BUCS Sprint Triathlon, 2 May 2021
Two years ago was the last time raced in a triathlon. It also happened to be the best race of my life! A swim PB, sprint triathlon PB and an overall win on the sunny west coast of France! I hardly expected that to be my last race in such a long time. As you can imagine (and I’m sure many people are feeling the same at the moment), I felt very apprehensive going into my first triathlon of the season - BUCS Sprint Triathlon. So much has happened in two years and I had very little idea of what capacity my body was ready in to race. My mum turned around to me and said ‘Lils you are always remembered by your last race. Your last race- you smashed it. So remember that race and how well you did and use that confidence to help you through this race’. I’ve never been very good at the psychological side of sport - I can be quite a worry guts and an overthinker. However, on this occasion I remembered my race in France and channelled every feeling and race tactic that I could remember into BUCS Sprint.
For the first time, I felt completely calm as I stood on the start line for the swim. Although I have been in a tri team in the past I’ve always been the only one in my age group, meaning the start line has often felt like quite a lonely and daunting place. However, on this occasion I was surrounded by several other girls from the Loughborough tri team. It made such a difference being able to have a giggle and share those pre-race jitters with other people. I did feel a bit nervous as I was yet to get in open water for a swim this season and I was very aware of how cold it was going to be! This thought however went to the back of my mind when I remembered my swim back in France. So I reminded myself of three things:
1. Fast arm turnover.
2. Don’t sight or breathe too much- try and swim as if it’s a pool.
3. IT’S A RACE DON’T FALL ASLEEP!
Now I must admit I did go into a bit of a daze between the first and second buoy but on the whole I managed a solid and fast swim. I completed the 750m swim course in 11min09s - this was also my best ranked discipline of the day, something that doesn’t happen too often - so I was really pleased!
The transition was neutralised giving me lots of time to get sorted for the bike leg - so not much to report here! The bike was a weird one on this occasion. I set off knowing I wanted to catch the bunch of athletes about 150m ahead of me and at first I made good inroads on them however I had a prolonged stop at a T-junction as the bike leg was on open roads. I pushed on to the end of the bike leg trying to make up lost time however the damage had already been done. Nevertheless I still recorded a strong bike effort completing the two lap 25km bike course in 44min55s. I ranked 16th on this leg so it was a good attempt. This turned out to be even better when I found out two days after the race that my chain had not been spinning on one of the rear jockey wheels (having been incorrectly installed) and instead was wearing down on the cage plate with every leg turnover. Immediately I realised why my gears had been clicking and jumping about during the race- oops! Who knows how much faster I would have gone without this issue!
Again the second transition was neutralised, so I took my time. On to the run I felt strong and relaxed. Initially I went off fairly fast and did ease off as I worried I wouldn’t be able to maintain the effort. With hindsight I probably could have maintained the faster pace but it’s all a learning curve! I had a strong finish and completed the run in 19min45s.
Overall I came 16th individually and our team was second! I’m looking forward to going again in two weeks time for my first ever Olympic distance triathlon at BUCS Standard.
Lilly Gibbs
