A Year of Firsts

After much bugging by my housemate better known as thescientistruns.com I thought it was about time to start my first blog!

It seems appropriate to start 2017 with something new especially since 2016 was full of new adventures.

So here’s a summary of my 2016 with a list of ‘Firsts’ on the 1st January 2017:

Make selection for the World Standard Distance Championships in Cozumel, Mexico. 2016 was my first year of training for triathlon properly so it wasn’t going to be easy!

I got a coach, Imo decided she wanted to coach me (instead of the other way round!). Now she was living the #prolife out in Thailand she needed something to fill her time. What better than an injured runner who broke her elbow the last time she tried to ride a bike? Easy right?
I got a wetsuit, tri shoes, Garmins, a GB trisuit and a new TT bike with some custom wheels (Noble Wheels) in the vain hope this would all make me go faster!

I went to Tri Camp – the most awesome week ever with Vicki Solly where I did my first open water swim and cycled up more hills then I had ever done before! An amazing training week with Brent and Mike who persuaded me to go to the Duathlon champs in Spain and ‘told me’ I COULD get a medal there. Thank you! I highly recommend these training camps 🙂 Made significant improvements and friends for life (you know who you are!)

I made selection for the World Duathlon championships and got a Silver medal out in Spain! Despite never planning on getting into the team I decided to go, so glad I did!
I completed my first Olympic distance triathlon at St Neots and got my place for Mexico! Even better my parents were there to see me and my fellow campers Jane and Richard were there too!

Will Usher and the OneTri RDS squad welcomed me into their training sessions with 100km TTs on saturdays and insane Monday morning swim sessions.
Pat and Ben at Department of Endurance who helped me get my TT bike into the perfect position and lend me a bike box to go on my travels. And now the pain cave has been set up you’ll find me at the DoE shop a whole lot more in 2017!

They named themselves the little helpers – ‘Sophie’s little helpers’ Tariq, Nick and Andy fearless in coming out to Richmond park for some PAIN on cold dark mornings for bike intervals. Literally couldn’t have done it without you.
Constantly pushing the pace and getting some speedy lap times too!

I entered London Triathlon since it was a ‘home’ race and won!

I made it to Mexico where it was hot and humid, even a certain Jonny Brownlee struggled. But I did it and my parents were there to see me finish the race of the year in an amazing 5th place! I had also auto qualified for next year’s world champs and just finished 5th in the world!!!

Laguna Phuket Triathlon in Thailand marked the end of the season and a great way to celebrate with Imo and Vicki out in Thailand. Even more so since Imo got her pro licence whilst we were out there! Made better by winning an elephant and Imo coming 4th in her first pro race 😀

Ironman 70.3 Vichy here we come! This will be my first half distance and of course taking Vicki Solly with me 🙂

Thanks for reading my first blog, next up will be review of my A race in 2016 the World Championships in Mexico.