May 2012

This month started really well as Mark and I were invited to go to Majorca for a long weekend - staying with Caroline, Mark, Sam and Chris in a fabulous little town called Colonia Sant Jordi. Its a lovely little town with, bizarrely, a 50 m open air swimming pool. We planned to get some warm weather training in and end the week by racing in the Majorca standard distance triathlon. Unfortunately I had picked up an injury in my left hamstring and this was stopping me doing any fast runs. Still, I thought that I could bike and swim in the sunshine and just see how I got on in the race. The real attraction to this event is that the bike is draft legal which suits me really well as I am pretty good at sitting on a wheel.

The week was absolutely great - the weather was really warm and we cycled a lot around the south east of the island, finding some lovely little cafes on the way. Sam was on a real mission to train herself to death - she has so much energy! We were all happy to just do a cycle in the morning and then lounge around in the afternoon but not Sam - no, she also had to run and swim every day. Chris has his hands full there!!

The race was really fun,. We had all decided that it was just a training event and that we would go out and enjoy it. And we did! The swim was interesting - in the sea and 1500m! I only do 750m normally and I surprised myself by how much I enjoyed getting into a rythmn rather than the usual splash and dash! Sam was first out of the water and I followed about a minute later with Caroline about 4 minutes or so behind. After a run to transition along the beach (slow) I set off on the bike. No drafting though as I was totally on my own - apart from a string of quite slow men that I passed in the first few miles. Eventually a small group got on my wheel and then we started to work together. The miles just flew by and soon my group had caught Sam's. There was then a group of about 5 girls and I thought we must be quite well up. The race did have 3 elites in it and they were well ahead by then. We flew into T2 all together with Sam and I right next to each other again. It's great racing with a team mate.

Sam was looking strong as she ran out and I followed, a bit nervous about my hamstring but accepting that I would just jog if I had to. It was very hot on the run and I soon settled into a steady pace - its quite enjoyable if you don't run too fast! Sam was just up ahead and she seemed to be struggling. When I caught her up she said she was feeling sick and had a stitch so we ran together. My leg was hurting a bit by then so we agreed to jog in together and really enjoyed it - we call ourselves Peg Leg and Stitch now, what a pair! Once again my On trainers were fabulous and got me round. We eventually finished side by side in equal 8th place - the crowds were great cheering us on at the finish line and we felt great! Caroline had a great race and came in only a few minutes behind us.

The Spanish really know how to put on a race and the food at the finish was amazing - we were just stealing some sandwiches for the lads when they brought out huge paella's - and it kept coming. I reckon there were 30 huge paella dishes and it was all free for anyone! As I was stuffing my face I suddenly realised they were calling my name. Somehow I had finished 3rd over 40 and had to get up on the podium to get my trophy. A great end to a fab race.

The rest of the month has been about training in the lead up to the European championships in June and getting over my injury. I must admit I am feeling my age at the moment and my leg is not healing as quick as I would like. I have a great physio though (thanks Mindy) who really believes in acupuncture so she has been sticking needles in my bum all month!

Before Turkey I had two races planned - the first one being Grendon sprint tri and then the National champs in Nottingham. Grendon is notoriously cold and this year was no exception. The water was only 11 degrees! but the sun shone and I had a great race - although I was a bit rusty on the run those On trainers got me through again! I came into T2 in second place and managed to run into first place quite quickly so I was very pleased with that result. I've also qualified for the 2014 European champs so we may be off to Austria next June!

So that's May - June is a big month with both the Nationals and Europeans - bring it on!!