BUCS Duathlon, 18 Nov 2023

Tough day out for sure at duathlon. Straight off the back of 2 weeks off with illness, it was far from ideal in terms of preparation. I wanted to give it a go and race with my mates and I did achieve that. It wasn’t the performance I know I’m capable of but a fair representation of what I had in the tank at the time. I didn’t quit even though it’s fair to say I wanted to at points.

Photo by Matt from Loughborough

I headed out on the first 5k getting pulled along by the pace of the race which was too fast for where I needed to be. Quite shortly I felt the start in my legs and my pace just seemed to drop off throughout the race which isn’t how I should have or would have liked to have ran it. I then struggled into T1 and was pretty slow in there. Then I set off on the bike. I had a slow start, with the boys being so quick on the bike, I felt pretty lonely in the race and had to keep my head together to push through. My pace picked up through the bike and my legs came back to life a bit, however it wasn’t the bike I wanted. I set off out of T2 into the second run and it was kind of just survival through the last 2 laps. I got my head down and tried to pick people off. I crossed the line having given it what I had on the day.

Quite frustrating to have finally got a good block of training in and then having to take another hit with illness right before BUCS. It’s forced me to take another look at balancing the stresses of life and my masters degree so hopefully with a new outlook I’ll be back stronger.

For now, I’m chipping away at the goals, looking forward to what’s to come.

Izzie Coakley