The 2018 GO GOLD Podium Athletes aim to blog about their competitions and training sessions at least once a month to keep LRS updated on their progress.
Clicking on an athlete will also give you access to their individual profile and updates.
I have just competed in the Ras na mBan in Ireland, my last stage race of the season. I travelled over with my team mates and support crew and we all stayed in an apartment in Kilkenny. The event consisted of 6 stages over 5 days and included a hilly TT & Crit race.
After stage 4 we had the leaders and QOM Jersey within our team so it was all about protecting them both going into the Crit and final stage. We chased down any threats, these were mostly made by Team GB who were sitting 2nd on GC but no one got in our way and we successfully defended both jersey's as well as taking the team prize by over 7 minutes. I was pleased to finished 9th overall with some pretty consistent results.
My next competition is the City of Manchester Short Course Meet in October.
During August I had no swimming commitments, but I helped at a swimming camp at King Edward VII school which was organised by a swimmer from the National Centre at Loughborough. I spent the week with the younger swimmers who were on the camp. I thoroughly enjoyed the week and would enjoy doing it again.
So having secured some external sponsorship and putting my LRS GoGold Award towards it, my team have raised the funds to secure the first half of the season which will see me compete in North America before Christmas and hopefully in Europe after Christmas (funding dependent). Now I have a leaving date my training intensity has increased and I look forward to seeing my progress when we get out there in November!
Just came back from a well deserved 2 week break away in Greece to have time to chill and relax, It's been great getting back into training and re-focusing for the new season.
The next few weeks main focus will be on gym and doing a number of circuits to increase fitness as well as increasing the work load in the pool sessions.
I'm excited to see what the new season brings as it is Olympic year, can't wait to get back into racing which starts at the Manchester International Meet in October.
Prep going into Summer Nationals wasn't the best as I was full of illness for 2 months going into the competition, so me and my coach were wondering what the best thing was to do for both my physical and mental health in regards to me competing.
We did decide in the end to withdraw from my main event (100m freestyle) and only compete in the 50m freestyle and 50m backstroke as I wasn't mentally or physically ready to race the 100m.
I did manage to qualify for the final in both the 50m freestyle and 50m backstroke, placing 2nd in the 50m freestyle in a time of 25.84, then in the 50m backstroke I placed 5th in a time of 29.13, which was a seasons best, overall really happy with how I swam.
This weekend I competed at a tough event at Poole yacht club. The fleet was very tough, and the conditions where shifty, gusty and windy conditions; making a tricky first day. As I was camping on Saturday night I couldn't fully stretch and roll out with my foam roller, so I was struggling on day two. The forecast was very light for day two, and after getting back down to the club there was no wind, and after sitting on a postponement for three hours they cancelled the Sunday. So on the whole weekend
This weekend I competed in the Heart of England Cadet competition. I won all four of my fights and won gold in a large category. I'm looking forward to competing in the East of England Schools Qualifier next weekend.
So as the season has come to an end I have started winter training early. I've also been doing more volunteering at schools this September in preparation for teacher training this time next year. This year has been hard juggling my athletics with university work and adding injury into the mix meant my track season was cut short. I'm looking forward to going into 3rd year and hopefully some hard winter training will pay off for next season.
Thanks to Go Gold for supporting me - I've been making use of my free gym and track sessions this summer.
After a well needed holiday we are now about a week back into training and it's already starting to get hard! Luckily my foot is holding up even though it's a little bit weak. I'm so glad to be back after such a good end to the season last year and looking forward to this season!
Last weekend I competed in Lausanne in the U23 World Championships for the individual and also the U23 Mixed Relay events. The course was tough with a steep climb on each of the eight laps and then with warm temperatures the racing was by far the hardest I have had all season. I'm happy to say that I came away with an 8th place in the individual event - with the fastest run split of the day and only 7 senior athletes improved on my time on an identical course - and also a Silver medal in the Mixed Team Relay where I handed over on the second leg in first place. It's just one more race weekend in Valencia next weekend for the European U23 Championships and then my season is over, it's been a fun year so I'm hoping to round off the race calendar on a high!
Last weekend I competed in another open water swimming competition in Peterborough, it was the National Masters open water championship. I raced in the 3k event where I came first in my age category (18-24). The day had started off a bit chilly so I chose to wear my wetsuit, it was still cold though! there were a few of us from my LTSC Masters Swimming Club so I had a really nice time socially as well as competitively! Planning on trying out a night swim soon, just for fun, which I'm exited about.
August has been a quite month , but now I'm preparing very hard for my national championships with my Russian coach . The next 10 weeks will be very intense training to ensure that I can get gold and secure my place for international places
At the start of August, just after the worlds, I had to travel up to Largs in Scotland for the national championships. Last year I came 40th and I wanted to improve on that after a year of coaching. The first day wasn't great but after that I kept consistently good results and worked my way back up the fleet. I finished 27th and 6th girl (which I got a trophy for) and was pretty pleased. It was a difficult event though as the last two days we couldn't sail due to either too little or too much wind but overall it was really good. Next year I'm hoping for top 15 or even top 10 but I'll have to work hard this winter and keep training.
More Information: gbrtopper.ourclubadmin.com
This weekend I competed in the Northern Home Counties the first competition after the summer. I came 5th out of 13 tough fights and some experience gained.
I have returned to Ohio, USA to complete my Sophomore year and excited to be starting my 2nd year of training with Rickey and the rest of the Falcon team. I've had the whole month of August off and feel relaxed, rested and excited for what's to come!
Last month I competed in my last race of the season at the English summer championships. I raced the 200 freestyle and did a 1 second personal best to make it into the final which I was happy to qualify for. In the final I did another 1 second personal best from the heats, and overall came 6th for my age group.
This month has been pre-season training ready for the basketball season to begin at the end of September. I have got back into my routine including weekly s+c and training and have signed for 3 divisions this year, so should be an exciting one to come!
I go back to University in a few weeks and i'm ready to get back into the swing of it all; I look forward to being in Sheffield again and not having to travel their weekly!
LRS support has been an amazing help during my summer at home. I have made frequent use of the free access to gym and swimming, it's taken a lot of financial pressure off and enabled me to focus on my fitness and training!!
