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I thought I’d do a two-part post for my weekend in Hamburg – discussing the race and then a travel guide. Obviously, this was not a typical city break, a lot of the city was filled with triathlon (I am not complaining aha) and I enjoyed spending a lot of our time watching the elite races. We spent 4 days in Hamburg, one of which was race day so was almost a write off (see the previous blog post). This left us with 3 days to explore inbetween races. I would say this was more than enough time to explore the city (maybe you would need more time if you wanted to explore the outskirts/other neighbourhoods). Hamburg is very different to my last trip to Valencia. Hamburg is almost an industrial city with a major port. There were lots of canals and bridges, similar to Amsterdam in a way. However, the central streets of the city were very upmarket with lots of shops and restaurants, similar to parts of London. Places to visit Speicherstadt
Elbphilharmonie = A modern piece of architecture used as a concert hall in the Speicherstadt. Minatur wonderland
Chilehaus
Town hall/Rathaus
Außenalster/ Binnenalster
Planten un blomen
St Nikolai Church
Colonnaden
Food and drink There are some amazing food places in Hamburg, some of which are very expensive but look lovely. Here are the places I went to, some just out of convenience but still good food. The places we ate were priced fairly/similarly to the UK - roughly £10-17. Nord coast coffee roasters
Traditional Franzbrötchen
Alex
Lucacelli
Avocado nerds
Ivy
Hofbrau
Overall, I enjoyed my trip to Hamburg. I hope this post is helpful in helping plan your trip if you ever find yourself in Hamburg.
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Wow, where do I even start? From qualifying for this race last September, through winter training to race week, it was a whirlwind of an experience! The anticipation for this race had been building for months. My family and friends had sent me supportive messages prior to the race, and we were all excited! Obviously, I was super grateful for their support, but it soon became overwhelming as I felt an extra sense of pressure as so many people were supporting me. I not only wanted to perform well for myself but also for those around me (even though they put no pressure on me at all!) Anyway, I will jump right into it otherwise this will be a very long blog post. We flew into Hamburg on the Wednesday night (the race was on the Friday) with a rather delayed flight. There was always the question of ‘will my bike make it?’ especially as it was my first time flying with my bike, we just didn’t know what to expect. We all made it to the Airbnb, and it was straight to bed before a busy Thursday. I did not realise quite how busy Thursday would be, so in hindsight we would have got the earlier flight if we could. I started the day with my pre-race easy run and strides before heading to registration to get my race pack. It was straight to the pre-race briefing with the GBR team managers, I just could not believe how many GBR age group athletes there were, I think someone said 680 GBR athletes! It was lovely to meet some of the athletes who I then spoke to on race day, and we supported/cheered for one another. Thursday finished with the opening ceremony and spectating the junior world championships. Both these events really set the atmosphere for the weekend ahead, it was all becoming so real now. FRIDAY = RACE DAY! 0900 = slot to set up transition, this was a whole 4hrs before my race start so it felt odd to then go home again before the race. Transition was like none I’d ever seen before because:
1000: My nerves were really brewing, they quickly went past the helpful pre-race nerves and turned into one of my full anxiety breakdowns. I was feeling very nauseous and was really struggling to eat anything, far from ideal when the race was at 1315. At this point I didn’t really know what was in store for the rest of the day. 1200: Time to head back over to the race… 1310: We entered the water! We had 5 minutes to acclimatise before the gun went. As soon as I jumped into the water, I really struggled to catch my breath so for those 5 minutes I was trying to regulate myself and my breathing. I found the swim hard; I couldn’t get into a rhythm, but I just had to get it done. At about 600m there was a tunnel we had to swim through which was quite dark but spiced up the course a bit. Out the water and into transition, oh but wait, there was about a 600m run to get there – at least it was blue carpeted 😉 Onto the bike course which was extremely flat and fast. The first 5 minutes were all about finding my feet and forming a group (it was a draft legal race). I had only ever done one draft legal race before, so I didn’t know all the lingo like some of the other athletes, but I tried my best and learnt as we went on. All in all, we had a good group going. Halfway through the bike course, two groups combined, and we had a massive group of about 20-25 athletes. Unfortunately, this resulted in a crash in the final few kms. I could hear the crash behind me in the tunnel and there were quite a lot of ‘oh f**k’ around us. I just hope those girls are ok! ‘Ah shit I’ve lost a shoe’ – my words getting into transition. At dismount one of my shoes got stuck on the ground and fell off my pedal but I couldn’t stop so had to kick it out the way and keep going (I think I need to keep practising my flying dismounts as this had happened more than once now aha) I felt in a good position coming off the bike and wanted to see what I could give on the run. Coming into the run I knew I had put a lot in on the bike, but I was hoping my legs would have it in them for the run. I slowly chipped away at the girls in front of me, feeling strong until about 3km when I started to fade. I began to work with another few girls from Germany and Mexico. This not only helped me physically but also mentally. I found something in me to dig a bit deeper for the last km. My chest was on fire, and I knew I needed my inhaler asap, I knew that if I pushed too much harder, I would end up having an asthma attack and struggling to make it over the line. I overtook a few more girls to cross the line in 13th. I was proud of how I did but upon reflection I knew I could’ve placed top10 if I had a better swim and just knocked a few seconds off the run and the transitions, but it is always good to have aspirations for next time. The field was strong, and I was proud of all the GB girlies! 1430: IT’S ALL OVER!!! Wow, finishing the race didn’t feel real, I was exhausted by the endorphins were flowing for sure! I caught up with some of the GBR girls before heading over to my family and the FREE FOOD section aha. I had some of the snacks and a delicious Erdinger (my fave) before going to watch some of the men’s races and look at the triathlon expo. I trialed some of the compression recovery boots which now I really want, but they are so expensive!
