To say that there has been a few ups and downs over the last 2 months would be putting it mildly. Following the BTF Duathlon champs in late March which went ok ( not my favourite event by a long way) without being a major success, I followed up with a couple of warm-up events, being the 1st youth home and 3rd overall I was more than happy with the result at the East Essex Aquathlon following up the next weekend with winning gold in the u14 Essex 100m fly swimming champs.
As we moved through April and although my hayfever had kicked in by now I was quite hopeful of doing reasonably well at the Upminster aquathlon, a stronger event than normal as it included athletes from both London and Eastern regions this year as the event was in both regions leagues. The swim and transition went according to plan but out on the run I started to struggle badly and whilst I would be the first to admit my run is not my strongest discipline, I have got stamina and staying power, but not on this day as it became harder to catch my breath and I tailed off to finish 4th and off the pace of the front 3.
Thinking only that it was my hayfever causing the problem the weekend after I had a couple of disappointing swims in a local gala and at a regional academy training day on the Sunday I struggled badly for rmost of the day finishing absolutely exhausted and once again out of breath. Clearly it was something more than hayfever so it was off to the doc on the Monday who after running various tests on me informed me afterwards that I had acquired seasonal or exercise induced asthma, wonderful!
Getting that news was very disheartening and right ahead of the serious race season too, but with Mum and Dad reading every internet article under the sun on the subject and learning about some great olympians and other world leading sports people that manage to perform with asthma I am slowly coming to terms with it, although it has seen my training curtailed somewhat whilst the medication I now have counteracts the wheezing and fighting for breath I have been suffering from, hardly the best preparation for the Elite Youth Super Series that was coming up in just two weeks. As the days past though things improved somewhat but I had not yet really exerted myself to any extent at this point.
So this last weekend my trip up to Strathclyde, which was something I had been looking forward too, was full of trepidation and I was a little more nervous than normal as I was not at all sure how I would do or if I could even finish. In the end I could not have been happier with the result, although Mum was still quite nervous at the finish as I was puffing a little harder than normal at the end and in need of a puff on my new little blue friend!
The swim went well as I came out 4th and I maintained my position on the bike leg, but could I last the run leg with my breathing and a lack of recent training... I should not of worried though as I maintained my form through the run section and more than held on to my 4th place.
So now on to Bleinheim, and hopefully I can be a little more confident but I also know that those that competed at Strathclyde will also be joined by other top athletes that did not venture north to Scotland so maintaining a top 10 finish will be a challenge, but it should make for a good race in a great setting......
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