RACE DIARY

Southampton Fast Twitch Closer – 2nd female overall and AG Win – End of Sept 2022

This was my 2 nd time doing this triathlon, it is right at the end of the season. It is a pool swim. The bike route is really quiet, and you can see miles in front and behind making it easier to keep a constant speed, this year, the wind was stronger making the last stretch across an open common difficult because it was into a headwind. The run is only 5k, the first part up a hill, which was hard to get the legs going. I finished on the podium with 2nd female overall, a really great result for this race.

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Box End GBP AG Qualifier Sprint Triathlon – Sept 2022

This was an opportunity to qualify for the world triathlon series for my age group to be part of the GBR AG team. I haven’t done any of these races before, it was a large field, with a female mass start which is the first time I have done this in a while. (Since the Covid regulations made the starts ‘rolling’ to limit social contact)

 

The swim was longer than expected at 850m and the start was quite busy and frantic, the cycle was a flat fast course, I averaged 20.5mph which I was pleased with and the run was cross country on uneven ground up and down hills and through one very random hedgerow! My pace was about 7.40’s per mile which was good given the course. This was my best race since having Covid, all 3 disciplines went well, and I came 6 th AG so I qualified for the AG team in Hamburg 2023.

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Bedford Olympic Distance Triathlon. Age Group Win – August 2022

This was my first time doing this race, it was really well organised and very friendly. The water temperature in the river was over 25 degrees so it was a non wetsuit swim which suits me as I prefer swimming in a swim skin. Apart from trying to avoid lots of swans this went smoothly, the bike route was out in the countryside, with only a few cars to think about, it was a lovely sunny warm day, and the run was around a park on tarmac paths. I felt my swim went well, bike was reasonable but the run was a lot slower than I would normally do, it was probably to be expected as this wasn’t long after I had Covid. I won my age group and received a key rack as my prize. I would definitely go back and do this race again, the location and routes work really well for a triathlon.

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Oldbury Sprint Triathlon 2022 – Age Group Win and 6th female overall

This was an early race in the season, a pool swim, at the beginning of May. It rained and the roads were quite wet. The cycle was a long drag uphill for the first part, but you turn around and come back down it, therefore I was able to make up some time then. I used a couple of Clif Shot Bloks for a boost of nutrition fuel half way through the bike, all that I needed on a short distance race. Some of the run is on grass but most of it is on road, the only hiccup on this one was my elastic laces weren’t tight enough, so my trainers felt too loose. Really pleased with an age group win, there was 52 seconds between 3rd female and 6th female so very close, definitely improvements can be made in transitions. A well organised, friendly race.

Eton Half Marathon Running Race 2022 – 3rd female overall 1.40

The weather for this race was torrential rain, I was so wet afterwards my clothes could be wrung out, the water was in my shoes. Just completely soaked. There were a set amount of laps per distance and all distances set off at the same time, there were periods during this race when I wished I had chosen 10k, especially when those runners were finishing and I had more than half left to go. I felt like I wore too many clothes as I had a top underneath my vest and arm warmers. I finished 3 rd female which was a good result for a wet, cold, early January race.

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Clock Change 10k Running Race – March 2022 – 4th Overall female and Age group winner

I always enjoy this race, it’s a local event and normally there are runners from my club, St Mary’s participating. It isn’t a fast course because of a hill and starting and finishing on grass, but always a good, friendly race. It was part of the Wiltshire road race league this time, which made it even more popular. I am happy with my average pace of 7.05’s for 6.26 miles, and winning my age group. Southampton Fast Twitch Triathlon 2021 – Sprint 2 nd female overall and Age group Win. This was at the beginning of October, at the very end of the triathlon season. The swim was in a pool, it was an enjoyable race, the swim was very organised setting competitors off every 20 seconds. The swim was good, I caught the person in front of me but he let me pass so no problems there, the only issue with the swim was the end of the lane where you turn was the same colour as the water without a black line going up it so I kept nearly headbutting it because I couldn’t see it when approaching. The transition was down metal steps and across some grass, the start of the cycle was over several roundabouts but once through the town area after about 5 minutes, the route was brilliant, out into the New Forest, road surfaces were good and you could see a long way in front, a few cattle grids slowed me down, but I really enjoyed the cycle and averaged over 20mph.

