Aleisha Wesley - Triathlete

My first Oceania race of the season was Devonport. It’s my second race as an U23 athlete and I must say it was quite the competitive field.   My race was scheduled around noon which gave me plenty of time to sleep in and have a chilled morning before my race. I was in riding distance from the race venue so I used that as a little bit of a warm up as I knew that the schedule would be tight and a little rushed. Once I arrived, I stayed in the athletes lounge, checked in and then went for a quick run warm up as I was a little short of time, so I just did what I needed to. I believe the swim was an optional wetsuit swim and as much as I hated swimming in a wetsuit I thought it would be a good idea if I did just because everyone else was wearing one and even though I am a stronger swimmer I’d rather give myself a couple of seconds advantage and not struggle heaps in the swim if I didn't wear it. So we had 15 minutes to get our bikes into transition and set up as well as co...

So I finally got a job and am now able to compete in various triathlon competitions world wide. I decided to start off with the Asian Cup in Rayong, Thailand, which was not only my first Asian Cup but also my first race as an U23 athlete. Myself an a few mates of mine from Eclipse Performance Centre decided to head over to Thailand on Jan 22nd. We arrived the next morning and drove from Bangkok to Rayong where the race was held. The first couple of days consisted of a few training sessions as well as race course familiarisation prior to the race.   Friday was race day and I was feeling pretty fresh but also a tad tired from travelling and lack of food as I was limited to what I could eat (incase you didn't know, I’m 3 years Vegan and lived off rice and pizza for the week we were away from home). Anyways, I completed my pre race warm up and found myself lining up in my prime position on the very end as far away from everyone as I know thats where I st...

The journey to my first International triathlon, the European Cup in Holten (Holland) began with an early wake up on the 12th June. After almost pulling an all nighter, needing to get up at 2.50am and only having 1 hour of sleep, I thought that I’d be able to sleep on my 11 hour flight to Dubai. Let’s just say that it was quite an unpleasant and restless 18 hour journey to London. Training in England was a lot harder than I had expected, the worst part was the roads to ride on. They were no where near as good as they are in Perth and were extremely busy. It took me about a week to adapt training in a different environment, but I enjoyed every part of it. I had the opportunity to train with Lucy Charles , her partner Reece and their friend Guy. Samuel and I swam in the London Olympic pool with them a few times and went on a 100km ride with them, which I may have bonked on… Another opportunity I had was having a swim technique session with Ray in an endless pool. Happy to s...

My first race of the Australian Junior Triathlon Series began with a wake up at 7am on Saturday the 3rd of February in Glenelg, SA. The race was scheduled to start at 11.30am so with a race being so late, I decided that it would be a brilliant idea to have my trusty 3 ingredient vegan pancakes for breakfast. As my race was later on in the day, I thought it would be nice to watch some Netflix in my hotel room to pass by time. As time slowly passed by, it finally was time to head down to the race venue which was a lovely 800 metres away from where I was staying. Once I arrived, I watched the junior boys compete in their race and cheered on some fellow team mates and then went on to do my 2k warm up jog whilst they were racing. After I got back, I set up my run shoes in T2 as there was two transitions in this event to spice things up, rather than just having the usual one transition. Once set up in T2, I rode over to T1 with my gear to put next to Alan. As soon as I had set up in T1, I ...

The final race of the Australian Junior Triathlon Series began early Saturday morning with a 4.30am wake up. I felt pretty good leading up to this race, certainly a lot more confident than I was for my race in Glenelg a few weeks ago. I didn't really have much of a goal for this race but I was determined to not get dropped on the bike as I have been getting dropped all of this season in the draft legal triathlons that I've competed in.  I arrived at Champion Lakes with both of my brothers and Damon from Melbourne around 5am for the open and under 23 races scheduled to race at 6.30am. My race was at 10am, so there was a bit of waiting around for a few hours which gave me time to rest, watch the U23s, Opens and Youths race as well as preparing for my own race. As time was passing by, it was nearing my time to start warming up. I went for a 1.5km run warm up doing a couple of efforts and felt pretty good and light for once. Shortly after I went and racked Alan in transition a...

In the early hours of Thursday morning my journey to Glenelg, SA began for race three of the Australian Junior Triathlon Series. After the two and a half hour flight, Brooke, her mum and myself landed late morning in Adelaide. We spent most of the day settling in, setting up our bikes, going for a short ride and run and visiting harbour town.  The following day started at 5.30am where a bike familiarisation course was organised for all the athletes. During the cycle in the morning I discovered that I had a flat tyre. This was not the first time that this had happened while I was away at a national event (the third time actually). So I changed my tube and checked it all out to make sure that I wouldn't get another flat, pumped it up and put it back on my bike. Shortly after I went on a run with Brooke and Abby to do a pre activation set the day before the race. I arrive back at the motel after the run to only discover that I had yet another flat tyre. I started to get really wo...

I walked into this race with an expectation to place in the top 10, even though it was my first race of the Australia Junior Triathlon Series, I was more than confident that I would have a strong performance and do my parents proud as I always strive to do. The race was scheduled to start at 11.30am on Saturday the 20th of February. As I’ve mentioned in previous race reports, I do struggle to get into ‘the zone’ when it comes to racing, so unfortunately I couldn’t completely focus until the signal to start had gone. I am determined to find out why this is so and hopefully when I find the solution I will start having better performances. When the morning of the race came, I was so happy that I didn't have to have an early wake up. Instead I was finally able to have a day where I could have a sleep in. I woke up around 8am and pretty much sat around doing nothing in my hotel room until I had to leave for the race. It was good only staying a few km's away from the rac...