two years later where she has been a permanent fixture ever since.

Regularly posting on her website and blog as well as holding down a full-time job, Ryding admits that the routine she keeps is intensive.

She said: “I get up at half past five every morning and train before going to work.
“After that I come home and do some more before sitting down in the evening.
“It’s much easier to do in the summer when there’s a lot of light and it’s a bit warmer.”
Belvoir Castle was the venue for the National Sprint Championships last weekend where Ryding claimed a place in the top 10 in her age group.

She admitted: “I expected not to do so well after last weekend’s success.

“I was more than impressed with an eighth place overall and for the first time I managed to hold my position throughout the run.”

The European Championships take place in Spain later this month with the World Championships in the autumn.

For sponsorship you can get in touch with her on her website http://www.melanieryding.co.uk/ where she regularly blogs and keeps people updated about her regime and competitions.

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!

Eton Sprint Triathlon 2011 – Beijing World Qualifier

On the run up week to this race, I felt great. I had not been in a stress, had not been uber-analysing the lists, past results, the enemy, etc as I usually do. It really was going quite well. On race morning, though, it was a different matter. After calmly and rationally packing my kit the night before (without feeling the need to check and recheck), on race morning I began to feel quite sick with nerves. So much so I almost was unable to eat breakfast. ‘It’s just your body preparing you for success’ I told myself, like David Sutton, my strength coach has been telling me.

Horrendously high diagonal cross winds were certainly going to make for an interesting race. Out the window went the idea of a PB, for sure. Fast and flat course? Didn’t seem to matter any more! Hubby came to support, and was given strict supporters lines from my running coach, which he was asked to shout from the sidelines when I got to the run. (All reminders related to my run form!)

The Race:

SWIM

After a washing machine style jostle for clear water due to bad start position choice, it was a smooth clear swim, and great to swim in an open water lake with Lane ropes (aka rowing boat lane markers!) a little choppy at times with almost white water and waves, it was that windy. I concentrated on keeping focus throughout, and cleanly navigated T1 to start the bike course (minus the usual glasses – they had blown away from my position in the wind!

BIKE

Down one length of the lake, I was cycling into a diagonal cross / headwind and on the return, a diagonal cross / tailwind. It truly was hard, hard work. The wind made navigating nutrition and corners very tough, as not only was it very strong, but also very gusty. It took some serious concentration and control to not get blown off and to keep my heart rate out of the ‘danger zone’. I really think my strength and conditioning work helped me out heaps here!

RUN

The run was a 2 lap out and back – out into a head wind, back into a tail wind. Probably better than being the other way round! It was intensely difficult to stay focussed with the extra mother nature resistance training! I worked on my NLP and race plan before hand, in order to keep me focussed and in control throughout the run, and hubby’s run coach style orders also helped! I only lost one place (as opposed to my usual 12 or so!) and was able to finish the same way I started, focussed and strong.

Reflection

For a change, my thoughts now are the same as they were then. When I crossed the line it was with the conclusion that I had executed my race plan  that my triathlon coach Steve Casson and I had discussed exactly as I wanted to. I was confident in saying that at all times I did the best that I could in the conditions served to me on the day and would be happy with the result, regardless of the actual data outcome.

Positives:

·        I stuck to the plan, with regards to bike pacing, didn’t chase anyone down and didn’t sprint off into Time trial mode like I have a tendency to do!

·        I recognised when I had become unfocussed, and regained focus constantly throughout the run

·        I didn’t panic in the swim ‘washing machine’ and simply dealt with it

·        I didn’t care about others on the course, and didn’t give chase at any point.

Things I need to work on:

·        Think in advance, plan and spot a better swim start position

·        Focus on form even more so when I am running into a head wind – grit teeth and assure myself that I CAN do this!

RESULT:

I have just found out that this was my best result in a long while. I was 4th in my age group - best placing ever in a qualifying race, which means that I have already, after only one race, qualified for the World Championships in Beijing, September, 2011. Not only that but I have beaten two other women who were there also trying to qualify, another first for me. What a great start to the season!

Time Trial Journeys

I managed to get a few time trials in before the triathlons start in earnest this week.