 

I had a couple of Clif Shot Bloks for my nutrition fuelling on the cycle that contain caffeine for a boost of energy ready for the run. I started off on the run to find I had a small stone in my shoe, I had to try and move it as it was digging into the ball of my foot, this took probably at least 30 seconds, so I lost that time on the run. It was up a hill to start with, I found it hard to get going but the 2 nd half of the run was faster. I missed 1 st place female by a couple of seconds, damn stone! But that’s all part of triathlon. Really pleased with my result and enjoyed the race.

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Hullavington 10 mile Secret Santa 2021 Running Race – 1.13. 6 th Overall female, 3rd Age Group
place

I had an amazing run today, ended up running with a chap that was the same pace and it really helped being with someone. I tended to end up in front of him on the hills but he would catch me up again on the flat. During the last half a mile, he picked up the pace and I couldn’t go with him.

 

Very glad to see the finish, I really had nothing left. The trusty Clif Shot Bloks worked well for the nutrition fuel, I spread these out during the race not to stress the digestive system. It was a very damp day and I had cold arms and hands towards the end, I think arm warmers rather than just a vest would have helped today. Lovely to see several of my friends running that day and a coffee and lunch afterwards.

Virtual 5k Running Race 2021 – 20.46.

A virtual race when everything was being canceled. A cold but dry winter morning, myself, my husband, and my children did this 5k, which raised money for Wiltshire Air Ambulance. We had a loop to run around which was half a mile long, I was pleased with my time, averaging 6.41’s per mile. I haven’t done a standalone 5k before, so this was a good benchmark to try and improve on.

Christmas Pudding 10k Running Race 2021 45.06

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A fun race, pretty windy but a flat course, averaged 7.11’s per mile and felt it went reasonably well, last half a mile was hard,

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Clock Change 10k Running Race October 2021 – 3rd Overall Female and Age Group Win

The weather was terrible today and I felt completely flat of energy, it was a really slow time for me, but somehow I came away with a couple of prizes. You have to take the bad with the good and sometimes you just don’t feel right on the day.

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Gosport Half marathon Running Race– 2021 – 1.39

This was my first half marathon in a long time due to Covid restrictions, I started conservatively, as I really wasn’t sure what pace I could do for this distance at the moment. But I averaged dead on 7.30’s but my chip didn’t seem to stop on the first chip mat over the finish, so my chip time was slightly out on this race.

 

My nutrition fuelling was some sports beans before the start and Clif Shot Bloks during it. It was great to do a half marathon again, the weather was good and I really enjoyed the day.

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Fifty One fiver Olympic Distance Triathlon 2021

This race came not long after swimming pools had re-opened after lockdown number 3. The lake was about 13 degrees and many people opted for a 400m swim rather than the 1500m, due to the lack of swim training and the cold conditions. I did the 1500m swim but I wore a rash vest under my wetsuit, which did make it feel a bit tight, the swim was ok but I was really pleased to get out, the transition was grassy and muddy and I struggled to clip in my cleats when I got past the mount line because they were caked in mud, it took several seconds to do this and I was a bit concerned that I wouldn’t be able to unclip because of the mud stuck in them. The run was also really slippery. I really didn’t feel my best on this race, a combination of having the Covid Vaccine and the cold conditions, but I finished, even though the time was much slower than I was capable of.

Total Promotions Sprint Triathlon 2021 – 9th female overall

7 days later and another triathlon in the same lake, the water temperature had increased by around a degree. The swim was only 750m so that was half the distance of last weekend. This race went a little better. Definitely out of practice with triathlon racing having had so much break because of the Covid restrictions, but it was good for races to go ahead again!

