Name: Mallory Park, Junior Talent Event
Date: Saturday 18th July 2015
Venue: Mallory Park, Leicestershire, England
Distances: Swim: 400m, Bike: 10km, Run: 2.5km 

My first SuperSprint for a long time and it lived up to how I imagined it - fast and furious. It was an interesting course and at first I wasn't really pleased about it. A swim in a shallow lake and 5 laps on the bike of 2km each. A bit short I thought, however the run course looked good. 
Arriving on the at the Race Circuit it was pretty windy. Luckily on the main straights however it was a crosswind which I preferred. Racking was simple as I didn't have to go through the process of restricting my gears thankfully. Once racked it was back to the car to keep warm out of the winds and have one of the most delicious energy bars by Zipvit. 
After 15 minutes or so it was time to do my final warm up and get my wetsuit on ready for the race. Many of the field decided to swim without a wetsuit seeing as the temperature was 20C, but if its optional I will always wear a wetsuit even if it is only 400m. However, even though the water was 'clean' it was shallow. You could stand all the way around and much of the time was about 1.5m deep all the way round, making it impossible to see anything, not the bottom or even a pair of feet just in front of you. But I had a good swim, with a time of 5:12, coming out only about 30secs behind the leader. 
Transition was as smooth as usual, getting the wetsuit off quickly and mounting the bike with ease. I had trouble putting my left shoe in, making me think I missed the second group on the road. I managed to get into a group of 3 and we worked well together, catching people and lapping a few. We dropped one at one point, but quickly caught another and worked all the way round keeping a good speed up around the whole course. There was a small hill in the lap which made us work harder with the downhill into the wind making that part surprisingly hard. We lost a bit more time on the group ahead and the leaders as they had a larger group than us and probably some stronger riders. I came in with a bike split of 16:43, my fastest ever 10km bike split for sure.  But I knew in my group I had to at least beat them on the run. Being my strongest discipline I was confident I would.
Coming off the bike, my legs felt good. Probably the best they ever had done and I set off to try to at least catch one from the group ahead. Unfortunately they were just a bit too far ahead, but I did put a 40 second into one person in my group and over 2 minutes into the other on the 2.5km run course. Finishing in 32:16 it was a PB in the SuperSprint distance for by well over 2 minutes and definitely the fastest splits I have ever had. 
Overall it was a good race and I personally had a very good race too. I was very happy to finish 12th and see the splits I had produced. The U20's Festival will be held at this venue in early September, so it was a good race to see the venue in preparation to this race. 
Now it's time for a few days recovery and holiday before getting back into the next block of training. 

Race Times
Swim: 5:12mins
T1: 0:36mins
Bike: 16:43mins
T2: 0:26mins
Run: 9:20mins
Total: 32:16mins

Name: 2015 European Triathlon Age-Group Championships
Date: Friday 10th July 2015
Venue: Geneva, Switzerland
Distances: Swim: 750m, Bike: 20.4KM, Run: 5KM

My first outing at a European Championships was an experience I shall never forget. As one of the youngest in my age group I was not expecting much and was really out there to gain experience and see how I do against others in Europe. The drive there was long only because of the delays at Folkestone, but after that it was a lovely drive. 
After arriving I went and rode the bike course. It was a lovely course, smooth roads, newly resurfaced with a small, steep hill in it which suited me perfectly. The downhill section afterwards was very fast and long which also I knew I would enjoy. 
On race day I felt ready, I felt like I'd had a very good nights sleep and felt like I just wanted to get in the water. It was very warm, probably near 30C even at the time of the race of 11am. Bike and helmets were racked the night before so completing transition set-up took little time. 
Wetsuits were optional, with a few people deciding to go without a wetsuit. For me when a wetsuit is optional, its really compulsory. The additional buoyancy is much needed and will be a big advantage over the time saved by not having to take it off. Lake Geneva was very clear, you could see the bottom all the way round the swim course, but it was very choppy. Even in a lake there was a very noticeable flow heading into our faces for the majority of the swim. Nevertheless I put in one of the best swims ever coming out in the top 15 in my age group. 
Transitoion was smooth as always, probably my best discipline in triathlon. The bike was tough and warm. People on time trial bikes were noticeably struggling on the hill which reached at least 10% and averaged 7% for around 1km. The bike was a 3 lap course and flew by. Suddenly I was on the final hill, giving it everything knowing afterwards it was almost all downhill to the second traction and that my best sport of the three was about to come.
Going on to the run there was a wall of noise with people cheering 'Go GB!' for the first 500m constantly. It was amazing. The first 1km was uphill slightly but then went into the park and out of the sun briefly. The last Km of the run was essentially the home straight, coming of the laps and down along the waterfront all the way past transition down to the finish. I caught a number of people on the laps of the run, but saved a bit for the final KM ready to time trial it and make sure I gave everything I had left. Onto the final stretch I increased my effort hugely and went in to time trial mode, imagining I was being chased around a 400m track. I caught 4 or 5 people in that final stretch and had everyone from the GB team cheering me on as they did for everybody. It was truly amazing! 
I crossed the line in a time of 1:11:03 in 19th place. I was more than happy, I would not have expected to finish in the top 20 for sure. I peaked at the right time and had the best race of my life at the best time possible. 
Time to get my head down and get ready for next years Europeans, but most importantly, carry this form into my next race on the 18th July at Mallory Park in Leicester. 

Race Times
Swim: 11:22mins
T1: 1:56mins
Bike: 37:36mins
T2: 1:21mins
Run: 18:46mins
Total: 1:11:03hrs