August Monthly Report

A relatively short stay, leaving Vitoria Gasteiz, I was happy with the hard work that was done over the past two months. This year has given me a great foundation and base to build and maintain upon. I went into every session with a different attitude this year, wanting to leave every session with positives and processes that can build upon for the next session. If your mind wasn’t truly focussed on the session ahead of you, you were going to get left behind. I think this year more than ever, I took benefit of training with some of the best girls in the world and tried to work together with them so that we got the most out of each other.

My first race was London Triathlon. I knew having a good swim was going to be key to having a good race here. The funniest part of the race was as soon as we got out of the water we had to strip off our wetsuit and put it in a garbage bag. We then had to run about 400m with it over our shoulder up stairs into the transition area. A classic Natalie move, I slipped over on the wet carpet coming into transition. I had to hustle but I got into a small break with 3 other girls on the bike. The ride was very solid with 3 super strong girls pushing the pace for the 40km. The first 5km running hurt but I built back and was fighting for 3rd. But with about 500m to go, a girl from the second group surged past both of us and I had sprint my way into 4th place.

After London, we headed to our new home for the next 2 weeks. I have been currently settled in a small countryside town of Loughborough, about 2 hours north of London. Loughborough is known for the best sporting facilities within the UK, that is based around the university here. I have been lucky enough to have a glimpse at what the university has to offer with a few sessions on the track and the use of the gym. Apart from the university, the riding has been awesome and the trails are endless. A big thank you to Gav, Luke, Adam and Alison, who have let us join in to all the group sessions and experience training here in Loughborough.

I had one week to recover before heading to Liverpool for the triathlon there. Unfortunately, I picked up something along the way and the whole week I was battling with a head cold and no voice. I didn’t know how my body would response to racing again. The swim was a deep water start with 70 girls on the start line. Just saying, that sounds like a fight about to happen. I got pushed around for the first 200m or so and then had to bridge myself back up to the front 3 girls ahead of me. Exiting the water, I was just alittle too far back off the front two girls and I got left in no mans land as the other group was 30 seconds behind us. The ride was honestly just a fight for a good position with the narrow turns and corners. Surprisingly, I actually felt really good running and just had to battle through a tight chest for the 5km. I ended up having a sprint finish and finished 5th.

The past two weeks have been fairly busy getting back into the swing of things for my next race in Karlovy Vary this weekend in the Czech Republic. I have never raced here before so the days leading up the race will be a good chance to get my bearings and suss out the course.

Finally to end a stacked August, I am excited to announce that I have qualified for World Championships in Cozumel in September and become part of my first elite team. This will be my 5th time representing the green and gold at a World Championships. After a rocky start to the year with injury, it would be awesome to put the final pieces of the puzzle together to finish the ITU season on a high!