I’m on my way back from a fantastic weekend in Spain, where I raced the Aritzaleku triathlon, the third leg of the TriGrandPrix series, winning the womens’ race.
It was a late decision to enter this race and I guess I was viewing it as a bit of an experiment. Two races in two weeks with a trip to the Caribbean and a few days of work in between (to celebrate a big birthday of my mum’s) meant I had absolutely no idea how my legs would hold up and was really entering unchartered territory in terms of testing my body’s limits.
So number one priority was to have a fun weekend; number two to enjoy the race; and last but not least to see how I faired with two races so close together.
The first was easy to achieve. Any misgivings I had about travelling alone to Spain to do a race where I knew no-one and spoke no more than two words of Spanish were dispelled as soon as I met the friendly team from TriGrandPrix. They collected me from the airport and did everything they could to make me feel as welcome as possible as soon as I set foot in the country – even offering me dinner at one in the morning when I arrived!
As for the second? Well the scenery in Navarra is absolutely stunning. The weather was hot and sunny. The lake was crystal clear and warm. The bike course is hilly and beautiful. The locals were incredibly friendly and supportive, even though I was the only Brit racing. The atmosphere around the finish was electric – and you ran through it four times. And the whole race from start to finish was impeccably run. So regardless of how I raced, I think I would have been hard pushed not to enjoy it!
And the third – well I surprised myself by racing really well. In fact, I’d even go as far to say this is pretty much as good as I get at the moment, other than a mediocre swim which is par for the course with me this year. I rode well, working hard on the climbs and recovering on the descents (I still need to learn how to descend quickly though!); I got my nutrition right even though it was hot; and my run was sensibly paced and consistent. It turned out I had a big lead at the end of the bike so I didn’t have to really enter the hurt box in the run, but I felt like I would have been able to find an extra gear if I had needed it.
The weekend was topped off with a fun afternoon of good food, some not so good wine and some truly awful dancing in the campsite bar. Sitting in the airport now, the whole experience seems somewhat surreal. More weekends like this in the future would be great!
