Helen Jenkins
Blog
Helen Jenkins (nee Tucker) was the 2006 British National Triathlon Champion. This followed two International Triathlon Union (ITU) World Cup podiums in 2005 in Salford and Beijing. Last year was hampered by injury but this is a new year...
August 2010
Last month was the Hyde Park World Champs Series race, held on part of what will be the Olympic Course in 2012. It was one of my big goals for the year and I came third! I was really, really nervous for the race, I always get nerves before my races but because it was a home race I think I added a lot of pressure to myself.
The swim was in the Serpentine, it was a no wetsuit swim which I prefer (one less thing to worry about!), but we did have a different problem to contend with: weeds. We were swimming through huge patches of them and I came out from my warm up with long green weeds all over me. I didn't notice them once we started though. I didn't have the best swim, I got really boxed in on the second lap and struggled to get out of it, my neck was really stiff the next day from all the whacks round the head I had in the swim from the girls next to me!
On to the bike, my aim was to push really hard as I didn't want a huge main pack. About six girls worked really hard but the rest just sat on our wheels! It's so frustrating as you know it's easier for the girls sat on your wheel and you are really pushing the pace and they are getting an easy ride! But the work did pay off as we had a 90 second advantage over the chase pack by the second transition.
On the run I wasn't feeling too confident as I had done a lot of work on the bike and a lot of the other athletes hadn't. I got into a good rhythm quite quickly and felt ok so I decided to push the pace on! It worked as the group got down to four girls. This is a really awkward position as there are three podium spots and fourth sucks!
On the last lap the Canadian athlete Paula Finday pushed on and got a small gap. I was left fighting for second and third with two great sprinters. At the time I was thinking, oh no I'm so going to be fourth! I hung on as long as I could and when one of the girls surged I tried to go with her and managed to stay in front of the Kiwi Andrea Hewitt to stay in third! The finish chute seemed like a mile, I don't think I've ever sprinted so hard and I fell over at the finish! The support on the course was amazing, so many people were shouting for us. On the run there were three British athletes in the front group for a while so the crowd was really supportive. It's exciting to think what it would be like racing there in 2012.
Also this month King Sturge put on the Property Triathlon in Dorney Lake, Eton. I went down to watch and present some prizes. And last minute decided to race it too! I was a sprint distance race, which is half of the distance I usually compete at. It was so much fun - I'm so used to doing elite races it was great to go back to where I started from, where people are doing it to finish, to get round the course and enjoy it! It was nice to race and not worry about the overall results. It was a lovely hot day and I had fun meeting lots of the people competing. It's been a fun month of racing.
August and September are going to have some big races too!
Helen
Previous entries
July 2010
June 2010
May 2010
April 2010
March 2010
February 2010
December 2009
November 2009
November 2009
October 2009
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