I needed no reminder that I'd raced this weekend when I first woke up this morning. I stepped out of bed and hobbled across my flat with aching quads and tight calves cursing myself for not stretching more after Saturday's race.
I'd been in action at the Dambuster Triathlon in Rutland Water, Leicestershire. It was a top race and a qualifier not only for this year's World Championships in Hamburg but also for next year's Worlds in Vancouver (what with next year being an Olympic year the World Championships are taking place much earlier in the season, hence the squad being selected now).
My tactics for the race were similar to those from a fortnight ago at Shropshire — race smart so that I bag a top-four finish and secure my spot in the 2008 squad.
It all went to plan with my swim feeling strong (21mins for 1500m) and all the usual fun and games in the water — kicks, punches, gallons of water up my nose and down my throat — and you thought girls played nice?
The bike course was great fun but involved about 500m of climbing, including the notorious Rutland Ripple which is a long hard drag that saps your legs and has a similar effect on your lungs. The reward was some fast descents which I loved and at times I even found myself smiling (smiling during a race - is that allowed?) as I clocked upwards of 40mph.
The competition among the fastest women is fierce and these races tend to follow similar trends which are determined by our respective swim-bike-run strengths.
As a strong swimmer, I always find myself out in the lead on the bike course but know I'm being hunted by the uber-bikers. The top-ranking female cyclist came passed me about a third of the way round the 40km course but I managed to hold off the number two — by a few metres. This meant we were running shoulder to shoulder, stride for stride, going out onto the 10k run. Talk about a psychological battle!
It's a lot to ask of your body after already putting it through 90 minutes of hard swimming and biking but neither of us were willing to give an inch. Well, not until the 7-8k mark when she made a break for it and Jelly Legs here had nothing to fight back with. That was it. I was broken and had to settle for third. Still, it meant I earned my Vancouver place, learned a valuable lesson about racing hard and have enough fire in my belly to make sure I'm not beaten like that again.