Been to see my sponsors at Wiggle HQ in Portsmouth today to pick up my new race bike, the Focus Izalco Chrono, plus some other race kit ahead of the triathlon season.
A great day and I now have a great bike to get well acquainted with before the Euro Champs in May and the Worlds in June.
Although the tri season doesn't start until next month, I raced a duathlon on Sunday - the Swindon Duathlon - in less than welcoming conditions.
When I looked out of the window and saw the amount of snow on the ground in Oxford first thing on Sunday morning I didn’t think there was a chance the race would go ahead, but it did and the organisers did a grand job in staging a safe event.
For me, trying to figure out how many layers to wear so as not to be too hot on the run and then too cold on the bike was one of the most challenging parts of the morning and having never done a duathlon before it was all an unknown - but I got there in the end...
I was keen to ensure I didn’t kill myself on the first run (10k) so that I had plenty left to give the bike some welly (40k) and then run home strongly for the final 5k.
It kind of went to plan, although trying to keep my heart rate below the agreed 160 beats per minute on the first run while running uphill into winds which can only be described as arctic blasts was a little tricky.
It was so cold it was hard to really get into racing mode but at some point during the final run I think I found myself actually almost enjoying the race (although couldn’t feel my face, fingers or toes) and ran home strongly to win my age group (25-29) and finish second woman overall. Not too bad for an ex-swimmer! Needless to say, it took several hours to thaw out and, call me a fair weather triathlete, but I’m in no rush to race in such freezing conditions again any time soon!
Looking forward to going up to the Big Smoke this weekend to watch several friends tackle London's big bad 26.2 miles. Good luck to all competing!