Bella Bayliss's Blog

Ironman Lanzarote 2013

bellabayliss — Tue, 21 May 2013 07:05:11 +0000

Well that really was not the day I wanted to have.
I went out thinking I could win it, but when the gun went off, I struggled from that moment on. I kept calm when hundreds of men were swimming over the top of me in the first 400 metres, but after 30 minutes I felt like I was blowing up, something I have never experienced before,
on the bike I felt weak from the start to the end, I am not sure why,
On the run, I tried to run, but after 12km Ironman Lanzarote came to an end for me.
It was far from what I expected I would do. It was a huge failure. And I am so disappointed.
But life goes on.
I will get myself ready for Challenge Aarhus on June 23rd,
ThankYou to everyone who supported me along the way on Saturday,
and a huge thankyou to Sands Beach Resort who have been so amazingly supportive to us.

Volcano Triathlon, Lanzarote.

bellabayliss — Wed, 01 May 2013 05:30:23 +0000

At the weekend TeamTBB UK from SandsBeach Resort raced the Volcano Triathlon. It is a very popular olympic distance race organised every year 3 weeks before Ironman Lanzarote.
The last time Stephen and I raced an olympic distance triathlon was the Volcano in 2008, where I won the womens race and Stephen came 2nd in the mens race.
This year was as competitive as ever in mens and womens field so a great test for us! The 4 of us did’nt back off our training for this one as we all have our eyes on the upcoming races in the coming months. So heavy legged we gave ourselves a shock to the system by racing this short fast race.
The gun went off at 10am and we swam the choppy 1500 swim in Club La Santa lagoon. Eimear and I started beside each other and after about 200m she was able to use her new swim strength to swim away.
Camilla Pederson took minutes out of all the girls and again on the bike she took more minutes from us. Eimear passed Michelle Vesterby quickly on the bike and I worked at closing the gap to Michelle the whole ride.
Camilla ran solid and got the win easily, Eimear ran very well and took 2nd and I managed to pass Michelle on the run to get on the podium.

ThankYou for the photo, Bob Foy,
It was a good shock to my muscles, now its 2 more weeks of training here at SandsBeach till I freshen up for Ironman Lanzarote. I wont race Eimear at the Ironman, she will race Challenge Barcelona the same weekend.

Camilla Pedersen, Eimear and I at the finish.

Challenge Fuerteventura

bellabayliss — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 14:04:54 +0000

This past weekend we were at Playitas for Challenge Fuerteventura.
It was perfect for us to have such a great race so near to us. No flights needed, just a short car and ferry trip from Lanzarote.

Before the race I thought a top 5 result would be good in the competitive field, so to get 4th made me happy. A perfect tough training day for the upcoming races and a small pay check too.

reunited after the race

It was also great to see Eimear, who I have been helping the last 7 months put together the race I knew she could. She has been working diligently on her training every day and that pays off. I believe we will see her name pop up a lot in the races this year.

ThankYou Playitas for accommodating us all, we all had a very comfortable and happy few days. We will be back next year!
Now we are home to SandsBeach on Lanzarote. It is great to be back and we are already into our routine to prepare for the upcoming races.

a day with the Bayliss’s at SandsBeach Resort

bellabayliss — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 14:31:12 +0000

Another day of training at the paradise of Sands Beach Resort Lanzarote,

Coach Charlie telling us whats next...

thats the swim done. With Eimear, who used to be a slow swimmer... not slow any more.

a late morning shallow water run with Charlie!

now its time for another run, this time with guests of SandsBeach Resort!

Unfortunately we dont have Kat with us right now, she has gone to the UK to visit her little brother who is very ill. We wish him a speedy recovery and we look forward to having Kat back with us soon.

soon it is time to race again! This week we travel to Fuerteventura for Challenge Fuerteventura. We are looking forward to it. Wish us Good Luck!

La Graciosa Trail Run Race

bellabayliss — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 13:30:10 +0000

The bus ride to the Ferry! Charlie loved this part!

the island of La Graciosa. We arrive by ferry.

Juan Carlos and us relaxing on our trip over.

Kat, Charlie and me

We thought the island of La Graciosa was beautiful. Here is the view looking out to Lanzarote.

The SandsBeach Family on arrival

Unfortunately Stephen and Ritchie were not well so did'nt race, but they hired these bikes and rode around the island!

Ready, Steady, GO!

Saleta Castro and I during the 31km adventure run race. I think it was one of the most beautiful runs I have ever done.

Top 3 girls! Eimear 1st, 2nd for me and 3rd for Saleta Castro

My fast Champion Apprentice, Eimear Mullan and 2nd place, me!

Juan Carlos treated us all to a lovely meal after our 31km adventure race, thankyou Juan Carlos!

Charlie thought his day out was great fun! Bus, Ferry and adventure running!

