Track Nationals
So I entered the track nationals this year…just to see what
was out there. Being completely under prepared I was soon to find out having the
correct kit and having practiced on it makes a big difference! So opening my
track tt bars the night before my individual pursuit was probably not the best
of preparations!
Day one started with the 500m TT, I was up pretty soon so
having never even seen a 500m TT being performed let alone competing in one I
was really throwing myself in at the deep end entering 3 events over the next 3
days at nationals level having never even practiced these events in training!
This is down to not being able to get track time as im not accredited… a strange
system which allows me to compete at national level yet not be able to access training
at the veledrome :/. I clocked a pretty slow time in comparison to the others
girls but that is to be expected on my first attempt when the other girls have
been doing it for years, had lots of specific training and the right kit!
Next was the IP, again my lack of experience showed with my
poor pace judgement setting off far to reserved after everyone had been warning
me not to blow and work into it…next year im smashing it from the start! Some specific
practise and I will definitely get sub 4 minutes next year as I was just over that
at 4.02 this year.
The Match sprint on Friday was…interesting to say the least
and quite amusing really.
My flying 200m was off the pace at 13 seconds however this
was due lack of experience as I dropped down off the banks far too early and
after watching afew girls after my attempt I realised where I had lost seconds.
This will be an easy time to beat next year with abit of practice now that I am
currently in the process of getting my accreditation. As a consequence I didn’t
get through to the heats which wasn’t a surprise! I didn’t find this out however
until I had taken up at least 10 minutes of a very kind man’s time who was part
of the Scottish development team who was explaining what a match sprint is looking
abit bewildered why I had entered this event at a national level not even
knowing what the rules where or having ever done one…iv got to admit I do seem
to run before I can walk sometimes! With Nicola soden giggling next to me at my
embarrassing confession that in fact I wasn’t even through to the heats I moved
on to concentrate on my next and final race, the points race.
This race I felt abit more prepared for as I have competed
in the Friday night track league the past 2 years which incorporates points
races so I had some idea what I was letting myself in for and for a change I wasn’t
the odd one out without an aero helmet! Hayley kindly offered for me to borrow
her disc wheel which would have made me on equal terms for equipment unlike all
the other races but I was abit scared as I have only tried a disc wheel for
about 5 minutes and felt I wasn’t comfortable enough with such an expensive piece
of equipment so I opted for my whopper wheels. So the whistle blew and we were
off, 6 laps in and the first sprint in coming up 4 laps and something of a red
mist comes over me and I decide it would be a good idea to attack some Olympic
Champions for the first set of points. Taking a long one 4 laps out I got a
considerable gap before being gloriously swallowed 1 lap to go. A glorious failure! But for a moment I was
off the front of a world class field and felt like a champion. The rest of the
race consisted of hanging on for dear life which is what I was expecting, but I
kept my position and felt really strong. I finished the race with the bunch very
happy to have stuck in there with a world class field…it looks good for next
years elite crits which I fluffed this year due to lack of form.
All in all an eye opening experience with A LOT to learn in
terms of rules, tactics, equipment, positioning and training but looking
forward to smashing my times I have now set as my own benchmarks J
By Brit
