ONEndurance, featuring my sis!
What a day! My sister flew over from the UK to take part in Tri Yas 2014 with me, and became an honorary member of the ONEndurance team. Tri Yas is unusual in that it starts in the afternoon, because it takes place under the floodlights of the F1 Yas Marina Circuit, so there’s a lot of waiting around to get started. No matter, with team mates around to chat and laugh with, the day soon passed by and before I knew it I was in the water ready to start the Olympic distance.
The gun went off, and despite lots of kicking in front of me I just kept my form and ploughed ahead and soon I had some free space around me. I knew I was swimming well, and despite a little difficulty sighting the far away buoys I was soon on my second lap and exited the water in 32.29. I was delighted with this, 4 minutes faster than last year. Patient coaching from Luis has paid off, thank you Luis!
Luis and his FitChicks
T1 involves a pretty long run but I used the time to start taking off my wetsuit and everything else went smoothly. Soon I was on the bike and up the hill out onto the race track. I rode well, pushing up the hill and taking advantage of the down slopes, but towards the end of the ride I realized I may have been going too hard as I started to get a stitch in my right side. Hey ho, too late now. I finished the bike in 1hr 11.11, 7 minutes faster than last year – very happy with that.
Pink makes you go faster, right?
T2 was as quick as it could be, my runners were on and I was off. Or maybe not. I soon realized that I wasn’t really moving, I couldn’t pick my feet up and my stitch was making breathing difficult. Damn. Nothing I could do but mentally battle to just keep my feet moving, and I kept telling myself not to stop or walk, just keep going. Somehow I made it to the finish, but I was very disappointed in my time – 1hr 01.36, a massive 8 minutes slower than last year.
I crossed the finish line and found Leyla and Luis for congratulatory hugs. Despite the shocking run I managed to finish the race in 2hrs 52.21, 4 minutes faster than last year. Not a bad result overall, and on a bright side, at least there’s plenty of room for improvement on the run next year!
Hugs from Coach
My sister was still out on the sprint run course, so I excitedly waited for her to finish. She has been out of action for some time following a nasty bike accident and subsequent operations on her shoulder, so I was super proud to see her finish in 1hr 50. Next for her is the London Triathlon in August, the Olympic distance, and I can’t wait to support her.
Proud of our FitChick winner!
Leyla and Syd did ONEndurance proud with their category wins, and after seeing them collect their trophies we headed back to Kim’s for race chat, pizza and bubbles. A fabulous end to a fabulous day – ONEndurance rocks!
Post race celebrations – striking a pose for our dear Mehdi
VeganTriGirl 