Sywell sprint triathlon is hosted by my local triathlon club and is less than 20 minutes drive away - I thought I may as well race and support the club! Amusingly I did get quite nervous anyway...

I got to the lake early as usual and as I was warming up I realised it was going to be beautifully warm day. Honestly I'd have preferred it to be slightly cooler for the run, but not having a frozen face while swimming was blissful! The swim started with everyone lining up vaguely in speed order and one by one navigating the slippery gangway into the water. Tactically I decided to start just after a couple of the other women and thankfully made it into the lake without falling on my face.

I made it around all the buoys (adorably nicknamed teabags) and it was such a short run to my bike in T1 I barely had time to undo the top half of my wetsuit. My transition went better than last week's and my flying mount almost worked - though given the car park just after the mount line had a fair bit of loose gravel & potholes I'm pleased to have got on my bike in one piece. The course immediately turned left onto an uphill where there was a photographer ready and waiting to capture photographic evidence of the ensuing chaos as people with half-done shoes attempt to cycle uphill invariably in the wrong gear. I was happy in my aero tuck for most of the bike leg until my elbow pad jiggled free on a particularly fast and gravelly downhill. The rest of the course with its single track roads and blind corners was interesting to say the least!

I thought my flying dismount went fine - until the marshalls shouted that I'd dropped a shoe. Either I'm just a magnet for chaos or I'm secretly Cinderella. The run leg was a beautiful gravelly track around the lake. By this point everyone was quite spread out. I left transition with one of the men and was pleased to have stayed in front of him.

The best (and worst) bit about racing locally is that the course is entirely familiar, last year's results are directly comparable and there's the accountability (and joy!) of racing with the people you train with. I won the women's category and came 10th overall which is an improvement on last year and beat a few speedy friends from the club. It's a good honest benchmark for the next block of training but honestly right now I'm so ready for the easy week coming up in the plan. Bring on the rest & recovery!

Lizzie Fox

Sywell Sprint Triathlon, 21 May 2023

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