Race 1 - Salcey Forest

It would be fair to say the first one didn't exactly go to plan!! It was only one week after being given my new Argon18 time trial bike. One might assume that a bike so new would not have time to loosen up yet? Oh no!


The route wasn't going to be a favourite of mine - but it was ok - this was just a tough training session, that's all! The race numbers were handed out - nice and early, number 7 with plenty behind me- it would be fine. At a 1min interval set off, it was very quickly apparent this would be a solo race, the chain came off before I even rounded the first corner, and the seat came loose at about 6 miles! Number 6 was long gone into the distance! Plus, I had to do the entire reminder in a semi standing position! (Ouch!) PB - nope - no-where near!!

Race 2 - Chelveston

This time I was hoping that the bike would behave itself. The complex seat post design on an Argon18 means it's very awkward to get to all the seat screws to tighten them. It took us lots of fiddling to get it tight again!

The race number are generally handed out in rough speed order. Last time I was given number 7, this time - number 22!!! I had some very skinny greased up shaved legged youngsters in FRONT of me... Aaaaargh!! Some were even wearing GB skin suits! (A spectator suggested that they would have bought them rather than earned them as they are readily available online! At least in triathlon, GB suits are only available for people who qualified!)

I decided quite early on that I had COMPLETELY the wrong number, and was genuinely worried I would be dead last!! It was motivation for my legs at least! A two lap course meant that I quickly started passing earlier riders which made me feel a lot better, but number 23 came past before I got half way through my first lap!

I began to turn my attention to number 24 who was still somewhere behind. He came past half way through my last lap, and went on ahead, on his single speed road bike!! Grrrr I thought but then, after letting him go, thought NO!!! He's not going to do that! I gave chase, but had let him get away so it took me the entire rest of the race to catch him. I thought I may actually run out of road. I saw the finish line fast approach so gave it everything I had. I think I JUST got him on the line - by a whisker!

It took me a good 5 minutes to recover enough to be able to speak to thank him- for making me realise that when I have reached the point where I think there is nothing more to give, there was in fact still quite a bit more! Point to note for next time I think!

Grendon Triathlon Season Opener 2011

On the run up to this race, I have been feeling strangely calm. It probably has, in part, something to do with the NLP sessions I have been having with Kim Ingleby, and the fact that it is merely a warm up race for me. I was aware that there was an AMAZING top field in the women’s race (Lucy Gossage, Marie Rabie, Lou Collins, Sky Draper, Lucy Smith!) however that was not bothering me.

I have done a great deal of different things this year, training wise. I have also gone up into the next age group, so don’t know ‘the enemy’ as well. Although both these things made me uneasy, I think I was alright about it.

I think ,in a reverse way, this all contributed to my race morning unease! I am usually in a real stress, checking my kit several hundred times and stressing over getting there on time. I was sitting calmly sipping green tea with half an hour to spare this morning, thinking ‘this isn’t quite right’!!!

The Race

SWIM

When the women were allowed into the water to warm up, I spotted Sky positioning herself WAY over to the left. I looked at the first bouy, and noticed that she in fact was in a direct line to it. So I decided to follow suit. Apart from a bit of chop at the start, I had a clear run, and once I cleared the first turn, I was in clear water. I wasn’t sure at the time whether this was in fact really good, or really bad!

BIKE

As I entered T1, I heard the commentator say that Jackie Phillips was just starting the bike, and I assumed from his comments that this meant that I was in second place in my age group. I set off with excitement, keen to try out my new Argon18 E112 sponsored race bike. What that in fact meant, was I caught the back markers of the men’s wave quite quickly, as well as a few women (none of which were my age group, sadly!) but that came at a cost. The heart rate was WAY too high, and when I noticed, I backed off. This was probably not helped by the fierce headwind on most of the bike course, but by the time I realised, it was effectively too late. I eased off back to heart rate zone 3 for the second half of the bike leg.

RUN

Keith Molloy, my run coach, was standing on the run course. It is the first time he has come to watch a race. When I set off on the run, it was only half a mile before I knew the error of my ways earlier. I did not feel the usual spring in my running step, and my form must have suffered because the next time I passed him, I heard him shout ‘lengthen your stride, relax shoulders, stand up tall, push...’. That’s when I realised I had taken my eye off the ball, as far as form was concerned. So, as I have been taught, I focussed then on myself, and ensured that I continued to do the best that I could at the time.