2020 Thorpe Park Half Marathon Running Race - February - after injury – 1.38 (22nd female and 5th
in Age Group)

This was my first race having had pes anserine bursitis and had a cortisone injection into it. Worked hard on my glute, adductor and abductor strength, and now I only seem to be getting a few twinges in it. I had a few months off running, but I had been able to swim and cycle. I really wasn’t sure what pace I could maintain for a half marathon, I went off at a sensible pace and really pleased to maintain 7.30’s per mile for this race. I have done this half marathon a few times and I really like the event and the course. Definitely do this one again.

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End of Season Olympic Distance Triathlon 2020

Great to do a triathlon after a summer of cancellations because of Covid. The lake swim, was individuals starting with several seconds between them from the land, over the chip mat, then down the wooden platform. The cycle was a rolling course with some long straight stretches. I averaged 20.2 mph, my nutrition fuel was some shot bloks on the bike. The run was on grass which I found difficult in my normal trainers, perhaps spikes or my off road trainers would have been more appropriate. This was a really enjoyable race, the sun was shining, and it was lovely to see everyone at a race after Covid and the lockdowns.

Westonbirt Duathlon – October 2020

I thought I would see what a Duathlon was like. This was 5k run, 12 mile bike and 5k run. The weather was horrendous! Torrential rain and high winds, the runs were mainly on grass so they were muddy making them slower. I averaged about 7.30 per mile pace on the first run and 18.5 mph on the bike due to the conditions and then averaged 7.40’s on the next 5k run. Overall it was good, and I really enjoyed trying out a Duathlon, even though the weather made it challenging.

Hullavington 8 mile Running Race – 2020 – 11th female overall and 6th Age Group - time of 55.19

A really great race today, and very pleased with my time especially as it isn’t flat and there are a few open exposed places that are windy. A set of roadworks made it 8 miles rather than 10 miles this year. We set off in a wave format of 6 runners per wave, our group of 6 stayed together for a while but then some picked up the pace and left the group and others dropped back, I was somewhere in the middle. A good sprint finish with Andy Rhoades, I tried hard, legs felt like they were going to fall off, but I couldn’t quite stay with him.

Castle Combe 10k Running Race – 2020. 44.29

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First race for a long time due to Covid and Lockdowns, this was a staggered star. Therefore you ran mainly on your own, like a time trial. My average pace was 7.08’s, it was flat and around a race track but it does get quite windy because it is exposed. I haven’t done a race for a while so I had a couple of Sports Beans for nutrition before the start.

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2020 Virtual London Marathon 3.44

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What a year, Covid struck and everything was moved, London marathon changed from April to October. I ran an 18 mile run in March before the decision was taken to cancel, I was running pretty well at that time. Eventually London Marathon decided to cancel it in October, and make it virtual, I had a good for age place and this would have been my 5 th London Marathon in a row. I have had bad and good races in the past. Sometimes niggles and injuries has prevented the training going well and also, sometimes you just don’t feel good on the day. I decided to do the virtual one, a few of us ran it and some friends joined in for parts of it. The day was horrendous weather, pouring with rain.

A route was planned out and consisted of laps to go past a fuel station, manned by a couple of friends from my club, giving lots of support. I started far too fast because the first part was down a hill, I felt quite strong until 20 miles and then I probably fell apart worse than I ever have before in a marathon, hit the wall, which I think was caused by a combination of pacing it wrong, weather conditions, wearing the wrong clothes, my quads became stiff and cold, and being in the middle of the countryside without the crowds! But I still managed 6 minutes under my good for age time. Not too bad given everything really.

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Half Iron Man Distance 2019 (Middle Distance) Triathlon – 113 Cotswold Classic 5hrs 27 minutes

I really enjoy this race, for several reasons, it is really friendly, I have done several of the 113 half iron’s over the years. The atmosphere is great, the participants, all the staff and the spectators are really enthusiastic. I always hear Dave’s voice when I am nearing the swim finish, blasting out ‘come on swimmer’, I know I haven’t got far to go then, and then he hauls me out, it wouldn’t be the same without him, helping all the swimmers out onto the platform! It is a local race for me, there are always people taking part or marshalling and spectating that I know, which makes it much more fun.

