I decided to do the Lakesman triathlon as a rehearsal for the European Long distance Triathlon championships in September. It was a local race and just the right time of year to give myself time to recover. I had picked up an injury after running the Florence marathon back in November and it was taking ages to recover. I had to cut back on my running to help with the recovery and with the help of my coach Neil Copper, I had to adjust my training and concentrate on my swimming and biking. As the time got closer I started to increase my run distance and with a few sessions from my physio Emma Cooper I managed to put a few long runs in and after completing the Yomp I was a little more confident. I’ve done 6 Ironman distance Triathlons now and this is the first time I haven’t put in all the training that I would normally have, and so wasn’t sure how the race was going to go.
On the morning of the race the weather in Keswick seemed to be good, no wind or rain and not to cold. I racked my bike in transition put on my wetsuit and got in the water with the 300 other triathletes. I had a good swim and covered the 2.4miles in 1hr 11mins and came out of the water 3rd lady. I took my time in transition to make sure I had everything for the long bike. The route heads out from Keswick towards Cockermouth on the A66 and as soon as we got on the open road the wind picked up and it felt like we had a head wind for most of the route. I arrived back in Keswick after cycling 112mile in a time of 6hrs 17 mins and I had dropped down to 5th Lady. Normally the run section would be my strongest discipline but I wasn’t sure how my foot would hold out. The run route was 5 lap in and around Keswick and I was really looking forward to this as I knew there would be lots of support from family and friends that would help me to get round. After 4 laps I managed to get into 2nd place, but people kept on telling me that 3rd plac
e was getting closer and closer and when I started the last lap the gap had dropped to 1 minute. It was only the continued support and encouragement from family and friends that I managed to keep second place but only by 22 second. I wasn’t expecting a fast marathon time but I was happy with 3hrs 53 mins. Considering the injury I had at the start of the year I wasn’t expecting such a good time of 11hrs 33mins which is my second fastest long distance triathlon. I have to thank everyone that has helped and supported me to get to this event especially Justine of Traybake Ltd Penrith and Emma and Neil of Lakes2Tri coaching