Lauren Hall: Track Nationals

WOW, what a whirlwind of the last 2 weeks. In my last post I said I had one more 'event' before the start of my off-season and it was my first ever track nationals.

We headed west to L.A. a week before nationals to get my legs and body re-acquainted with the feel of the track, spin of the pedals and just overall going in circles bit. There was also a race the weekend before that I did just to get used to the time at the track and the feel of racing(ended up winning!!).

Then nationals started on Wednesday morning and I was there everyday except Friday, racing my bike and having fun. I was entered in the omnium, scratch race, points race and the madison.

The omnium was 6 events over 2 days:

Day 1 - flying 200, miss n out race, points race

Day 2 - 3k individual pursuit, scratch race and 500TT

I had a great first day and then I concentrated a lot on the 3k for the next day, which turned out good for me but then it was like my brain left the building for the scratch race. I had a horrible race and was so mad! But in hindsight, it was great thing to experience failure and learn from the pressure and I did. I still need to work more on the 500 as well but hey, 2nd place overall I was content-not happy but content.

I skipped the scratch race because, one, I was exhausted from the omnium and two, I wanted to watch and learn what I could from the other experienced girls. AMAZING racing!!!

Also, the points race was more for experience and just to get a feel for a group that size and race my butt off:) So taking 5th there was success in my book. SMALL STEPS :)

Then the madison on Sunday.....I was REALLY tired and not motivated to be honest but I did commit and I'm not one to not show up. Which turned out to be rewarding, seeing that we won! I was completely exhausted on the last throw and when they said we won the national championship, I was overwhelmed! Again, learning experience, how to push through when you are tired, what that feels like to have been so close, take a beating and get back up to stand on top and be successful-WOW...

I met so many wonderful people at the track and enjoyed seeing the differences between trackies and roadies:) Oh boy the chamois time!! hahahaha

I look forward to seeing everyone in the future, pushing myself to get better, racing against some fantastic athletes and having some good laughs at the past.

Here are some pictures from the whole weekend and I shared a video of the madison finish on FB, check it out!!