August Blog
Overall, this month has been pretty positive, which is a nice change. The month has been relatively training-based except two main races. Training has been going really well, especially in running, as I’ve managed to go over two months without injuries and have kept my mileage consistent.
The first race of the month was a bit unexpected, as I only decided to enter the day before. It was the Colchester 5K, which also doubled as the Essex 5K Road Championships (though I wasn’t part of that since I'm not from the county). I didn’t taper for it because I wanted to maintain consistent run training, so I treated it more like a training session than an race. On race day, I felt pretty good and was excited to see how I’d perform. The field was strong, and I was excited to post a good time, especially since this was my first official 5K road race. The first 3 kilometres were comfortable, in which i sat in a big group averaging around 2:55-56 per kilometre, which would have led to a finishing time of around 14:45. With about 1500 meters to go, the pace picked up, reducing the pack to about five runners. At the 1K mark, the pack once again narrowed down to just me and one other runner. With around 400 meters left, I managed to kick away from the front and take the win by 3 seconds. Overall, I was really happy to secure the win and set a new personal best with a time of 14:21, which was a decent improvement from my previous 5K attempts in parkrun. I do however think I can go even faster, as I didn’t pace it perfectly, finishing the last kilometr in 2:36, which was 16 seconds faster than my average pace per kilometer of 2:52.
The next race of the month was the Eton Dorney Eliminator, which consisted of four races, with each race relegating you to a lower category if you didn’t finish within a certain number of places. Staying in the A final was going to be tough, as we were racing alongside the seniors, and there were only 14 slots available for the A final in the last race. The day didn’t start off well, as I picked up a 10-second penalty for not putting my wetsuit in the box. Luckily, I realized my mistake so had to try harder than planned to ensure I would still qualify despite the penalty. Even with that early mistake, I managed to qualify, but I made sure to be extra careful in the transitions for the remaining races. I felt really good throughout the day and was able to tactically stay in the A final until the last race . However, the last race didn’t start great either, as I didn’t put my wetsuit on properly, causing the back to open up and fill with lots of water. This put me in the second pack, but our group worked well together, and we managed to catch up with the front pack. Going into T2, I positioned myself well and came in around 5th place. The start of the run was full gas, which gradually narrowed the pack down to just me and one other athlete with around 750 meters to go. With about 250 meters left, I kicked away and managed to take the win by 2 seconds, securing my first overall win in the Super Series and taking the victory in both the senior and junior categories.
Overall, I’m really happy with how this month has gone and excited to carry this momentum into the world qualifiers in two weekends’ time. I’m also hoping to race next week in the French GP D2.