The rest of the weekend we explored Hamburg and watched the elite races. It felt good to relax and enjoy where I was! Upon reflection over the last month, I have made a list of some of the things I want to work on before my next races.
Anyway, that’s the end of my brief race recap. There is so much more I could write about the whole experience but I did not want to make this an essay. Keep your eyes peeled for my next post – My city guide to Hamburg. Wow what a whirlwind of a weekend, that is the only way to describe it! As some of you may have seen on my Instagram, I had a big ol’ palaver the day before the race regarding the ‘intention to qualify’ form. This is mandatory from British Triathlon if you are racing a World or European qualifier with the intention to qualify, kind of what it says on the tin aha. In summary of a long story my name was not on the intention to qualify page which sent me into overdrive, and I was very emotional. I sent out lots of emails and called lots of numbers trying to reach someone to get to the bottom of it. Many hours later… I decided (with the help of friends and family) to just race because I enjoy it (and I had paid for race entry - races are damn expensive these days ahaha). I would prove to myself that I could qualify no matter what the outcome would be with BTF. RACE DAY 0400: Ooooof that was an early alarm! For some reason this season, none of my races had been super early so this was a bit of a shock. Personally, I really struggle to eat before races (something I need to work on) as I get such an anxious tummy. Surprisingly I managed to eat 4 Weetabix and a banana on this morning, a big win already! 0445: Bike in the car, time to set off. It was nice to be at home before the race rather than a hotel or Airbnb. Luckily it was just over an hour drive meaning we arrived at 6am, giving me a solid 1h15 to sort myself out before the race start. 0700: Registration done. Transition set up and a quick catch up with my triathlon girlies which was so lovely. There was a 500m (at least) zig zag hill from transition down to the beach so it was time to head down to the beach for the swim start. 0715: Quick dip in the sea to acclimatise done. Time to wait patiently on the start line, there was such an awesome atmosphere and the commentator was actually super motivational and supportive, I was loving it! 0720: The gun goes, and a crowd of powerful women run into the sea! The start of the swim was carnage but I feel so much more confident in the sea compared to lake swims (Side note: I would say my order of preference for triathlon swims would be sea > lake > pool). The first half of the swim I was trying to find my rhythm, I had no idea where I was in the group but I just focussed on pushing through the water to propel forward. I began to settle into the swim just after half way and then I started to really push the last 300m after a bit of a funny route (some of the course was anticlockwise and some was clockwise and it was definitely longer than 750m). The beach was now in sight, I just kept pushing until I felt the sand in my hands, that’s when I jumped up and ran to the zig zags. Yes, you remember the zig zags I mentioned earlier, we had to run up those to transition. It was carnage as there were spectators and competitors trying to come down to the beach, so as you can imagine it was a bit stressful! I was and am aware my swim is not my strongest component so I worked on overtaking some of the ladies up the zig zags into transition. 0730ish: Wetsuit off, helmet and race number on… zooommmm to the mount line. Another go at flying mounts and damn I couldn’t get my foot into one of my shoes so had to keep adjusting it until I was in, then we could pounce! Wow that bike course was dangerous AF! It was on a dual carriage way with open roads, we had to go on slip roads etc and it just didn’t feel right. The first roundabout came around pretty fast and I was going too quick so had a very near miss with the kerb, I saw my life flash before my eyes in that moment which wobbled me a bit but I just focused on powering up the hills and recover a little on the downhills. I was super grateful to be working with my lovely friend Millie on the bike, it was a non-drafting race which obviously we obeyed but it was nice to take it in turns on the front and help each other navigate the slip roads (thank Mils, you really got me through that bike course). 18km into the bike course we arrived back at the seafront and having not driven the course before I was a little confused until there was a marshal sending us up this big hill. My stomach dropped a little, it felt like a mountain after powering back along the dual carriageway. Up this hill we went, all huffing and puffing, and then there was another one!!!! Eventually we came back to transition and unlike Hamburg I had a successful flying dismount and all shoes stayed on the bike aha. 0820: Onto the run we go. I was a little worried about this as I had been nursing an ankle niggle but spoiler, I actually got a season 5km PB which I was super chuffed with despite everything!
Out of transition was a long downhill section to the promenade, I actually really appreciated this section as it got my legs moving fast ready for the rest of the run (I was also super grateful we didn’t have to run back up it). I started to overtake a lot of athletes and was feeling super strong but was still cautious of my ankle, I didn’t want to overdo it. With 1km to go I just went for it but the finish line was on the sand so you weren’t catching me doing a sprint finish like usual. 0840ish: BOOM I finished it in one piece and was proud of my performance! I managed to place 2nd in my age category and 5th female overall so I was chuffed. In summary I was really pleased that I decided to race because I really enjoyed it. Sometimes it is so easy to focus on the big goals and forget why you are doing it all in the first place. |
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August 2023
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