Super Series Rd 1 Llanelli, 14 May 2022

On the 14th May I raced in the Super Series season opener in Llanelli, Wales. Having had a good race at the performance assessment weekend a few weeks prior I was feeling optimistic that this race would go well. Before the season commenced, I’d decided that this year id be committing to racing the full Super Series, my last full season having been 5 years ago in 2017. Since being in youth my racing agenda and performance have been quite sporadic, not intentionally but because a mixture of illness, injury, school commitments and the pandemic. For the first time 2017 then I was able to line up on the start line knowing I had a good base level of fitness due to increased consistency in training over the winter months. There were a few blips, with peroneal tendonitis and a bout of illness costing me over a month of training; however, I was pleased how well I bounced back and was able to make adjustments to my training to minimise the overall impact these issues would have on my performance.

Llanelli was an adventure to say the least. Myself and 4 of my teammates had decided to travel down from university the day before. Picture, a small Polo, loaded with 3 bikes on the back, one in the car, two people crammed in the back nestled in with all of our kit and overnight bags. Getting to the point where we had everything in the car was possibly more strenuous than the race itself! Leaving 5hrs later than planned we hit the road to Wales. Thanks go out there massively to my teammate Lara who drove us there and back!

Once arrived in Wales, we settled into our B&B, which worked perfectly for us as it allowed us to cook our normal pre-race food so we didn’t have to eat out and also meant that we got a really good night’s sleep (apart from one of the lads who unfortunately drew the short straw and had to bunk on the sofa). Race day was quite relaxed to begin with. All of our races were in the afternoon which makes a nice change to the typical early starts. Two of us hopped on the train into Llanelli whilst the others towed the packed car to the race venue. Once we’d arrived, we all got registered and racked in transition. Number tattoos applied (although upside down for Lara!), we were ready to race. The boys set off first and not too long after it was time for the senior ladies race.

We got a nice long warm up and chance to acclimatise in the lake. We don’t usually get a warm up and this having been my first time in open water this season I was quite relieved that we could get in before race start. Llanelli was a beach start. I got a good run in and settled well into my stroke. The first leg of the swim went surprisingly well and I could tell I was nearer the front of the swim. However, I got caught up in the hustle and bustle of the first buoy and following a period of bad sighting, I drifted back. Despite this I finished the swim roughly mid field which I was pleased with. I had a bit of work to do at the start of the bike as I was just off the back of a bike group.

The bike went very well. I formed a group early on and managed to catch multiple smaller groups. The most challenging aspect of the bike was coordinating a pack: as potentially one of the stronger/more technical riders, myself and another girl were trying to get a chaingang going. It worked on occasion but quickly fell apart. As a result, I spent a lot of time on the front which had a knock-on effect on my run. The level of Super Series has progressed over the years which is excellent however I believe that the bike has been somewhat left behind. In the pathway there is a clear emphasis on the swim and run but bike skills have definitely been neglected. It’s got to the point where athletes don’t know what a chaingang is and can’t perform simple manoeuvres around turns or other athletes. It’s dangerous, especially in draft legal races. I don’t believe it’s the fault of the athletes but the framework has convinced athletes that the bike isn’t important. I am pleased to be in good shape on the bike and thanks go out to Catenary Coaching for getting my cycling legs race day ready!

Onto the run and unfortunately, I just felt flat. I’m pretty sure it was more of a mental block than physical as I’ve been running far quicker in training and ran quicker at performance assessments a few weeks prior. The hard shift on the bike probably didn’t help either. I had reserved a bit for the last lap so finished strong but definitely lost more places on the run than I would have liked. Something to work on going forward in the series.

I think what this race really demonstrated to me is how far I’ve come in the space of a year. I’ve gone from being dropped off the back of the swim pack and struggling to run anything sub 21mins over 5k to being in the mix of the race a bit more. It’s all learning and baby steps, but I’m definitely beginning to enjoy racing a lot more again.

Lilly Gibbs