I hadn’t seen any ‘H’ athletes come past though, which I was amazed about. I assumed that was a mistake on my part.

Reflection

My initial reaction was negative. It always is. I was thinking about all the things I could have done better, and so on. When I went to get the results from the timing tent, I was pleasantly surprised.

Positives:

·        I exited the lake in 2^nd position in my age group, and maintained that position throughout the race, something I have never managed before.

·        I raced the new Argon and learned what to expect from it, and there were no ‘new bike’ mechanical glitches despite greasy roads

·        I remained calm in my mind, throughout the race, even when I knew I had not executed the race plan quite right during the run leg.

·        I did not let other athletes on the course create negative thoughts in my mind.

Things I need to work on:

·        Do NOT get carried away by targets in the distance when starting the bike leg – focus on the WHOLE race plan and pacing strategy

·        Take on more nutrition pre race and at the start of the bike leg, to ensure sufficient fuel for the run.

I am pleased with the results, glad I managed to convincingly beat some key people in my age group despite not having my best race, and am looking forward to the next race.

TYR Nest Pro – The Goggle revelation!

I am a bit of a traditionalist. I am not very adventurous, so when I find kit I like, I tend to stick with it. This could be construed as logical, or in fact as limiting, depending which way you look at it.

When I found aquasphere eagle goggles, about 5 years ago, I loved them. I had tried many other makes, and didn’t like them, but with these, I have had the same pair ever since, which I use for pool swimming. They are still good, don’t leak and are still going strong.

It took a little while to find the correct open water goggle though, and after many different models, I found aquasphere vista. I like it because it has a good seal, and great panoramic vision, and didn’t mist up like many others. I do find, though, that the seal is a little temperamental and can leak. I have found this with other OW goggles though, and so accepted it as perhaps normal. Maybe I have an odd shaped face. I always did wonder if it was because of the large surface area of the seal, which perhaps moves when I open my moth to breathe. No matter, the way I got round this is buy a new pair each season. I am not sure if this is normal or not, but I have, till now, accepted it as normal.

Then TriUK gave me TYR Nest Pro goggles. I looked at the teeny extremely light weight goggles and thought there is no way I can wear those!!

I bit the bullet and took them with me (along with many other pairs of my trusty aquasphere goggles just in case!) to the lake on Friday, to try them out. I usually either wear tinted or plain goggles. These are somewhere between, labelled as ‘frosted’.

At first it seemed strange to have such small goggles on, but very quickly, I came to absolutely love them. They sit snug, don’t move, don’t mist, don’t leak and panoramic vision is good. Usually after a lap or two I have to adjust my normal goggles, as they probably have started to let in water. Not these. They stayed fast for the whole 45 minute duration of my open water swim session. I was able to swim continuously without interruption. After getting used to the new fit, it was almost like I didn’t have any goggles on, or if I did, they felt like a great fitting pair of your best sunglasses. I never thought I could ever say that about goggles! The ‘frosted’ lenses allowed me to keep swimming till dusk, and still see clearly.

To date they are by far the best goggles I have every tried, much to my amazement. I can’t wait to see how they hold up as the season progresses.

Lumie Lights product review update; one month on

It has been a month since Lumie sent me a lamp and an alarm clock to try. I had read about light therapy but was, I must be honest, a little sceptical to say the least.

I have been using the lumie alarm clock regularly. My husband, who works night shifts, also uses it on occasion during the day.

The alarm clock has a 30 min wake up light, and each and every time I have used it without fail, I awaken 5 minutes before 'full sunrise'. Even when hubby uses it to waken him in the day when he is on night shifts, the same pattern emerges, despite the bright light of the day (we do not have black out blinds). I have also used it inconsistently in some weeks, to see what the difference is. When I don't use the clock, I use my iPhone alarm.

In comparison with when I wake with light therapy, on the days that I used the normal alarm, I was much more lethargic, it took me longer to awaken fully and get up, a very noticable difference. When I woke to the light 'alarm' I was brighter, ready for action for sure.

