15th....in the world!

First of all, let me apologise. This is a long read and there are a lot of photos....

On the 23rd of April this year I took a plunge. I had always been somewhat of a casual athlete but suddenly here I was stood on the start line at Stockton Duathlon looking to qualify for the GB Age Group team....

There were a lot of serious looking people around, some wearing kit with their name and GBR emblazoned across the front, some just looking "the business..." you know the type. Usually I can carry on as normal but suddenly these guys were competition.

After a warm up we made our way to the start line, the adrenaline is flowing and eyes are on the prize. Stockton appeared to be a popular choice for a race as I found myself stood with several club mates awaiting the starting whistle, the chatter was good for calming the nerves, but I also like to try concentrate and take in my surroundings...its a fine balance and now more than ever I was on a knife edge.

We were off!

I don't remember a great deal of the race (this is a common experience I put it down to race blinkers!) however I remember it being unusually warm for the time of year, and the course was flat. This meant it was fast. This was going to be brutal..

At the finish of the race I knew I had done a reasonable time but wouldn't know if I'd made the cut immediately. I went home and broke down every aspect of the race and checked my times against the other competitors and basically drove myself insane for about 10 days. Then the email came...

I'D DONE IT!!!!

Queue lots of phone calls to Sara (my long suffering partner) and my mum about how the trip to Canada was officially on the cards!

However once the dust had settled and the bike had been washed things started to sink in. Yes, I'd finished within the qualifying time, and that had been enough for this stage but I needed to be better. This is where it began, I needed to create a training plan, a realistic and smart training plan to get me to Canada in the best possible shape.

Mark Mills has been a friend of mine for a while now, his performance in Cozumel last year being one of the inspiring factors to me getting to this point, that and his gentle (but not always subtle) pushing me in the direction of a championships. So after a few conversations with Mark, I pieced together my training plan, Mark gave it his once over, a few tweaks were made and we were good to go!

One big downfall of mine has always been nutrition, I'm physically fit but prone to being a little bit podgy in the wrong areas....

After a few conversations a plan was formed with Tom Kaye (https://www.facebook.com/TriPTuk/) and as part of a sponsorship deal he would create a nutrition plan and a Strength & Conditioning program for both myself and Matt Kellett (Matt qualified for the Aquathlon championships and would be travelling with me)

From May onwards Tom, Matt and myself could be found every Friday in Wakefield, either on the athletics track or in a field doing whatever session Tom had planned that week. Every Friday I would leave absolutely exhausted but thoroughly worked out.

The sessions however worked wonders and combined with the nutrition plan I saw my 5k run time go from 19:04 down to 18:19 but also my body fat percentage drop from almost 20% to a pre-race level of 11.8% hitting new VO2 max levels and maximum heart rates along the way.

Combined with Long Sunday bike rides with Mark and Lucy and solo midweek structured bike sessions, meant I was well on track for the championships.

The months flew by and all of a sudden I was in Canada.

Now, a few mistakes here that couldn't be helped, I landed 2 days before my race after 24 hours of solid travelling and hadn't taken into account jetlag totally kicking my ass the entire time we would be there. Second of all, it is WARM in Penticton with a temperature hitting 36 degrees Celsius during our stay. The Jetlag and fluid loss I believe would play a part in my race.

Nothing out of the ordinary happened over the first few days, bike course reccies, team meetings and generally chilling out before a warm up the day before which went smoothly. My biggest concern at this point was diet, I had spent so long trying to have a perfect diet and suddenly I was in a country where the normal portion size was 75% bigger than home and things like wholemeal bread didn't exist! After an emergency stop at walmart, I found myself a potato, a tin of 'british style' beans and some cheese. Its the home comforts you know...

On the morning of the race, I woke up at 04:30 for a 05:00 pickup for a 06:30 start time. I met my fellow competitiors in the hotel lobby and exchanged idle chat whilst travelling to the start.

Once at the start I kept myself to myself, I exchanged pleasantries with the various people I had met over the earlier couple of days, however I was not interested at that point in anything anyone else was doing. I found myself a quiet little road to warm up on and did so for around 10/15 minutes, everything that Mark has instilled in me for pre-race ritual.

Just as my warm up was about finished I bumped into Matt and Rebecca who had landed in Canada the night before and had come down to support the race (Matt still had 4/5 days before his event) we had a little chat, I was still psyching myself up at this point so I probably wasn't the most talkative I've ever been... They then went to find Sara and a good point to watch the race.

So there I was stood on the start line with people of all nationalities, all here to do the same thing. To do the best they could wearing their countries colours.

The music stopped. a dramatic silence, then the starting buzzer, we were off!

