Part of the team:
I have just spent a totally awesome weekend away in Aviles Spain with the rest of the GB age group team. And what a team we are. Team manager Jez Cox is just about the best you can get. He is totally on the ball with organisation and delivered a highly motivating briefing the day before our races. The camaraderie, support and banter from fellow GB athletes is what makes these events so special.
Ron and I were stopping about a 25 minute drive away from the Niemeyer international cultural center and the team hotel where everything was centered around all weekend, this wouldn't have been an issue but we were also without internet in our apartment. This is where fellow athletes/friends come in to help out with text messages if things changed or relevant posts were put up on the team notice board or facebook page.
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| Team GB, Standard distance. |
Pre race:
The Niemeyer international cultural center was a great race village, lots of open space, an expo with plenty of shopping opportunities and a reasonably priced cafe/bar. I was totally inspired and excited to see so many athletes and supporters from all over the world blending together in this area and around the town of Aviles. Everybody looked great in their tracksuits in their countries colours.
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| Chilling at the Niemeyer centre/expo |
Registration was smooth, and each athlete received a really nice rucksack,
water bottle and.....chicken soup. (yes, chicken soup)
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| Nice rucksack/backpack |
There was the opportunity to buy event clothing.
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| New hoodie |
Race day pre start.
My race start was 11.45am, the last wave. Sprint races were over as they raced in the morning and therefore most of the athletes were out to support us standard racers. Thanks to Graeme, the team mechanic, for pumping up the tyre on my disk wheel before the start of the race in the transition area.
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| Transition area |
Several GB women were warming up together along side other nations when we were called into the pre race start pen. The sun was hot and it did feel as though we were hanging around exposed to the heat a little longer than needed. But the music was loud and team GB ladies sang the loudest and danced the best to the likes of 'I don't care, I love it' and 'shake it off' !!! good fun. We were then called to pre start 2, basically the start line, where the serious heads suddenly appeared on all athletes. I clocked the piece of music playing as we set off at the horn blow...'bring me back alive'.......
Run 1.
Run one was 2 laps of a 5k loop up and down the river with a couple of turnaround points, one of which was through the stadium so supporters got to see us and cheer us on. I had made the decision not to use my TomTom GPS watch for this event so as not to be faffing around in transition switching it from run to bike and back to run again. So I used the 'freestyle' option which meant I pressed start at the start and stop at the very end of the race, I'd get no stats to speak of but I would get a heart rate reading. I'm not sure if this was a great idea as I had no idea of my pace on this first run, and what with the adrenaline/excitement/nerves I may have gone out too fast. It felt like a long 10k, which later I discovered it was, by about half a kilometer. I had settled into a small group consisting of me and two other female GBers in the agegroup below me. This was good, I really believe we pushed each other on, I was aware they were racing head to head so no words were spoken!
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| Run start |
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| Run lap |
I raced hard and was a bit nervous as I had started to get the first signs of calf cramp in both legs towards the end, but I came into T1 generally happy with my effort and hoped the cramping would go once I was on the bike. ( it eased a lot but I was reminded of it every now and then during the bike leg)
I felt that I had pushed hard on this first run.
T1 was smooth., probably one of my best!
Bike:
This was just over 42kms consisting of 2 and a half laps of 3 points of turnaround. Sounds complicated and originally I found it very confusing so spent a long time the day before making sure I knew exactly where I was to go. However as usual on the day it was a lot less confusing than I had imagined. There was a short leg, a medium leg and a long leg. Plenty of time for settling down and TT'ing with a few little rises in the 'Quarry loop' to test the legs, and some fast descents and S bends in this section too.
I loved the bike course and it felt like I was racing hard and fast, overtaking all the way. The support en route was great, and we passed the Niemeyer centre several times with huge support here.
We also rode through a small village called Zeluan, it seemed the whole village were out to support/marshal and offer drinks here. Unfortunately my water bottle fell off the bike here on a rough bit of road. After negotiating the bike course correctly I rode fast into the stadium ready for the last run feeling that i had cycled the bike leg as fast as I could.
As I went to dismount I was overcome with cramp in both quads...I've not experienced this before . This shocked and disappointed me. I couldn't do my usual dismount so instead slowed, took my time, uncleated and gingerly got off before the dismount line. The cramp was horrible at this point and I just had to wait for it to go, it felt like a long time but was realistically about 15 seconds. Enough for several participants to overtake me on the dismount line sadly.
T2 was as smooth as it could be but I hobbled out of the area a bit still trying to regain regular feeling in my quads.
Run 2:
This was 2 laps of a 2.5km course, again up and down the river., and passing through the stadium again after the first lap. (Unfortunately several runners got disqualified as they only ran one lap therefore not completing the race) I found this run so hard ! I was hot, cramping, and basically just knackered! I gave 100% effort despite being really uncomfortable. It felt long. Again I found out later that it was long by about half a km! I wasn't running with anyone else, at least I don't think I was, I didn't notice anything and could only think about putting one foot in front of the other and wishing the finish line nearer. There was plenty of water on the course to drink and pour over our heads to try to keep cool as there was no shade at all.
I have never been so pleased to see the blue carpet and finish gantry. I had given 100% for the whole race. I was exhausted. As soon as I crossed the finish line I could see Ron the other side of the railings, thank god he was there to congratulate me. He told me I was 4th, which is a tough position to finish, but at this point I didn't care. I knew I had given everything and had not let myself down. I had done my best, It wasn't enough for a medal but that didn't seem to matter as I knew I had made no mistakes. I felt very emotional and found it hard to fight back tears. I have no idea where this feeling came from and was not sure why I felt like crying. I think it was just pure exhaustion.
Post race.
The finish area was fab! Tables and chairs, water, protein shakes, and proper food ! a choice of chicken/meat or cheese salad with wraps and dressing!
There was a finishers medal for everyone
A finishers photograph
and medal engraving.
A few favourite weekend 'moments!'
The police escort on the team GB bike recce.
Our hire van being 3 times the size of the one we actually booked !!
Transporting fellow GB athletes in the van, and their partners, and their bikes!
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| I'm a duathlete get me out of here |
Our friend Pete was stashed away in the back of the van alongside 2 bikes with his wife riding up front with me and Ron several times....on one occasion we had a bit of closed road trouble, Ron walked over to a couple of policemen to ask for an alternative route....he came running back across the road shouting,,,'Pete, jump back in the back of the van quick we've got a police escort back to your hotel!' Pete's wife said, 'take a picture take a picture' and 'I wish they had flashing lights on'!! It was crazy, our escort took us through red lights !
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| Police escort |
We went to the medal ceremony (10pm!) and thought we'd park the van on the railway station car park. As we were crossing over the railwayline (a tight turn and bumpy ground) a siren sounded, the lights started flashing and the barrier started to descend !...It was a definite 'my life flashed before me' moment but we made it !
The inspirational medal ceremony with winners as young as under 20 to two men in the 85-89 agegroup !
Discovering that history was made with Chris Mosier from the USA competing in the sprint distance...he is the first transgender athlete to compete in a world championship race.
The elites, notably Emma Pallant and Richard Murray (Gold winners the day before) cheering us agegroupers on.
The bonding, support and banter of team GB and of course the awesomeness of Gill Fullen. The clear winner of my agegroup (50-54) and 2nd female over all agegroups!
Thank you so much to Ron for getting me there, prepping my bike and generally looking after everyone!
Thank you to Neill for all his input into my training and generally taking care of my legs!
Next stop ZOFINGEN! long distance world championships in September.
