Wimbleball is one of my favourite races. I love it's unique and remote location and the tough gritty course which is usually made more challenging by the weather conditions. The atmosphere is very different from your usual Ironman event. It has more of a music festival feel with people wondering around muddy fields in their wellies and tents of those brave enough to camp pitched in nearby fields.

When I arrived in the UK it was the first time I had been anywhere near home since January and my first trip to England since I left Milton Keynes in December. I was really excited to be returning to the race and excited at the prospect of defending my title. I knew that no matter what happened it was going to be a tough race but I was looking forward to it and to racing a top quality field.  

Just before I left for the UK I strained or tweaked my neck/upper back which at the time didn’t worry me but it seemed to get worse and worse. Luckily the pain was easily relieved with some light treatment and I was soon able to get back to focusing on the race.  Race day soon came around and I was feeling relaxed and ready to go. Last year we were in the water for a long time before the start so this year we were allowed to wait on the pontoon while the age groupers got in to the water. This was much better for us but it was still a breath taking shock to jump in to such cold water. I used a Fusion speed top under my wetsuit again this year which and a neoprene cap under my race hat which I think helped to stay a little warmer.

The gun went off and I got a decent start. I was swimming with another pro woman and the pace felt strong but manageable. Then suddenly we had a group of age groupers with us and as they surrounded us I got blocked from the other girl’s feet and was a couple of people behind. Suddenly the swimmers at the front group got a gap; I tried to bridge up but couldn't make it. I was annoyed at myself for letting people swim over me instead of holding my place in the pack and for not managing to bridge the gap but I continued on the best I could alone for much of the second half of the swim. As I exited the water I heard some people shouting splits at me, they said everything from 5 minutes to 2 minutes from the lead. The actual time gap was 3mins and 5 seconds. A little better than in previous years.

Up the steep hill in to transition I decided to just race with my Fusion speed top and some ZeroD gloves that I had been given the day before.  As I ran out of transition I suddenly realised how cold my feet were. I jumped on my bike and tried to put my feet in my shoes but it didn't go so well. My feet were so cold it made it difficult to get my shoes on. I had one shoe half on when it unclipped and I almost took a tumble just trying to keep the shoe on my foot. Eventually I got the shoes sorted and set off up the first hills of the course.

I wasn't sure what position I was in but I did know some of the names that would be ahead of me. I rightly presumed that Holly Lawrence would be way in front and that Simone Braendli and Susie Hignett would be somewhere up the road. I was quite surprised to see both Simone and Susie quite early on the bike course. I passed Susie and just kept riding strongly until I got to the rolling section on the main road. As I rode along I began to become aware of how cold I was and I was beginning to wonder if I should have layered up more. As we turned off the main road Susie came flying past me, I kept riding at my pace keeping her just in sight in the distance. I could see that she was getting away on the flatter sections and I was gaining on her on the hills.

I was struggling a little with the cold for much of the first lap. I've never been so happy to see steep hills as that's the only thing that would heat me up! I was telling myself that it was the same for everyone and I started to warm up towards the end of the first lap; soon my legs began to feel a little better. As I approached the end of the first lap I overtook Susie and made a conscious effort to ride a bit harder to keep warm, get a gap and to make up some time on Holly who was riding very strongly in front. The second lap of the bike was much better for me and I felt more like myself. I climbed better and even though the weather conditions were worse I was feeling warmer and much more up for it. I did have some minor mechanical problems all the way round where shifting from the small to big ring was a problem, this was very frustrating at the time but I was just thankful that it wasn't a major problem.  I managed to get the fastest bike split and by T2 I had ridden to within 90 seconds of the lead. I was ready for the hard slog that is Wimbleball run course.

I always seem to find the run at Wimbleball way tougher than the bike, it's much more about strength rather than run speed. I never feel like I am actually running, it always seems to feel like a shuffle round the hilly and mostly off road paths. I decided to keep my long sleeves and gloves on for the run as the weather was still getting worse.  It was cold, windy and rainy. I set off and as I began to run I realised I couldn't feel my feet and could barely feel my legs, I was also aware of how sore my back was. I soon forgot about the cold and the pain when I could see how close Holly was in front of me. Two years ago I came off the bike a few minutes down and ran myself in to first place only to totally blow up not far from the end. I had learned my lesson and I didn't want to repeat that so I made a sensible decision to chip in to the lead gradually rather than going all out to catch up.

I can usually make up some ground on the steep downhill sections but the ground was so muddy and my legs and feet were so cold that I couldn't let them go or get much speed up. Throughout the run people were giving me splits and I could see that I was gradually gaining on Holly but she was running so strongly that it wasn't an easy job. Towards the end of the second lap I eventually caught Holly and just kept my steady pace going all the way home. It was a relief to finally get in to the lead but I still had over a third of the run to go and I knew how well Holly was racing so I wasn't going to let myself get too excited too soon. I kept my steady pace going and was relieved when I finally reached the last hill which seemed to be getting steeper on each lap. It felt really amazing to have that feeling of running down the finish shoot to take another Ironman UK 70.3 title.

Winning this race last year was my first major win so it really meant a lot for me to come back and defend my title. It felt great to cross the line totally covered in mud as if I had just done a schools cross country race. It was a tough but fun day out and it was all worth it in the end. Thanks to everyone who volunteered and supported on the day. It was really great to have so many people out there on such a cold and wet day.  I’m already back to training in Switzerland and am looking forward to racing again wherever and whenever that may be! 

