Another middle distance triathlon (1.2 mile Swim, 56 mile bike and 13.1 mile run) and the race I was looking forward to. Armed with my new kit check list and swim preparation tips from Adam at GreenlightPT (Who also was racing) I had no excuses. The 6:30am start meant I was up at 3am to travel to Nottingham. I had everything, I checked more than 10 times as I didn't fancy considering phoning home again for help. I had already registered the day before which was a bit unexpected. Last minute read of the race instructions informs me of no registration on the day, which obviously was the plan. Only positive about this was I was able to finally hear a full race briefing!
Met Daz (Check out Darren's race report) at 5am and made our way to transition. Sorted all my stuff out and hovered about ready to pounce on anyone that considered putting stuff within touching distance on mine, I was seriously in the zone. 6am and believe or not, I was getting into my wetsuit. Managed to put my finger through the leg again which was annoying, put it was on and I was ready.
In the water I found a safe place to stay away from the 200+ other swimmers in my wave and suddenly we were off. Everyone went out flying ahead but I stuck to the plan and went off steady. After the first 500m I was starting to overtake people, I couldn't believe it and I actually started to enjoy it. The swim was clocked at 33:04 which was 5mins faster than 2 weeks ago, goes to show good prep work and a bit of advice (Thanks again Adam! ) can go a long way!
Transition went like clockwork and I was out on the bike. The plan was to get to the front as quickly as possible and then access the energy levels after. As I hit 30 miles I passed the race leader and I kept the effort going but in the last few miles I started to lose time. The wind was taking back whatever it gave and as we turned off the main road back to transition, where we hit a road surface that in normal situations I would be carrying my bike over, it was shocking.
Transition was good again and I was out on the run. Lucky to have bike escort clearing the way of ducks, swans and sunday walkers. I ran the first mile hard then started to ease back to target pace over the next 4 miles. By then I had gained a good gap so I knew I just needed to keep the pace constant which I did. With 1k to go, stomach cramp got the best of me and I was happy to see the finish. I knew nobody had passed me, first across the line so surely I had won?! (Actual finish time was 4:24:10)
A couple of minutes later everyone else started crossing the line and suddenly I hear the announcer say 'here is the winner of Outlaw Half 2013, Richard Wilder with a time of 4:22:24, What?? Really? It was only then I was reminded of the other waves! Bollocks! Richard's time was over 2mins faster than mine so I thought that was it, I haven't done enough, time to go home!
When I finally got the results I found out I actually finished 2nd and also had the fastest bike split of the day (2:21:18), just! The winner, Richard, was only 18 seconds behind me on the bike and 1 min on the run. The 2min gap came from the swim so he was always going to be difficult to beat. This fact has me more determined than ever to nail this swimming lark!
When I finally got the results I found out I actually finished 2nd and also had the fastest bike split of the day (2:21:18), just! The winner, Richard, was only 18 seconds behind me on the bike and 1 min on the run. The 2min gap came from the swim so he was always going to be difficult to beat. This fact has me more determined than ever to nail this swimming lark!
2nd overall, 1st in age group. Considering it was never my intention to do middle distance triathlons, the experience turned out quite well. Next year I may focus on Middle distance only and see where it takes me!
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