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Meet Natalie - your British Triathlon blogger

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Back in December, Triathlon England reached out for budding bloggers to share their season's highs and lows whilst in the sport. We chose Natalie to tell her story as she aims to break onto the Elite circuit...

I am really excited and pleased to have been chosen to blog about my highs and lows of racing and training throughout this year for British Triathlon and hope you enjoy following this year’s triathlon journey with me.

Firstly I will introduce myself, I am Natalie Thomas and currently competing in the 25-29 age category as well as some Elite racing.  I started my sporting life as a swimmer at the grand old age of 14, but moving from the Midlands to the South, I met people involved in the running, swimming and shooting parts of Modern Pentathlon and liked the sound of that so gave it a go - soon progressing to learn to fence and horse ride.  I do have to say, I was certainly not a runner - I ran like an elephant!  (I should add though with a lot of hard work, training and determination I do now class myself as a runner and have improved massively).  I also like an event called Biathle which is a continuous run, swim, run event run by the Modern Pentathlon, and it was through this event I became a triathlete. 

That might sound strange but, meeting another competitor who suggested I give Triathlon ago, my initial reaction was ‘no’.  I was enjoying what I did – so why change?  But early in 2012 I considered a switch and within a couple of weeks was set up with a coach and on the triathlon path. Best decision ever- I absolutely love it!

2013 was my first year racing and what a year it was! Finishing in the top five in most events in my age category and even qualifying to race in the Age-Group Sprint Distance World Championships in London, where I went on to finish in 10th place (my goal was top 20).  2014 was full of highs, lows, good races and bad, but a brilliant year none the less.  I competed in the British Elite super series, finishing in the bottom half of the field (but you have to start somewhere) and I loved every minute of it.  I also continued with the age-group races and won the 25-29 Aquathlon European Championships, as well as qualifying to race in the Age-Group Standard Distance World Championships in Edmonton. There I finished an awesome race in 17th place and as the 3rd Brit - I was 4th in the Aquathlon too.

So what is next? Well for me my goal is to become the best triathlete I can possibly be and that means racing at the highest level I can. This said, I will be aiming to improve on my performances from last year in the British Elite super series and would like to try and get a start in an Elite Continental cup race (we’ll find out later this year how this goes).  I will still be doing some age-group races this year including some of the British championships along with the European and World championships.  I will also be doing the European and World Aquathlons too - possibly as an Elite...

After ending last season on a high in Edmonton I struggled to get back to normality and felt exhausted so took a lovely break down in Devon and came back feeling amazing.  My training so far this winter has been going well - despite hitting a slight speed bump just before Christmas!  A huge personal learning curve about how much your body can take and how important recovery time is but I am back on track and loving every minute.

I hope all of you are enjoying your winter training and would like to finish up with a little bit of inspiration.  Whether you are a seasoned triathlete or just starting your own tri journey, your mind is your only limiter and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Work hard, enjoy what you do, believe in yourself, recover well and you will achieve things you once never thought could be possible. 

BELIEVE YOU CAN, AND YOU WILL.

 

Natalie's next blog post will be Wednesday 4th March

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