Even through the summer I train twice a day most of the time. This means that I still get up before dawn, a lot of the time. The light alarm is growing into something that is my saviour, that I rely on, and when I use it I will be able to get up promptly and have a good training session. It has enabled me to do many early morning training sessions that I felt surprisingly good about, not to mention the 90 minute brick session I did yesterday before breakfast! (yes, it was very cold out at 5am!)

So far I am very much impressed, and am trying to work out how I might make the alarm clock portable so I can take it with me when I travel to races!

I would say light therapy is invaluable, even in summer!

Race season is looming

After all the winter hard work, it will soon be race season for me. Training has changed several times over the past few months. During the depths of winter it was base training, long slow miles. In the spring this changed to pace work, and now its short sharp intervals and lots of brick sessions (bike-run... repeat as many times as necessary!) The focus now is training at race pace.

Periodised training is all very logical but always makes me feel like I am slacking! I have spent so long believing that you must ‘train you socks off’ that when I have a recovery week, or a pre race training week, I feel like I am being lazy! This all probably sounds quite illogical, if you knew my training schedule, but I am so used to having to cram everything in around my teaching job, my online jobs and family life.

The first World Qualifier race is coming up soon in Eton (22 May) and that is my first target race. I Time trialled my new TriUK sponsored Argon18 E112 last week, to test it out, and oh my goodness what a disaster! Before I even rounded the first corner the chain fell off, and half way round, I topped a hump backed bridge when the seat fell! So I did the remainder of the time trial half sitting, half standing, thinking, well, I would have to carry on if it was a qualifier wouldn’t I? This in itself is a momentous occasion for me: neither incident fazed me, yes: I was a bit peeved, but I completed the time trial, still in a reasonable time, and was not angry about the incidents that had occurred. Better there than in the warm up race I have next weekend, I decided. This time last year I would have completely lost it, and perhaps even not completed the race for fear of posting a rubbish time!

I have had a good solid winter season, and I am feeling confident about the races ahead. Yes, 5 races in 6 weeks, with the 6^th being the European Championships, is rather a daunting schedule, but I am confident that I as well prepared as I could be, and my mind set is much more improved, thanks to NLP and Kim Ingleby.

First warm up race next weekend (8^th May) – let the season commence!

Local and national boost for Melanie

Local Evening Telegraph, Saturday 16 April 2011

Top Northamptonshire triathlete Melanie Ryding has received sponsorship boots both on a local and a national scale ahead of a big year.

Ryding has been selected as a member of the TRI UK sponsored race team in 2011 and will be representing the sponsors throughout a series or national and international races during the season.

And she has also received support from local company CD Leisure who run the Waendel Leisure Centre in Wellingborough.

Ryding first took up triathlon in 2007 after shedding four and a half stone and she earned a spot in the Great Britain team for the World Championships in Australia two years later.

She will be competing in the European championships in Spain later this year and she admitted that none of it would be possible without the support of her new sponsors.

Ryding said: “I would like to sincerely thank all the sponsors involved for helping to make the international competition possible and affordable.

“I was proud to call myself a triathlete after that first race.

“I was even prouder to call myself a GB triathlete when I earned my country’s colours in 2009, 2010 and 2011.

“But now to be able to say that I am sponsored by the biggest race team in the UK and the world’s largest triathlon store is quite an amazing thing to put on my C.V.”

Ali Boon, co-owner of Tri UK and team manager, added: “Melanie was a natural choice when we were selecting our team for 2011.

“We have grown the race team to a 50-plus strong team which is now the envy of the triathlon world.

“Melanie’s dedication and loyalty meant that she was an obvious choice for the team. We are looking forward to a year of success together.”

To find out more about the 2011 race team and their sponsors visit the TRI UK website http://www.triuk.com. For further information on Melanie Ryding, visit her website at http://www.melanieryding.co.uk

Team TRI UK – gaining one of the biggest triathlon sponsors in the UK



Helen Russell and Melanie Ryding



My knees are still quaking even now. I felt shocked and stunned when I got the e-mail from Ali, team manager, saying yes, you’re in, back at Christmas time. It has been one of the hardest secrets to keep for a long time!

At the end of my first triathlon season on team GB, I was broke. I had to sell my motorbike and max out the credit card in order to afford the trip to Australia for the World Championship grand final. As an age group triathlete, even if you compete for your country, all the costs related to international travel and competition are down to the individual athlete. There is no financial support, you have to find your own.

