Aleisha Wesley - Triathlete

It’s been a while since I last posted on here so I’ll give a bit of an update. Things had been pretty quiet during Covid with competing in my last international race for two years at the start of 2020 in Rayong, Thailand. My next race wasn’t until 2021 where I raced the Standard Oceania Triathlon Championships and Cup and the Sprint Oceania Triathlon Cup, both in Port Douglas, Australia. Both were pretty average races but didn’t race as well as I wanted. From then I put my head down, joined a new run squad, worked really hard on my running as it’s been a weakness in the past. It took me about 6 months before I noticed any improvements but I still have a long way to go. I started my local season in Perth, Australia where I won seven races in a row which has set me up really well to win Open Female Triathlete of the Year in WA.  I then set off to Europe for a six week racing block with the main aim of the trip to gain an automatic qualification for The World Games for Duathlon in Jul...

What an experience Bali Super League was! Day one began with a 1.6km run time trial as Stage one of the Equaliser. It started in alphabetical order and 10 seconds apart. I was the last one to start, so I did my best to try and minimise any time loss to the other girls ahead of me. I ended up coming in with a time of 5.51, setting me back 41 seconds behind the leader for Stage Two of the Equaliser later on in the day.  A few hours later was when Stage Two began. The format for this race was a continuous 2x (300/5/1.6). I got to the athlete's lounge an hour before the race to warm up and set up my transition. About 20 minutes before my race was due to start, I did a big swim warm up to ensure I had a strong swim as I knew I had some time to make up. The waves were crashing right on shore where the sand was, almost like the same consistency of quick sand, not to mention the strong rips and currents, so I had to put my open water swimming abilities to great use....

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...