One of the great things about training in Lanzarote is that there is no shortage of races, many of which are great to use as training sessions. Our latest race was the Volcano Triathlon held at Club La Santa, not too far from our training base at Sands Beach in Costa Teguise. I had an up and down couple of weeks after Fuerteventura. I felt like my body was recovering well but just as I started to get back to training I got a little stomach bug. I was in two minds as to whether to race but come race day I felt fine and I personally find it very hard not to start a race that I have planned for so I was happy to be on the start line and excited to race over the Olympic Distance. As is usually the case at any Lanzarote race the field for both the men and women had a few notable names on the start list. It’s great as it make the race more exciting and allows you to see where you are at this early stage in the season.
My Mum had come out to visit for the week and it was really nice to have her here. She had a great week and spent some of her time enjoying looking after little Charlie Bayliss while we were training! It worked out really well as she was able to pick up a bike from Wheelworx bike shop in Dublin (with the help of Gregory from EFP Gyms thanks Gregory!!) and took it out here for me along with some other great kit; I even now have a Garmin which is a great novelty for me. It was really great that the guys at Wheelworx were able to get a bike together for me at very short notice and it was literally ready to go within a day. I am really pleased to have them on board as a sponsor and look forward to visiting the shop again when I’m back home.
The race was the good solid session that I had expected and I was pleased to finish in 2nd place however I have to admit there were very few times in this race where I actually felt good! I swam quite well for me. After having a below par start at Fuerteventura I tried to get off a little faster this time. It worked until we hit a sand bank where it upset my rhythm and I lost feet of the people I was following. It meant that I ended up swimming most of the swim just off the back of a group unable to bridge the gap. The swim felt really hard for me and I thought I was in there for a long long time so I was pleasantly surprised when I found that my time wasn’t that bad and I was even more surprised to hear that as I was approaching my bike in transition Michelle Vesterby was just leaving transition, she’s a strong swimmer so I was pleased to be much closer to her than I had been before.
I soon caught Michelle on the first hill out of La Santa but it was Camilla Pedersen who was doing the damage on the bike. She was extremely strong , blitzed the bike and had a good lead by the start of the run. The bike course, although it’s not extremely hilly is a tough one because of the wind but we are well used to that after training out. I worked hard on the bike (my new Felt B12 that arrived from Wheelworx (www.wheelworx.ie) earlier in the week) though I had only ridden 2 times before the race during one of which I took a little tumble! The bike felt good but I found that I definitely needed to make a few adjustments to the position.
On the run I have to say I didn’t feel great. It was one of those runs where my legs felt hollow and it seemed like there wasn’t much spring in my step. I just pushed on the best I could for the run and gained back a couple of minutes on Camilla. It was also good to see Bella Bayliss racing strongly in preparation for Ironman Lanzarote. She too had a good race and also finished on the podium in 3rd place. The Team TBB boys also had solid performances, Ritchie Nicholls finished in 2nd place and Stephen Bayliss finished in 5th place among some strong competition. It was a great race and a great way to get a good hard training session in.
From here Ritchie and I will be going to race at Challenge Barcelona (half distance) which is an ETU European championship and Bella and Stephen will be racing at Ironman Lanzarote. My training has been a little different this week as my stomach bug didn’t quite clear up as quickly as I had liked so I have backed off a little to try to get rid of it. Hopefully the sensible approach will help me to recover quickly and get back to it so I can prepare the best I can for my next race.
Links
Wheelworx Bike Shop (www.wheelworx.ie)
Sands Beach resort Costa Teguise (www.sandsbeach.es)
EFP Gyms (www.efpgyms.com)
My Mum had come out to visit for the week and it was really nice to have her here. She had a great week and spent some of her time enjoying looking after little Charlie Bayliss while we were training! It worked out really well as she was able to pick up a bike from Wheelworx bike shop in Dublin (with the help of Gregory from EFP Gyms thanks Gregory!!) and took it out here for me along with some other great kit; I even now have a Garmin which is a great novelty for me. It was really great that the guys at Wheelworx were able to get a bike together for me at very short notice and it was literally ready to go within a day. I am really pleased to have them on board as a sponsor and look forward to visiting the shop again when I’m back home.
The race was the good solid session that I had expected and I was pleased to finish in 2nd place however I have to admit there were very few times in this race where I actually felt good! I swam quite well for me. After having a below par start at Fuerteventura I tried to get off a little faster this time. It worked until we hit a sand bank where it upset my rhythm and I lost feet of the people I was following. It meant that I ended up swimming most of the swim just off the back of a group unable to bridge the gap. The swim felt really hard for me and I thought I was in there for a long long time so I was pleasantly surprised when I found that my time wasn’t that bad and I was even more surprised to hear that as I was approaching my bike in transition Michelle Vesterby was just leaving transition, she’s a strong swimmer so I was pleased to be much closer to her than I had been before.
I soon caught Michelle on the first hill out of La Santa but it was Camilla Pedersen who was doing the damage on the bike. She was extremely strong , blitzed the bike and had a good lead by the start of the run. The bike course, although it’s not extremely hilly is a tough one because of the wind but we are well used to that after training out. I worked hard on the bike (my new Felt B12 that arrived from Wheelworx (www.wheelworx.ie) earlier in the week) though I had only ridden 2 times before the race during one of which I took a little tumble! The bike felt good but I found that I definitely needed to make a few adjustments to the position.
On the run I have to say I didn’t feel great. It was one of those runs where my legs felt hollow and it seemed like there wasn’t much spring in my step. I just pushed on the best I could for the run and gained back a couple of minutes on Camilla. It was also good to see Bella Bayliss racing strongly in preparation for Ironman Lanzarote. She too had a good race and also finished on the podium in 3rd place. The Team TBB boys also had solid performances, Ritchie Nicholls finished in 2nd place and Stephen Bayliss finished in 5th place among some strong competition. It was a great race and a great way to get a good hard training session in.
From here Ritchie and I will be going to race at Challenge Barcelona (half distance) which is an ETU European championship and Bella and Stephen will be racing at Ironman Lanzarote. My training has been a little different this week as my stomach bug didn’t quite clear up as quickly as I had liked so I have backed off a little to try to get rid of it. Hopefully the sensible approach will help me to recover quickly and get back to it so I can prepare the best I can for my next race.
Links
Wheelworx Bike Shop (www.wheelworx.ie)
Sands Beach resort Costa Teguise (www.sandsbeach.es)
EFP Gyms (www.efpgyms.com)
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