After a few days touring across Germany and our green van breaking down again and recovering in a VW garage, we headed over to Hannover for the National League finale (and the short-course German national championship). I was intrigued how I would do in short course after all the long distance training, interspersed with some productive track sessions (thanks Jenny Astall ) and several speed focuses swims (thanks Kirsty Shannon and Jo!). It was also my first draft-legal race in a while and I had done lots of chain gangs with LIOS Bikes as a practice.
Turns out my swim was good enough placing me towards the end of a big first pack. I came out into transitions very dizzy, forcing myself to run fast (but Oli still mocking me for my shuffle), and lost a few seconds in T1 due to being a hit rusty rusty jumping onto the bike.
I was then riding solo for a while until I caught the second big bike pack. Due to the fast and flat course with only a few turns the second pack got massive with 40 girls and some partially questionable cycling skills. After a harder first lap I was frankly just chilling in the middle of the pack, saving my legs (averaging the same watts for 20k that I averaged in Zell am See ...). There just was no point for a breakaway given the simple course and the disorganised nature of the pack.
Onto T2 and everyone was quite nervous navigating the dismount in such a big group so safety was first for me. Again I was probably a bit slow in transition but was happy to put in the work on the run. Everyone shot off like speed demons, but contrary to the other girls I actually managed to maintain my pace and leg turnover and reeled in people one by one over the 3lap 5k course. I also decided to run without a watch and just making catching the next person in front my goal. Absolutely enjoyed it and overtook 15 girls on the run!
I crossed the finish line in position 16 and with a 5k PB of 17:56. And we managed to step up one position in the final league ranking with my Geeman squad Team Berlin. What a day - still buzzing from it.
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