I remember it was 3 days before my birthday in November when I finally had the guts to commit to my goals for 2017. I had been putting off getting myself a coach for a while before I decided it was time to finally call up Lucie and talk training. The past 12 weeks have been some of the best training I have ever done and can’t even begin to tell you how Lucie has transformed me into the triathlete I am right now. There have been early morning wake ups before work to swim, long hours on the road, tough repetitive kilometers on the track, but it’s so worth it. To see the hard work pay off is something so sweet.
The swim had gone very well and found myself out in front coming into transition. Not knowing where my competition was I just decided to race hard out in front and give it horns. The bike leg was very open and windy. The 45km towards Berlin had me gritting my teeth all the way on those up hills. Fellow age group contender Magda Niewenhout had passed me 25km in and I thought this was my race over, but as she passed me I held her in my view until I finally found some good legs and passed her again. I got to the turn around point in top position and held a good gap to the other age groupers who were chasing. The bike is my strongest discipline and I used the downhill to my advantage, so there was no letting up till I got back to the Beach Front. The transition to the run was quick. I went into the first lap very fast and totally overcooked the run. I felt so overwhelmed being in the front as I have never been in that position before and I suffered the last lap, bad. Magda was reeling me in and I knew that if I didn’t dig that last bit she would catch me so close to the finishing line. I had some very tough competition that kept me honest out there, which had me dig very deep all the way to the end.
To race all out and be a contender for the age group win has been my dream for a long time. I have been on the podium at this race last year placing 3rd but never the top step. I went into the race knowing I had put the training in and stuck to what my coach Lucie had told me. Her words: “trust me.”
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Authors:Where Trifactri athletes get to tell their side of the Swim, Bike and Run Archives
May 2018
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