The lake is lovely, very pretty, surrounded by trees and wildlife. The cycle has one hill that you do twice because there are two laps. My only complaint about this race is the road surfaces up to Hannington, there is barely any road left, with huge potholes, this really slows the pace down, because if you go into one of those that is your race ended. The run is mainly off road, which is ok, but you need to be really careful of your footing, due to tree stumps, but it is really safe, without any worry of traffic. The weather was pretty good today. The only palaver was my seat post on my Argon keeps slipping, it slipped a couple of inches so it affected my bike time, this will go back to the bike shop for a new bolt!

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End of Season Olympic Distance Triathlon 2019 – Age Group win

A reasonable race today, swim was good, but the cycle had a cross wind to begin with, and didn’t seem to be in a favourable direction for this route for any it, blowing over the open fields. I didn’t make the most of being on my TT bike today because it felt twitchy and more difficult to control, therefore I didn’t stay on the bars for all of it. Definitely more practice required on this bike. The run was off road, and very uneven, 8 laps, it was ok, but very pleased to be finished. I won my category H age group, which was great. Not my best performance though.

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2018 Thorpe Park half marathon Running Race 1.37

I had an amazing 10 days in Club La Santa for February half term with the family, lots of training in preparation for London Marathon and Ironman Austria. Came back and had a 5 day taper ready for Thorpe Park half marathon, it was 2 degrees and an arctic wind, snow was due that coming week. It started at 8am. Wore long bottoms which helped. Had a really good run and felt strong throughout, I think this is the first race I have negative split.

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Fifty One Fiver – Olympic Distance Triathlon 2018

This was part of my training for Ironman Austria. The water felt cold, it was May, my feet were locked into a claw when I got out, I couldn’t straighten my toes to get them into my bike shoes! It was difficult to get going, in transition it was snail paced, but out on the bike I went, on my Scott road bike. My swim was 31 minutes including getting out and over the chip mat, I averaged 19 mph on the bike for 25 miles, the run was off road around the lake, my pace was 7.26’s per mile for 6.2 miles so I am pretty pleased with those times.

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London Corporate Team Triathlon Relay 2018

This was a great experience, a team of us representing Nationwide Building Society raced against other corporate organisations. We all had to complete a short triathlon, which involved a 100m swim in the Thames, a short sprint on a static watt bike and a 1km run and then the 2nd member of the team starts. We did well and were the 6th team to finish.

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London Marathon 2018 3hrs 36mins

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All week running up to the race, we have had communications from London Marathon, giving instructions of how to deal with the heat. It was supposed to be 26 degrees C, which in the middle of London with 40,000 people, loads of spectators, lots of smog and high rise buildings, was going to feel very hot! More drinks had been added apparently, and instructions sent of how to deal with the heat.

I started in the green start, which is the ‘good for age’ start, this is great because you are over the start line in 2 minutes. You merge with the other starts after a few miles. I didn’t feel particularly hot during the race but I had ‘lead’ legs for the entire 26 miles, it just felt like really hard work, but it definitely got worse as time went on, I just wanted it to be over, this was my 3 rd one in a row, and the most difficult. I can’t really say I enjoyed it this year, in hindsight after talking to people, the lead legs were probably related to the heat. My nutrition went well, I drank enough sports drinks interspersed with water, and fuelled with Clif Shot Bloks and Sports Beanz throughout. My time was 3.36, which in those conditions was a really good result, felt slightly traumatised after it, mainly because of the mental battle and just general pain throughout it. I came in the top 10% of women competing, pretty chuffed with that.

Ironman Austria 2018– 12hrs 29 minutes

Many months of training, traveling abroad and taking the bike in transit means Ironman is more nerve wracking than other events. Everything comes down to one day, anything can happen, sometimes you feel good for races, other days you just don’t for no apparent reason. I try to treat training for Ironman as a bunch of hurdles that need to one by one be overcome, every time I get through another hurdle it is a step closer. Getting through all the training without being injured is the first one, and without picking up an illness near to the race that means you are not feeling well enough to put your body through it is another.