Penticton is one of only two cities in the world that is built between two lakes Okanagan lake at 135km wide and Skaha Lake measuring 11.8km wide, the first 5k run was two laps of a 2.5k loop on the on the front of the larger of lake. Perfectly flat with only one dead turn, almost perfect. I found a good strong rhythm and pace and stuck with it. The cheers of 'COME ON GB' and similar, pushing you on in the little moments of fatigue. I found myself reaching 5k in approximately 18:45 and in front of several other competitors I'd expected to have to work harder against. It is here I found Sara, Luna, Matt and Rebecca. They had cleverly put themselves near the transition area as the run passed here twice along with laps of the bike and was within view of the finish line. Perfect supporting position and this meant I heard every cheer (even if it sometimes looked as if I hadn't (#gameface)

Now I'd spent a lot of time in transition the day before memorising where my bike was, this mixed with the fact that my bike is FLUORESCENT orange means that my transition was one of the slickest I've ever done, in and out. However when reaching the mount line the elastic band holding my shoe in placed snapped prematurely, meaning a pause in my rhythm, only slightly but enough as I had to that I had to stop to mount the bike.

We'd reccied the bike course three times before the race so I knew exactly what was coming, it was two 10k loops, essentially with a climb for the first 3/4k a short levelled out section, then downhill again. This meant it was hard going out but it was fast coming back! Having over-egged it on the first hill I found myself grinding away at the pedals for what felt like forever but realistically was 20/30 seconds, until Simon Ward from my club arrived at the side of me with a command of 'lets show them how we ride in Yorkshire' exactly the pep talk I needed! After hitching a ride on his wheel up the initial hill, we worked together on the rest of the bike course. As I said before it was hard out and fast down, we were hitting speeds of 45mph+ and the effects were to be seen around the course, people laid in pools of blood being tended to by marshalls, people walking back to the start carrying bent and broken bikes. Total Carnage.

We survived the bike and after a slick T2 I was back onto the run loop.

Now earlier on I mentioned that I thought the heat had an effect on my race. Well this is where it was, as the city is surrounded by mountains the sun doesn't make it over the crest until about 07:15 and with it the heat, perfect timing for mid-bike and this clearly took its toll. I came off the bike with cramp in both my calves. i was cursing myself after the race for not having increased my water consumption to compensate in the days leading up it. However at this stage it was grit your teeth and crack on. I got around 1k in and whilst not running at my usual speed I was still going at a decent and consistent pace and if anything my calves were easing off....until my hamstring started to cramp. This was fast turning from a race into a survival, by the time I crossed the line I had cramp in both calves, my hamstring and a stitch down one entire side of my body. Crossed the line I did however! After being smothered in towels soaked in cold water, picking up lots of fruit and water and more fist bumping than I've ever done in my life with members of the American and Brazilian team I was done!

My finish time was 01:08:32 that puts me 15th...in the world.

Once the race finished me and a couple of others along with Sara, Matt and Rebecca hung around cheering the entire field in, catching a bit of the elite races but eventually succumbing to fatigue and travelling back to the hotel where we sat by the pool and chilled out until Matt and Rebecca left and I passed out in a overtired, jetlagged heap.

The remainder of the trip was spent sightseeing, riding up Apex mountain during a solar eclipse (17 miles of almost continuous climbing hitting inclines of 13% and an overall average of 8%), spending quality time with Sara and Luna and trying to keep Matt in the zone for his upcoming race! I'm not going to lie I also ate a LOT of ice cream.

My time in Canada was amazing, from meeting other team members, to racing, to spending the time after race with friends and my long suffering family. The Canadian people are awesome, the landscape outstanding! (If you ever find yourself in Penticton, British Columbia then the Best Western Hotel is definitely a great place to stay!)

To be part of Wakefield Triathlon Club is awesome, but to have been part of the British team has been something else, the friendship, support and camaraderie between everyone is indescribable. I made some great friends and I hope to see them in future races and championships.

I have so very many people I need to thank for so very many things and I cant possibly begin to list you all so I wont try, however in my mind the most special thanks go to:

Wakefield Triathlon Club

Anyone who sponsored or donated money towards the trip!!! This could not have happened without you.

Tom Kaye (https://www.facebook.com/TriPTuk): For all the hard work you put in with Matt and myself both in coaching and nutrition/advice. Gareth Allen & Zoe Smith: For all the coaching, advice, friendship and pep-talks.

Matt Kellett: For being an awesome training partner and travel buddy.

Mark Mills: For being a good friend but also inspiring me, pushing me, putting up with all the questions and taking me out on rides. We can start talking about none triathlon related things now...for a while at least!

Sara Shingleton: For putting up with all the training, the early mornings, the late nights, the mood swings, the falling asleep on the sofa at midday, the constant talk about triahtlon/duathlon and for basically being my parent as well as Lunas! #triwifelife

My Mum: because who else is your biggest supporter.

Whats next? Well it would be a shame to only wear the GBR kit once so the plan is to qualify for further events and see where in the world it takes me!

Thanks for reading, I'll try keep this relatively upto date so next time it wont be as long..

Here are the pictures that didn't fit in anywhere else...

#duathlon #penticton #canada #agegroup #triathlon #worldchampionships #ITU