National Youth Champs, Lottie Thompson

National Youth Champs, Lottie Thompson

Devonport was a great experience but nonetheless could have been happier with my results and definitely still had a lot to learn. I ended up with 5th and was initially disappointed constantly thinking “what if I did this” or “what if the course was that” but at the end of the trip walked away happy with how I raced. 

The day before the race I was doing a little run with another WA girl and during the short sprint efforts I decided it would be a good idea to keep up with her (she is much faster than me). It was not. I woke up with a sore calf the next morning and was like yep this is just fantastic. 

Started off the race with an alright swim but due to lack of time for warm up but since it was only 300m I didn’t feel like it was long enough for me to settle into a rhythm. I came out of the swim 3rd with two other girls and was positive about my position going into the bike. Then my wetsuit wouldn’t come off over my timing chip.

 

 

The first bike pack had 5 girls and I copped a fair bit more than my fair share of work at the front knowing that I was the weakest runner in the pack and the other girls were going to save as much energy as they could. I did what I had to do as to not get caught by girls in packs behind me on the run. Off the bike, the other girls immediately got a lead over me which only increased from there. The run felt shocking, looked shocking watching back the live stream, the pace wasn’t too shocking but still not one of my finest runs. At this point my legs felt like lead and any energy I tried to put into them made no difference. My aim for the run was just to hold my pace and position which I did. As soon as I crossed the finish line my calf seized up and could barely walk it was so painful and thought it was a tear but thankfully wasn’t in the end. 

I was absolutely gutted to be the 3rd WA girl across the line so didn’t make the relay team and couldn’t even compete in the second relay due to my calf but was still happy to watch and cheer as the WA team smashed it and came 2nd! 

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