 

Once the training is done and you are tapering, you know that you are fit enough at least. Trying to ignore little snippets of worry that pop into your head about coming off your bike the week before it or getting a terrible cold or sickness bug. I start to turn slightly germ phobic with about 10 days to go, the children need to wash their hands with soap as soon as they walk through the door and I start spraying door handles with anti-bac spray!

Packing the bike and all the kit is the next job, normal going away clothes etc, plus all the kit for an Ironman. And in my case, the whole family needs to pack as we are taking the children as well. Getting to the airport with cases plus a massive box or bag is another challenge, my bike bag looks like a horse. All padded out so the bike doesn’t turn up broken at the other end. Off you go on the flight, keeping those fingers crossed no germs are inhaled from the air conditioning on the plane!

 

Off you go to baggage claim, and again, heart rate probably slightly raised until you see your bike bag coming through the oversized area of baggage claim, phew it has arrived, another hurdle overcome. Just hoping that it has arrived in one piece.

We stayed in a small town outside of Klagenfurt in an amazing apartment with the stunning view of a lake. Registering and unpacking the bike are the jobs for the Thursday. Unpacked my bike and put the wheels on, luckily my bike bag means that I do not have to remove the handles so it makes it much easier not having to mess around with any cables. I pumped my tyres and a big bang happened, uh oh, what on earth was that, my tyre had popped, I found a hole in it, I remembered the previous week I had a puncture, so I had changed the tube, but I hadn’t realised the tyre had a small hole in it which meant the inner tube had come through and then burst when pumped up.

What a nightmare, luckily my friend who had written up some info regarding Austria Ironman from his experience previously had put where there was a bike shop, and it turned out to be a 2 minute walk from our apartment, I got a new tyre and fitted that, drama over. Next was sorting the red and blue bags out. This should be an easy task but I tend to want to put things in my bags to cover every eventuality! Plasters, blister plaster, baby wipes, sun cream, water, I don’t use it, but it makes me feel better having it there. Going to the race briefing is next and then the pasta party, it all starts to feel real now. On Saturday, it is time for bike racking, hanging the bags up in transition, and watching my children do Ironkids.

Saturday evening has arrived, definitely a weird feeling the night before an Ironman, knowing what awaits you the following day. I went to bed early but hardly sleep, especially as some fireworks went off at midnight, but I managed to get SOME sleep, which is all that can be expected really. At about 3.45am the alarm goes off, oh no, it’s time!! Out of bed and breakfast, all the family also had to get up as we needed to drive to Klagenfurt. Take the white bag and special needs bag to hand in, feel really quite nervous, arrived at transition at 4:55am, it opens at 5am, it is dark, not many people have arrived yet, they open up, have to find a track pump and get the tyres done, all the women are racked together, I realised the majority of people have TT bikes, I have a road bike, I haven’t considered a TT bike yet but the road bike will be fine for today. Everything seems ok, I put my nutrition onto the bike, drinks into the cages and fuel into the fuel bags. Have quite a while to wait now because the start isn’t until 7am. The sun is coming up, the lake looks shimmery and blue. t’s a lovely lake, the weather looks great, lots of nervous triathletes are milling around, getting ready, putting wetsuits on, checking goggles, having a coffee. Paul Kaye is on the mic, there’s music playing and the atmosphere is amazing, there are so many athletes in this event, it takes a long time for everyone to start the swim because of the rolling start.

Months and Months of hard work all for one day, 100 mile bike rides, long runs up to 20 miles, and a lot of pool swims and long lake swims. I have had a few weeks of 19 hours a week of training, where my body just ached.

