I’ve been training with Rich for the six months leading up to my first 70.3, I have competed in shorter distance races for around 6 years previously but this has been a big step up for me.

I work for a long haul airline so dealing with jet lag and fatigue together with increased training load has definitely been a juggling act. I use training peaks and often have to double up activities to give myself extra rest days.

I did a full run through at home three weeks before the race to check my nutrition and to see how I coped with the distance, I found this invaluable as it gave me confidence on race day.

The swim was two laps clockwise of the lake with an Ozzy style exit, I took it nice and steady and swam inside all the other athletes so that I had a direct line to each buoy.  This helped me to keep out of any trouble and swim the shortest distance.

Transition was fairly quick after a long run up from the lake. The bike course was 2 laps of nice rolling roads with a mix of country lanes and some faster duel carriageway.  It was hot and fairly windy.  I stopped at the half way aid station to pick up another litre of electrolytes.

T2 was a bit slower but I wanted to make sure I was fully prepared for the run. Temperature was now around 27 degrees and very humid.  Unfortunately for me the majority of the run was on grass so I knew this would be tough.  It was 3 laps and again rolling.   About half way round we had a biblical thunderstorm and to be honest that was my favourite bit of the race… finally managed to cool down and get my HR down.

Absolutely delighted with my results as I went under my goal of six and a half hours and managed AG 2nd and 17th lady overall.

Bring on the next one!