June 2011 Meet Tierney Maude: Sports Massage Therapist and 10K Swimmer
Tierney Maude is part of our massage crew and a 10K swimmer. She has been swimming for 12 years (up to National level), bikes and runs (with triathlon just around the corner).
She has a BSc (Hons) in Sport and Exercise Science from Loughborough University, is currently finishing her Sports Massage Diploma at St Mary’s University (update: Tierney passed with flying colours in October 2011) and is the Triathlon specialist at Sigma Sport (marketing and retail). This year, Tierney was part of our massage crew at the 7oaks Triathlon and the Pearson Sportive. She will also join us for the London-Paris (L2P).
Tierney took part in the Human Race Eton 10K swim on 28th May. She completed the challenge in a very admirable 3:07 hours.
“After what has seemed like an eternity of not doing anything competitive, I thought it was only about time that I got myself stupidly roped into some kind of race. So, after a fair amount of peer pressure from my so called friends at Teddington Masters Swimming Club, (bearing in mind these ‘friends’ are large + strong + swimmers + men!) I entered myself into the 10k swim at Dorney Lake.
I’d spent a good Winter doing lots of swim training, getting up ridiculously early to be coached by the fantastic John Mills and to train with some ‘young wiper snappers’ at Kingston Royals Swimming Club. I’m not going to lie; this was a complete shock to the system! Two hours every day in the pool before work meant I felt pretty fit; however by 4pm everyday….very ready hit my pillow. But the swimming shoulders, arms and most certainly the appetite had returned and I loved it!
After my first trip over to Heron Lake with an incredible swimmer and Thames Turbo member Pete Stewart, I was kindly informed that I was indeed swimming wonky! For some reason being able to maintain a straight line was proving quite difficult but after a few helpful tips and plenty more laps I was beginning to get the hang of it…
Weeks prior to the race, I’d put in some long sessions in the lake and the pool. I spent lake sessions dreaming about tumble turns. I spent pool sessions dreaming about my wetsuit! My neck was also showing the effects of the ‘wetsuit burn’ and proved to be a good up sell for body glide.
On race day, quite frankly, I was a nervous, shivering, neoprene clad monkey. It had felt such a long time since my last race and I’d completely forgot the adrenaline buzz from it. Unfortunately for everyone racing, the weather proved itself to be a bit of a let-down. Once into the water, we had a mass start, not my ideal situation to say the least but I grit my teeth, got my elbows and out and kicked bloody hard for the first 400m ish.
We had 3 laps to complete. Lap 1 felt great but long, lap 2 felt good but longer, lap 3 felt okay but even longer… My arms felt fine and even now I have no idea what I thought about during the whole 3 hours and 7 minutes of it. I just kept swimming! By lap 3 there was no one else around me so by this point it felt pretty alone I was dreading the fact I was last. Thankfully I was able to pop myself next to the buoys and follow the line the whole way down and not worry about sighting. Getting out proved to be quite difficult and unfortunately, my new Zogg’s Predator Flex goggles worked so well that my eyes sockets looked as if they’d be attacked by a vacuum cleaner. Thank fully a couple of friendly faces were there to greet me and aid me in getting de- suited and dressed. I spent the following afternoon looking like a zombie, dehydrated and eating everything in sight. Not a pretty sight to say the least!
Looking back, I absolutely enjoyed every second of it. However, I’d also like to think if there was a next time I could go faster, through pushing harder and better pacing.”
Well done Tierney!!