The race: I entered the swim and perhaps started too quickly, I ran out of steam and had to slow down, the swim was fine, other than had to stop to check my chip was done up well enough as it seemed to be moving around and I was worried about losing it. I was pleased to get to the river, as I knew I was nearly there then, my arms were tired and aching because I thrashed it out too much for the first half! Glad to get out, into transition, not too much faffing and out on the bike, hamstrings felt tight, which meant I must have been kicking too much in the water. The hamstring tightness went away after a few minutes, and I settled into a reasonable speed. I had my watch set to go off every 20 minutes to remind me to fuel. I stopped at my special needs bag on the 2 nd lap to get some crisps and a high calorie drink out of it. The scenery on the bike route was stunning, lovely views, pretty countryside, and quaint villages. There were more hills than I expected, the last one at around 90 miles, everyone around was silent, you could hear a pin drop going up this hill, people seemed to be getting weary now. After this hill, there is quite a fast-rolling descent for quite a long time. Coming up to transition is a great feeling, MOMENTARILY anyway! Yay! I made it through the bike without any punctures/mechanicals, I can’t wait to get off this thing!! Dismount and then the thought of being ecstatic about finishing the bike, turns into ‘oh no I have to run now’. I change my cycling shorts to running shorts and get my fuel belt on, and out onto the run, don’t feel great, feels like hard work. Just carry on, thinking that it will probably get better at some point, looking at my watch, pace isn’t too bad even though I feel rubbish…..glad to stop at each feed station for fuel, keep on running, got to 13 miles averaging about 9 minutes per mile, I really can’t remember all that much about the course, apart from going by the lake and also on a long path perhaps next to a railway line and then ringing a bell in a courtyard. So tired, but just need to keep running, got to 20 miles, kept on and on, slowed down a bit now, then 23 miles came, had to go up a slope, which was probably tiny but felt massive at the time, really wanted to walk, but NO, MUST NOT WALK, I will undo all the hard work I have done if I walk now, kept on running, almost there, I could see the finish now, but had to run past it, and then around, probably only 0.1 of a mile but it felt like more, can’t wait to be there, I can hear Paul Kaye on the Mic, the voice of IRONMAN, he has been at my previous two Ironman races, so pleased to see him. I am running up the carpet with the big IRONMAN signs on, I can see the big red M Dot above the arch, I AM THERE, Paul Kaye shouts… Katie Sheppard, you are an IRONMAN. I am an IRONMAN for the 3 rd time. Never again is what I am thinking, that run was unbelievably difficult, it was the most painful thing I have ever done, I wanted to stop for most of it, my time for the marathon was 4hrs 11 minutes. Afterwards, emotional, feeling sick, depleted, desperate to get fluids or food into me to recover but found it difficult to stomach anything. The next day, very achy, can’t move around very well, but the relief and achievement outweighs the
pain.

London Marathon 2016 – 3.44

This was my first experience of London Marathon, It was an amazing experience, and I wasn’t worried about my time, just about enjoying the experience. But I did a good for age time and qualified for the next year.

Clock Change 10k Running Race – Age Group Win and 5th Female Overall

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London Marathon 2017 3.40

London Marathon again this year, I had a good for age place. The training had gone well for this but I had a sore throat and a cold just over a week before it, I was better for the day, but perhaps not 100%, but this actually made me pace it much more sensibly, I kept a level pace pretty much all the way, dropped off slightly at the end, but we are talking a matter of seconds per mile, I did 3hrs and 40 minutes and actually didn’t struggle that much. My nutrition fuelling hasn’t changed much in marathons for a while because I seem to have got it right, so I implemented the same fuelling again which went well. I probably would have liked to go under 3:40 but you run so much further in this course due to the amount of competitors and the roads are very wide, so going over to the drink stations also adds distance. London Marathon is an amazing event, it is unbelievably organised, how they manage to get this working how they do with 40,000 runners and all the supporters I really have no idea, maybe it is many years of practice. I start in the good for age start which is Green start, this is along with the world record attempt athletes, so lots of fancy dress! Big Ben, all sorts of weird/hilarious costumes, but all fashioned by some really fast runners, that seem to be aimed for a 3hr marathon to get a world record. The atmosphere is amazing, there’s a big screen with the BBC coverage on it, you can see the big air balloons when you arrive at the start. It is amazing to compete in one of the marathon majors.

