May + June Blog
Quite a lot has happened in the past two months in terms of triathlon. It started with a positive when I raced at the British Super Series in Llanelli, in which I had my best performance so far nationally, finishing as the first junior and fifth overall. This also led to my first time getting prize money.
The next race was the ETU Cup in Olsztyn. Due to exams, I had to travel later than usual to the race than I would of like too. To add to this my flight was also delayed, leading me to arrive at the venue at 5 a.m. the day before the race. Therefore, my preparation was far from ideal. On race day, I felt quite flat but managed to pull off a half-decent performance, finishing third overall. However, I knew I could do better, as I ran nearly a minute slower in the 5km run than I did two weeks previously in Llanelli.
After Olsztyn, things seemed to go downhill. I randomly started to feel pain in my foot midway through an easy run, which kept getting worse until I could barely walk and was limping by the end of the run. This pain did not go away, and for the next three weeks, I couldn't run properly and did virtually no running whatsoever. It slowly eased off, and in the past two weeks, I've gradually been getting back into running, incorporating the use of an AlterG treadmill, which reduces impact by taking some of your body weight off while running.
This led me to this weekend's race, which was the European Junior Championships qualifier, where the top three juniors qualify. Going into it, I wasn't expecting too much due to the recent injury, but I still had a small hope of qualifying. The race was split into two days, with day one being a time trial triathlon to seed you into the correct heat on day two. I managed to have a strong swim and bike in the heats, getting the fastest time out of the juniors and seniors, seeding me first into the A final. However, I still didn't feel great during the run. The final started off well, with a decent swim putting me in the front pack straight away. Coming out of transition onto the run, I was second overall and the first junior. Unfortunately, my lack of run form led me to finish 17th overall and fourth junior, just missing out on qualifying for Europeans.
I can't really say this season has gone too well so far. I've never really had any bad injuries before, and having two in six months has been quite demoralizing. All I can do is look ahead to the next race and ensure I don't overtrain and get injured again.
