I'm actually quite a newcomer to Triathlon having only competed in my first race in 2017. For 3 years preceding that I was largely just a runner. In hindsight I ran far too much which resulted in numerous injuries and spending far too much time on the physios table. When I was recovering from a stress fracture in one of my metatarsals a friend recommended I take up swimming, I had zero technique at first but I got quite addicted to knocking minutes off my 400m time, if only it was still so easy to make such large improvements in a short space of time!
I've always enjoyed cycling so last year took the plunge and thought I might as well put all three sports together. Honestly, the best thing I ever did.
I've had 8 races this season and can't really say I've had a particularly poor performance, a particular low point was the blisteringly hot run at Holkham Half Outlaw, I fuelled poorly on the bike and really paid the consequences on the run, lesson learnt. The highlight of my season was representing The GB Age-Group team in Glasgow in the European Sprint Championships, equally nerve-racking as it was exhilarating and can't wait to try qualify again.
I am an agronomist by trade which means I spend a lot of time walking crops Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire advising farmers on everything from planning crop rotation, formulating fungicide programmes and everything in between. This means I spend a lot of time on my feet so I try to get the bulk of my training done first thing in the morning as after walking 10 miles across fields in the day and a few hours writing recommendations I have to admit I'm not always overly enthusiastic about going back out training! I love getting a solid 5am training session in, when you find other athletes to train with who are also early birds it really helps motivate you.
Over winter I love cross-country running and of course will be spending endless hours on the turbo and in the pool to make sure next year beholds even more successes than this one!