A Day in the Lakes .

Well after Texas 70.3 triathlon, I decided to race a little closer to home and enter an half iron distance race in the Lake District - a 1.9k swim 90k bike 20k run. This was the complete opposite end of the spectrum to Texas. The hilly, off road run and pretty god dam brutal. The swim started in Ullswater, a beautiful setting and a great opportunity for me to start the race well. I was the first lady out of the water and 2nd overall behind the lead male, I didn’t really get the lead I was hoping for with two ladies about 1mins behind me, but still a good solid start and on to the bike. It seemed to take me a while to settle into the bike, probably because I started out at the very front of the race and felt that loads of people were overtaking me, however I wasn’t really it was just the top end male riders that were trying to establish their positions in the field. Around 12miles into the ride we hit the first major climb Kirkstone Pass, here I settled into my zone catching a few men up the climb and getting into the feel of the race. The descents were fast and really enjoyable except for the odd sheep getting in the way. The bike route was on some fast country roads with spectacular scenery anyone riding over there I would definitely recommend the route for a general ride the route can be found on the website and map my ride http://www.trihard.co.uk/ADIL/ADIL%20cycle%20route.htm. 

I came off the ride with a 7minute lead on the other ladies, which really pleased me. Now it was to the run, it was a fell run with two fells reaching 1500m I knew it was going to be tough but I do enjoy off road running and decided maybe the steepness might help me. At the top everyone was walking / crawling I just kept telling myself to keep going I kept reminding myself I was fine at least it wasn’t the 3 peaks, I didn’t have to carry my bike. Keeping positive at 8mile I was still leading and carefully descending as fast as I could. However downhill running doesn’t come to me as naturally as others. People were catching me, the real fell runners were flying it was amazing to watch they literally fall in style, however I was struggling to keep pace. I was over taken by a lady that literally jumped over me, she was amazing and there is no other way of bigging this up, she just left me for dead. All I could do was push on hard and maintain 2nd place, which I did. I was pleased with 2nd and every credit to the winner Jenny Latham she put an exceptional run in.  I felt I raced a well-paced consistent race with no major problems. I loved wearing the new kit from Wildoo, I decided to wear my jersey on the bike over my blueseventy trisuit as it gets pretty chilly on the tops in the lakes, also my new lazer helmet was great for my support team to spot. The custom colours are great, especially with the Oakley Radars. So now I am going to take a little bit of recovery time then before we know it the cross season will be upon us.