Lanzarote to London to East London to Aberdeen to Lanzarote

bellabayliss — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 15:58:12 +0000

For the past 2 weeks the Bayliss’s have been on the move. The 3 of us travelled to London to take Charlie to his grandparents so that Stephen and I could travel on our own to East London for 70.3 South Africa.
Unfortunately there is nothing good to report from that trip! Neither of us had good races, even though we were sure we were ready to do a decent job. We dont like making excuses but we think we travelled to the race too late as we were both cramping badly early in the race.
However the winner of the mens race Bart Arnoutts did very similer travel to us and he had no problems!
[
Although both Stephen and I did badly, it was great that TeamTBB's Jodie Swallow was so strong and won the womens race, well done Jodie!

The night after the race I managed to get awful food poisening so that was not a fun way to end our time in East London!

We were so happy to be re united with Charlie in London. We did'nt enjoy being away from him. From London we flew to Aberdeen to visit my family. I was very grateful to the pilot of the EasyJet flight that day as flying into very snowy Aberdeen Airport was a bit scary, but on the 2nd landing attempt we were on the ground safely.

caption id="attachment_629" align="alignnone" width="450" caption="Arriving at a very snowy Aberdeen Airport"][/caption]

For the past few days we have been catching up with my family who we dont see very often,

we missed Christmas with the family so we celebrated Robert Burns Day instead!

our warm weather baby had to play in the cold weather!!

Charlie preferred playing indoors

On Sunday we travel back to our winter base at SandsBeach resort on Lanzarote, to get fit for Challenge Fuerteventura and Ironman Lanzarote. We cant wait.

soon we will be back to training at SandsBeach Resort!

Charlie loves SandsBeach too !

photo blog: New Year at Sands Beach Resort, Lanzarote

bellabayliss — Tue, 01 Jan 2013 20:25:49 +0000

last run of 2012 with my apprentice, Eimear Mullan

New Year Eve Dinner with the Gang. From the left Brian Ligneel, Bjorn De Decker, Helle Frederiksen and her parter Ben, Eimear, Stephen, Charlie and Kat!

La Hacienda Restaurant deserve a top award for the food they serve. Everyday their food is amazing!

Charlie was first under the table. I wont post what some got up too...

First run of 2013 !

First ride of 2013, ..on the turbos just in case of a drunken driver...

Lanzarote Marathon

bellabayliss — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 11:25:29 +0000

a quick photo before the start!

Yesterday Stephen and I raced the Lanzarote Marathon which started and finished here at Sands Beach Resort. It was easy for us because we only had to walk 200 metres from our apartment to the start line!

The course was really beautiful going along the coast from here in Costa Teguise, along the front at Arrecife past Lanzarote Airport and turning on the Ironman Lanzarote run course in Puerto del Carmen, and back.

re united after our morning run!

It is always special when Stephen and I can both win on the same day,
and yesterday was one of those days!

Charlie enjoyed watching impressive performances at the kids marathon the day before. He is entered into next years race!

Charlie watching and learning about kids racing!

Later in the day Stephen, Kat, Charlie and I had a game of football in the park to loosen our legs,
here we are resting on the slide at half time!

resting at half time in our football match!

Lanzarote 70.3

bellabayliss — Mon, 12 Nov 2012 11:54:21 +0000

9th place at 70.3 Lanzarote is not what I want to write about! And to top it all off Stephen did not have a good race either. So we really have to move on from that result, do some proper training and get faster for the next!

Apart from our under par performances it was a great race! A real test. 25 mile an hour winds on a hilly bike course showed who can ride and who cant!

I want to mention Eimear Mullan who I have been helping through TeamTBB, she started the day with a slower swim but rode strong and ran herself into 6th place prize money, in a competitive field with a fast run. Well done Eimear.

I also want to mention Fay Dellimore from the UK who only likes to race in Lanzarote She races Ironman Lanzarote every year. When she started she was a bigger lady, coming to the finish line in 17 hours, in 2012 she came to the finish line in just over 13 hours. After lots of hard work and miles of swimming biking and running she is a slender little lady who did a brilliant performance of 6 hours for the 70.3 on Saturday! Its looking good for 2013!

ThankYou very much to the amazing support we received during the race.

A day with the Bayliss’s at www.Sandbeach.eu, Lanzarote

bellabayliss — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 13:08:46 +0000

A day with the Bayliss’s is a busy day! It starts at 5.30am for me and finishes at 9pm.
Here are some photos of a day with us!

first a swim. With coach Charlie on deck!

back home to our apartment after my run

please please can I go running with Daddy.

Charlie has caught us dinner! ..actually it is a rubber shark, probably not very nutritious!

there is no where better than Lanzarote to ride your bike.

shallow water running in the lagoon at Sandsbeach resort!

an evening run race at Puerto del Carmen was a great fun way to finish off another busy day with the Bayliss's!