As you can imagine, in this climate, finding sponsors is a very tough game. People are not interested in you unless there is (understandably) something you can give them in return. I decided to look at it like a job interview. I put together my resume, grew a brass neck, and asked absolutely everyone I could think of, local, internet based and otherwise, if they were interested in sponsoring me. I got many many knock backs, but didn’t let this deter me.

I saw the advert for Tri UK – they were looking for team applications. To be honest, I dismissed the whole idea because I had already asked similar race teams (Primera, for example) and been turned down. I didn’t think I was good enough for such a major team. Then I got a little nudge from a fellow athlete friend, Helen Russell, who suggested that I apply. I thought ‘what the heck, there’s nothing to lose is there?’ and sent it in.

Months and months went past, and I assumed that I had not been successful. Oh well, no surprise there then. When suddenly, in December I got the email from the team manager:

Many thanks for your recent e-mail enquiring about TRI UK sponsorship for the 2011 race season.

I have now gone through all the CV’s that were sent to me and have made my final selections and have now come up with my final sponsored race Team for 2011.

I am please say inform you that you have been successful with your application and Chris and I would like to welcome you to the 2011 TRI UK Race Team.
Congratulations once again – and welcome!

No words can describe how I felt when I first read this. I was so, so amazed, and had to read it over again! Not only that but later, I discovered I was even more lucky, and was awarded a team bike, which only certain team members get. Here it is, beautiful yes? I’m flabbergasted!

I look back at my story so far, and think to myself, I have achieved quite a lot, that must be it for me now, there’s nothing more to be done?

No! Here starts another chapter in my amazing roller coaster journey through triathlon. I was proud to call myself a triathlete, after that first race, I was even prouder to call myself a GB triathlete when I earned my country’s colours in 2009, 2010 and 2011, but to now be able to say that I am sponsored by the biggest race team in the UK and the world’s largest triathlon store is quite an amazing thing to put on my C.V.

I would like to sincerely thank Ali and Chris, along with the rest of the staff in the Tri UK store for giving me this amazing opportunity.

I will be sure to do you all proud.

Lumie Lights product review: first impressions

SAD lamp

I was thrilled to say the least, when Lumie contacted me to say they were interested in me testing and reviewing their products. I discovered light therapy as part of a blog I wrote for Orbana about influencing the Circadian rhythm. I was very curious to see how it worked out. They sent me 2 products to test, over the summer and winter, promising me it would make a big difference.

What products am I using?

I have a SAD light and a Lumie Alarm clock. To be honest, I haven’t really used the SAD light yet, and I am aware that it is coming into summer, however I am sure that does not mean there is no need to use them. I still need to figure that out.

The Lumie alarm clock

Lumie Alarm clock

I have, however, been using the alarm clock. It is very odd at first, relying on a light to wake you up. There is a feature on it where you can set a sound – I guess it is a security measure, however I decided to embrace it fully and not use that.

I set the alarm clock for the time I usually set it for. It told me that it brightens over a period of half an hour, I decided to just go with it and see what happened, so I turned all the other alarm clocks off. Brave? I was very surprised!!

Each morning this week I have woken up just a few minutes before the light reached its brightest (which happens at the time the alarm is set for). It seemed very unusual to wake up gently rather than with a jolt as the noise goes off! That took quite a bit of getting used to!

I have also been using it for ‘sunset’ too – it dims over the period of half an hour too, which is quite nice, although it does seem to take forever so I often don’t initiate my ‘sunset’ from full brightness. Each time I have been asleep before the light has gone out.

The effect on training?

It’s a bit early to say, but on Friday, I went swimming before work, which is normal and part of my routine. With the clocks going back, the morning (5.30am) is dark again, so sunrise on the alarm clock occurs before it does outside!

I arrived at the pool feeling not much different to be honest. I had a reasonably tough set to do, which I was not looking forward to. I completed the set within the time I had, swimming further than I usually do by 100m, in the 45 carefully timed minutes that I have in the pool before I have to dash to work.

Was that because of the alarm clock? Who can truly say, and I know it is very early days, but I am pleasantly surprised so far, and really like my new method of waking in the morning!