Perhaps childbirth has also given me a new sense of what hard endurance is and a new level of pain management. Not only that, I'd enjoyed it! It felt like a real case of 'she believed she could, so she did'. Whatever event I've done I do love a good finish! I heard my boyfriend cheering me at the finish line and couldn't wait to see both my boys on the other side. With 1km to go I dug in and got ready for upping the pace for the final 500m. With 5 kilometers to go I told myself 'it's just a Parkrun'. I was thoroughly enjoying the experience and pleased to be overtaking more often than not. I let my legs carry me fast and confidently on the down and let my head pick out the best route on the ups. I'm a lover of trails and unpredictable challenges best found in the great outdoors. Unlike the bike section, parts of the course were extremely boggy and muddy hills made for nature's own travelators. Like the bike section, the run course was undulating. Maybe as I didn't push it as hard on the bike, maybe luck, maybe all the recent short distance barefoot running has helped, or maybe I was just loving life. Somehow I got away without feeling the normal post-bike jelly legs too. Amazingly, there was no calf pain so I got the spring in my step pretty quickly. Transition 2 was smooth and before I knew it I was out onto the run course. Think about the run when the bike is done. So rather than the normal pain from pushing the pace, I was distracted by this pain and hoping it would hold out and not affect my run… Stay positive. Probably a tight muscle I didn't want to tear. I wasn't able to push it on the bike as much as I would have liked as I had left calf pain from kilometer 6. The rest of the bike course would be undulating and moist, with a few potholes and some of us found ourselves marshalled to a complete stop for a few minutes to allow traffic to pass. My cheer team did try to warn me as many had made the same mistake, but sadly we hadn't learned sign language for 'clean your cleats' in advance.Ĭleats cleaned and off we went straight uphill. Only to find mud on my cleats ensured there was no way they would clip into my pedals without finding a puddle to splash about in first. I jumped onto my trusty steed of 6 years as the timer started for the bike section. Parent-head could easily have had me set off with a swim cap for a helmet! This gave me a chance to double check I had all my gear before I set off. Transition 1 was neutralised due to the bad weather and ground conditions so it meant there was no pressure to rush through to the bike section. My cheer team were waiting for me as I exited the water and I gave the little one a kiss as I passed by. This left little room between competitors and I got the usual few dunkings by overhead swinging arms. In a shallow, murky lake dug out by 800 men over 2 years, the swim meandered around an island along a narrow course. Face submerged, goggles checked and next thing I knew the horn went off. I was certainly not used to these conditions with my weekly balmy swim in the local leisure center! Dangling my legs in the water, the only thing for it was jump in and breeeeathe.
The water was measured at a fresh 15 degrees Celsius a couple of days earlier so wetsuits were mandatory. I relaxed and looked forward to the uncertainty and challenge that comes with triathlon. Never mind any chance of practising smooth transitions! But, as I listened to the race briefing I started to feel happy. Or perhaps it was the realisation I had done about 30% of the 8-week plan, which I started the day after my 7-week postnatal check up.
But I lacked confidence in myself through all the registration and set up. I wasn't nervous about how I would perform.
The milk was still in the fridge we were already en route.įortunately, the forecast storms meant all races were delayed by 1 hour so back home for milk we went! Unfortunately, the weather was still looking grim for the rest of the day. This year I had a new recruit to my cheer team.
Not a question I normally ask the morning of a triathlon, but this year was different. Sundried ambassador Sophie Kennedy is back racing after having her first child and gives a detailed report on the iconic Hever Castle triathlon.