A challenging weekend. A big cross country drive through Wales (pretty), camping with kids in the rain (leaky tent), a broken exhaust clamp threatening to dump the back box (noisy), trying to get kids moving (slow), almost no mobile phone signal (middle of nowhere), and a very competitive race (big legs, lots of carbon stuff).
The race itself was probably the only straightforward thing of the weekend. The Shropshire Triathlon is held in Ellesmere, so the swim is in the Mere. A nice, big, somewhat brown, not too cold lake with blue green algae and crocodiles, I was told when I registered. A fast, strong start failed to put me into any space of my own, and hugging a straight line tight to the first line of buoys I was within a group that slowly thinned as distance progressed and others settled into a slower pace. I had a bit of a draft of changing feet, hips and shoulders with a few bashes and splashes and we motored through slower swimmers of the wave that started before us. I had a good line and at the turn to cross the Mere I was in a comfortable rhythm but missing out on a draft in places as the group widened. Draft or direct?
After the second turn back to the shore the swim got a little busier again. Plenty of draft but plenty of slower swimmers too. Tired arms, strong kick, push to shore. Out of the water at about 20:30 by my watch so the swim course was maybe a smidgeon short (but my Garmin says 1.47km so maybe not, maybe I swam really well) but that was a good start considering that I hadn’t been particularly pumped up.
I’d checked out all my transition routes as usual & it was all a bit muddy after the rain so it wasn’t super fast. Clean wetsuit removal (first time this year?), lid, specs, bike and away. No mucking about with shoes bouncing around. I picked up a few places straight away, not bothering to slip my feet into my shoes until I reached the main road. I got stuck behind an old lady in a similarly aged red Fiesta straight away, and was held up until she pulled aside to let us pass. Almost as soon as I got going again and turned away from Ellesmere I got stuck behind another car and a truck pulling a trailer, who were in turn stuck behind some slower cyclists. Gah! I slipped inside one, then had to wait for the other to pull off at a junction before I could get going again. After that I held a pretty solid effort all the way round, picking up lots of places mostly of the wave before mine, and swapping places with a few guys with big legs. I think I only lost one place on the bike that I didn’t get back and that guy was flying. For much of the ride a big bloke and I challenged each other back and forth, and the headwind and crosswind seemed to be having a go at us no matter which direction we turned in. Around the far point of the course a heavy rain shower drenched us, and the speed and wind made the rain sting. A good job I’m used to that. My shoes filled with water in seconds. With the level of effort I was putting out I stayed warmish.
I paced my effort by feel, and used my watch to check time and distance but it was very nice to see a fluorescent yellow 10km to go sign followed by more at 1km intervals. The last section was on a closed road too. Very pro. A small group of a few cyclists caught and passed me in the final quarter of the bike leg but didn’t gain much more before transition.
Into T2 I followed the big guy in and caught a fella with a G on his calf (which would put him in the same age group as me, or so I thought). I passed him just before the dismount and we dumped our bikes and came out of T2 to start the run together. I’d had a GlucoJuice on the bike and was trying a new thing of drinking a second at the start of the run on the way out of transition. I’m interested in seeing if the “carbohydrate in your mouth” effect is helpful here.
Starting the run together I pushed and lost the big guy straight away, sticking with G on the hill. Running hills is good for me; I’m small, light, and my power to weight ratio is good. But after hitting the bike hard with your quads for an hour and then hoping to run hard with your hamstrings, trying to run fast uphill and putting more stress on your quads is tough, tough, tough. Push, push, push.
I lost the G probably after the climb and he started to put a gap out. I focussed on what I was doing, on the skills work I’ve been doing, on driving to that tree, then that thing, then to this bush. It was a hard start but it got better. There was a fair bit of swapping places as I gained on some and others gained on me. The course is almost shaped like an “L” with two out and back sections and the leaders were an impressive distance ahead considering the wave before me only started 30 seconds ahead. There were some committed athletes in there, and I’ve got a lot of work to do!
The run was mostly on narrow lanes with a short muddy section by the Mere. There was a bit of camber and it was always undulating to some degree. The middle part of my run got really tough and I was counting down the km markers and talking myself into it. With a few km to go I could see I was gaining on G and I was feeling good again. Various muscles were trying to fail, hinting at cramp and even more pain but it was all working pretty well. Drive on and I caught G by the final turn with about 2km to go and I drove downhill all the way back to the Mere and the finish. Whoop! There was a fair bit of internal dialogue going on in the run to get the full effort out and I felt that my running was starting to come back to life again.
The finishing shute was great. A good crowd, a nice long corridor lined with British Triathlon banners and a final stagger over the last RFID chip reader. On the run I’d also been tying to talk my legs into getting me in at 2 hours or less but the run was too hilly with my current legs. Next time.
The announcer told us that I was the third placed finisher in my age group, so that’s another bronze medal! Lovely! Looking at the results later there was no G close behind me. I think I had more than two and a half minutes to the next guy in my age group so I don’t know who that mystery G was. Maybe he was an F with some mud in the wrong place. No matter, my effort was well placed. That was a very satisfying result amidst what appeared to be some serious competition.
The stats make some good reading for future training plans. In the swim I was 49th fastest losing 3:00 minutes to the winner (how the hell do they swim that fast?) In the bike I was 22nd fastest losing 2:06 to the winner, and on the run I was 74th fastest losing 4:12 to the winner. Guess what I’ll be doing a lot of this winter? I was 25th overall I think, over 9 minutes down on the overall winner. There were some serious athletes out there but that’s a big deficit. In other news I was only a minute or so down on the silver and gold medals in my age group.
I hit two of my goals cleanly and the third was close. Kim enjoyed it too and we hung around for the prize giving. There’s a great park beside the Mere that kept the kids happy all day. (Without which the day would have been an even bigger battle). I think the first part of the following week will be easy and I’ve got a bit of travelling to do that will keep my training reigned in. I’ll build again at the end of the week and then start working hard towards the end of the season. One more peak (if I can manage it) and I’ll be done!
Links
– Flickr photos
– results (stuweb)
– Garmin data:
