This race was a big one, not only was it my first standard distance triathlon but the National Championships and a World and European Age Group Championship qualifier. Having the world AG championship this year in London there is a massive interest to qualify and my age group is not the easiest with 132 athletes hoping to do just that. With only 25 places available over 3 events the pressure is truly on.
The buildup to this race was not an ideal one as I flew back from LA Thursday evening and had not rode my bike for 2 weeks. I was able to keep on top of my swim fitness by finding local swimming pools, but my attempt to do a track session at the local high school was rudely interrupted by the cops after an 800m warm up. Apparently a locked gate means no entry even if you are a foreigner. The other down side to this was the opportunity to stuff myself stupid with all the crap food I enjoy eating, which meant I came back a few kgs heavier than I went out. Friday was a case of getting the kit together and trying to rest up enough to have a good crack at the race the following day.
Race day and surprise, surprise, the weather was crap, wet and windy. Due to the wind the swim was reduced to 1400m so we didn’t have to go too far out into the lake. Any tiredness I felt was soon eliminated by the happy juice of HIGH5 extreme caffeine drink I took just before the start. After the very unpleasant beach start which was like running over lego, we were off. Straight away I got into a good rhythm and was making good head way. At the first turn my sense of direction was questionable as I was heading through the middle on the pack. Survived that just and plodded on looking for someone to swim with, but I seemed I had my own route in mind and swam the whole thing on my own. Overall a comfortable swim and really enjoyed it but probably clocked up more distance than I needed and would have benefited from a bit of sighting. Open water training starting this week with GreenlightPT so should get that sorted soon enough.
Out on the bike and it was horrible from start to finish. Hit the first hill and legs drowned in lactate and took a while to clear. I was able to pick up a bit of momentum, but it was short lived as I was seriously blowing at each hill. Nobody passed me but I knew I hadn’t done enough as at I never felt like I was cruising. The wind played a factor on pace for sure and I probably lost a bit of conditioning in my bike legs which made it feel tougher than it was, but in reality I just didn’t have a good ride. Picture says it all!
Dropped off the bike and out onto the run. As I passed transition I see Nick Bundle (Grendon Winner and in my age group) coming in on his bike which confirmed I hadn’t done enough and it was now a case of trying to run as fast as I could to hold him off. However my legs had different ideas and refused to run any faster than 6:00 mile pace and not a second faster. Every time I tried they screamed back at me to go back to 6’s and I was not in a position to argue. Got to the 5k turn around point and a few meters past it, Nick and I made eye contact knowing it was only a matter of time that he would pass me as he is a much better runner, which he did with 2k to go. I tried to go with him but my body was having none of it and I rolled in with a 37:03 10k.
The swim was the best part of the day, although the time was not great. My lack of experience of open water swimming is really showing and is something I must work on. Jet lag probably played a slight factor but overall considering the strong field, 47th overall and 11th in AG during my first outing in a Standard distance event, I’m pretty happy with that!
Didn’t qualify on this occasion but will have another go next Saturday, 4 hours away at Llandudno Sprint Triathlon. Don’t really want to do sprint distance but it’s another qualifing opportunity and a sea swim experience.
Failing qualification there I will have one last opportunity at Liverpool in July which is the English Championships and standard distance event. In the meantime I'm back to the US for 12 days after Llandudno so hopefully I can get something done leading up to Liverpool or its going to be a struggle.
No comments:
Post a Comment