Ironman Zurich 2017 – 13hrs 12 minutes

This was my 2nd full distance Ironman triathlon. I had learned a lot from my first one, so this Ironman went a lot better. It wasn’t without stress, due to Air BnB canceling our apartment the day before we were due to fly, so we had to find another one last minute that was further away from the area we wanted to be. This meant a lot more walking, which isn’t really what you want to be doing in the few days before an Ironman. I had a bit of muscle aching down the back of one leg and also a problem with my heel, which came on in the week before the race, up until then the training had gone well. In the race, I actually didn’t have any problems with either of those issues. I did have an issue with the wheel on my bike having a bump in it, it was strange and it is thought that the problem may have already been in the wheel when I bought it but it got worse in the heat, basically it meant that there was a banging noise when going along, but it was very noisy going downhill, I didn’t know what was wrong and this slowed me down on the bike, but had a good marathon of 4hrs 19 minutes. The swim was difficult as it was against the current for most of it. The weather
was hot and sunny, the scenery was lovely and I really enjoyed seeing some of Switzerland on then ride. I was pleased with my time in this Ironman. I had a different nutrition fuelling plan for this Ironman and I felt this went well.

113 Half Ironman Triathlon 2017

I love this friendly local race, the swim is in my local lake, and I know the bike route really well. The run is off road, so not a quick run route, but it is still an enjoyable race. My nutrition went well so I didn’t see any energy dips during the run.

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Ironman Bolton 2016 – 1st full distance race!

This was certainly an experience. I did quite a lot of swimming and running for this, I had run London marathon in the April so I had the running endurance from that race. I didn’t really have time to do much cycling, my children were young and I worked part time. I did a 30 minute RPM class once a week and one long cycle, this wasn’t really enough for a hilly 112 miles. The nutrition fuelling on the race didn’t go particularly well this year, mainly because you don’t know what will work for you until you try one. I had to walk a lot of the marathon which made my time quite slow. I finished in 15hrs, still an amazing achievement for a mum with an 8 year old and 10 year old. This was my first experience of running down the Ironman red carpet and becoming an Ironman.

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Manchester Marathon 2015 – 3.42

Manchester marathon again this year. I felt really good on this day, which to be honest seems rare when I have done marathons, and I felt strong and ran well. I had discovered cliff shot bloks for my nutrition fuel for this race.

Clarendon Trail Marathon 2015

This was a really interesting experience, very hilly, with some areas you had to climb up a bank of grass. The local rotary club were manning the feed stations, which was lovely, they had little cakes and biscuits at some of them. The time was about 4hrs 35 minutes, which was a good time for an off road hilly course.

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Bournemouth Marathon 3:54 – My 3 rd Marathon 2014

A good race, quite hot today, with a horrible hill at 18 miles. It went ok, but it did feel very hard, even from quite early on in the race. Someone letting their dog run out in front of me on the promenade at 24 miles, I tripped over the dog and my hamstrings cramped and went into spasm, the owner got some firm words. I managed to carry on, but it was difficult so it lost me some time for the last couple of miles. I had sports beans and gels for my nutrition fuel for this race.

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Manchester Marathon – 2014 –My 2nd Marathon 3.54

My 2nd attempt at a marathon, I had felt a bit under the weather the day before, so I was a bit worried about this. I knew I wasn’t right when I was running it, and I also wore too many clothes because the forecast said it was going to be colder and windier than it turned out to be. It was a really difficult race, where I went into some dark places mentally to finish this when I wasn’t feeling great. I had some sports beans and gels for my nutrition fuel for this race.

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Manchester Marathon – 2012 – My first marathon 4.11

This was my first marathon, I had only decided 6 weeks before that I was going to do it, so the training was rushed. On the day, it was torrential rain and gale force winds, it really couldn’t have been worse weather. They had some runners with hypothermia. This was the first Manchester marathon that had been on in 10 years, the course was new and was good apart from having to go up some steps at about 24 miles! (the course was changed after this!). I had a problem with my hip on the day, which slowed me down, along with the weather. But the goal was just to finish in a reasonable time, which I did. I had gels for my nutrition fuel, but I didn’t feel the brand suited me that well, I had trained using them, but felt after the first 2 they started to seem sickly.