Welcome to Leysin

I arrived in Switzerland late on the Wednesday just after Challenge Barcelona. I stepped off the plane to discover that my bike hadn’t arrived.  I know this has happened to many people but it was a first for me. I was assured that it would turn up and be delivered to me as soon as it arrived in Geneva so after a long delay I set off for Leysin. The train journey wasn’t too bad once I worked out exactly where to go and as usual the Swiss trains operated like clockwork. My journey was actually a little easier as I didn’t have a bike bag to drag around with me. (My bike did arrive the next day with a massive hole in the bag!)

I arrived at the top of the mountain still dressed in the clothes I had been wearing in the summery climate of Barcelona and got a big shock to the system. It was FREEZING! Right there I started emptying my bag of clothes and putting on anything I could find to keep warm for the walk to where I was staying.  Honestly I couldn’t believe how cold it was but I put it down to being tired and not used to the colder weather.

The next morning I woke up and looked out the window to see that the whole place was covered in snow! I couldn’t believe it, I had come from roasting hot Lanzarote and arrived to what felt and looked like mid-winter in Switzerland.  So again I piled on about 7 layers and headed off to the pool for an easy swim.

My First day of ‘real training’

The following day was to be my first day of proper training. So I headed to the pool to meet Brett who I hadn’t seen since October. We jumped in the pool and he set what felt like the hardest swim session I had ever done. I felt totally knackered after it and it felt like I was so unfit in the water. I had been swimming fairly well in Lanzarote but when I got in that pool in Leysin I felt like a drowning rat! Following the swim Brett told us what the sessions were for the rest of the day.  A pretty big track session. I had done that specific session once before so wasn’t as worried as I would have been if it had been my first go at it. They usually ride to the track from Leysin but it was too cold to descend the mountain by bike so it was decided that the best option was to get the mountain train down to the Aigle and ride to the track from there.

Stupidly we assumed that the track would be right there at the bottom of the hill so we were pretty much all ready in just run kit before we got on the train. The girls (Caroline and Celine) gave a funny look as I was stood there in run gear; they were fully dressed in winter cycling kit! ‘Isn’t the track just at the bottom?’ I asked. ‘No, we have to ride there from the bottom’ woops, so I had a quick change on the train in to some cycling gear which I had with me for the ride home up the mountain. We did our track session which at the time felt good, I pushed on a little on the last few reps but was still feeling fine.  As we were about to start the last rep I asked Celine how long the ride home would be. We could see Leysin from the track and it didn’t look too far (as the crow flies). She said ‘if you are going well it’s about 1h30’. Well I almost fainted when she said that, for some reason I assumed that it would be a short ride home. We finished our session put on a load of warm kit and set off for home.

We had ridden on the flat to the bottom of the climb home and I started to think, ‘oh no, this is a long way up the mountain’ so I dropped back to ride super slow at my own pace. To begin with this was conscious decision to ride slowly but after about 5 minutes of very slow climbing I realised that there was no choice in the matter. I was very tired and didn’t feel very good at all. I kept riding but the further I went the worse I felt. I started to feel sleepy and a little sick but just tried to keep pushing the pedals round and round. Eventually I was wobbling all over the road, it was freezing cold but I was pouring with sweat. I needed to stop but kept saying just make one more bend then stop. Eventually I had to stop because I was all over the place. I sat down in a lay by and ate some food (a Mars bar and a banana.) I wasn’t sure if that would be enough to get me home as I didn’t even know how far I had to go but after about 5 minutes I got back on and started riding again. At that point it wasn’t quite as steep so I felt a little better and the sugar seemed to help perk me up a little, at least until I hit the last 4k of the climb, the steepest part of the climb home.

I have honestly never felt so bad in a training session/ride in my life. Part of me wanted to just tip over in to the ditch and sleep and maybe if I it were warmer I would have but it was so cold I couldn’t stop. Every car that went past had me thinking ‘please pick me up and take me home’ I wondered if I was going to make it without passing out. It just seemed to get steeper and steeper but I kept turning the pedals trying to think as positively as I could. One minute I thought I was going to be sick, the next I was almost asleep on the bike.  I saw a house in the distance and thought to myself that I would try to make it up there and stop for another break. When I approached it I realised I was nearly at the top so I managed to keep going. I must have had about a mile of climbing to get home from there but it was possibly the longest and slowest mile of my life. Eventually I made it back in after stumbling down the steps to the front door I fell inside and lay down without even the energy to remove my shoes or helmet!! So that was my first experience of real training in Leysin, ouch!  Since then I have discovered that I’m not the first person to feel like that on the climb home after a track session.  

For the first week or so all I wanted to do was sleep and sit by a nice warm fire with a mug of coffee. I will put it down to a few different things, it could have been altitude, change of environment, different terrain, cold weather, lack of fitness etc. but since then things have improved and I am beginning to feel a bit fitter. It was actually been a good wakeup call to get us out of the comfort zone and it was nice to experience some proper winter training after missing out on most of the winter back home. Although there was one ride that I would probably rather forget. It involved going on a long ride in freezing cold ice rain to the point where we were shaking and turning blue only to return to find an e mail from Brett telling us a big storm was coming and we should ride the turbo instead. I think all the sunshine of Lanza was making us soft so it was good to be taken back down to earth with some good tough, unpleasant winter training. Perfect prep for UK 70.3 J