Gower Sprint Triathlon 2013

I raced yesterday morning at Port Eynon in one of the few races I’ve managed to get to the start line of every year of my short triathlon *career* so far. It’s a local race, and even though the start is just down the road it’s always a very early morning even for me, the local. It’s worth getting up in the dark to see the dawn gradually appearing and the deep blue sky’s gradient filter change as you drive over the Gower by the sea. The sun came out from behind the early clouds as I was warming up for the swim and made me briefly reconsider my goggle choice. The sea was warm (by British standards) and the blue sky was out for most of the rest of the day.

Standing on the beach I realised I’d forgotten how many people enter this race. There seem to be more every year. In my mind it’s a small local race, but when the yellow swim hats are on the small beach at high tide looks packed. The swim route appeared short and unusually we were given a running beach start that I wasn’t entirely mentally ready for. The tide was a little lower than previous years, so we were below the stony shingle line and had hard flat sand to run on. For some reason I was given some unusual elbow argy bargy by some particularly keen fella while trying to position myself on the start line. He was very insistent that I be behind him and not beside him.

When the horn blew we had a very hot start, with a full sprint into the sea trying to stay on the heels of the fastest, then glad to dolphin dive as it got deeper (tired legs already?!) and then into a strong, full bore hammered, redlined sprint to get away from slower swimmers and onto the feet of the front group. Breathing through my ears I got into the stroke I’ve been working on, recovered to the end turn buoy, and on the way back felt that the feet I was following were slowing so went around and stroked hard all the way to shore. It was good to actually swim myself for a change rather than just draft and cruise. Swimming has been tough this year. A friend called out that I was 9th out of the water and the data indicates I did have a really good swim. It was short, which was an advantage to me; I don’t think I can hold a decent pace with this stroke for much longer. My time gap to the leaders out of the water is huge, though. I was so focussed on my stroke that I almost forgot to kick my legs hard for the last 100m.

Dodging stones and rocks in the run up the beach I didn’t unzip my suit until late and could probably have left it later. A good T1 and I picked up places in transition and on the way out of Port Eynon. That first hill is great: you’ve just come out of a fast swim, it has a steep start and then it keeps going and going. I spun out though Scurlage (time for a bigger chain ring I think) and kept the effort high all the way round. It was good to get out of the saddle on the short rises to stretch out (very tired legs that Gareth has been trying hard to soften up) and I had to control my pace a little for the first part of Cefn Bryn. Blast over the top, full tuck down the other side, wishing for a bit of tailwind for my disk, and then up and down, up and down. I got stuck behind a bus at the left turn at Llanrhidian. Fully stopped, with a confused bus driver and traffic all around. The marshal did his best and I opted to dive down the inside of the bus. I had been chasing the riders in front hard and my legs wanted to keep pushing.

I was caught shortly after, just before dropping down the dip and rise with all the turns. I know these corners well and was riding without thinking, and forgot the rider in front probably didn’t know them as well. He braked hard, earlier than expected, making me brake hard and pull an endo onto my front wheel. On a TT bike! I haven’t done that before!

I tried to stick to him at a legal gap, but on the turn back to Scurlage I had to brake for a car, extending the gap. “I’m not having much luck this morning”, I thought. I tried to get back to him to see what his run was going to be like, but never really got there. After a pretty clean T2 I chased him along the beach but as the sand got softer and then we disappeared in to the dunes I eventually lost sight of him. Getting stuck behind vehicles made no difference in the end – I wasn’t running fast. Cross country running is not a strength of mine, and I’m horrible in soft sand. I kept trying to raise my effort but struggled with the changing intensities. I ran ok on the tarmac sections but there’s only so much you can do on tired legs. I’m coming to the end of a cracking good training block but I’ve been slow all week after the Pembrokeshire hills the week before.

On the second lap, as most years, it was pretty clear that the race was done. Through the soft sand I was moving no faster than the runners I was lapping. I kept pushing, but finished in 4th. It’s very hard not to be disappointed with 4th because you’re just outside the podium but I hated to spoil a good race and a lovely morning with a poor mood. With my coaching head on later, reviewing the data and my efforts I gave myself a small pat on the back. My bike time was similar to last year, but last year I was fresh and this year I was at my highest training fatigue point of the year so far. The swim was effective, and the run was what it was.

After the race I spent so long chatting with so many people that my bike was the last left in transition by a large margin. The views were beautiful so I went for a warm down jog up to the top of the headland point. Fantastic. It was one of those mornings where you think, “And I live here. Is there really anywhere better in the world?” Wales is an amazing country. I’m desperate to walk the entire Wales Coastal Path; I want to see it all. I wonder if I’ll be able to get any sea cliff climbing in later this year.

A good, really fun race, that felt too short because I enjoyed it so much, on a lovely Gower morning with good company. Well done Scott & Gareth. This race keeps getting better and better. No wonder it attracts such strong athletes!

Links
Photos here: Sporty Snaps
Results here: Tri&Enter 2013 results
P.S. The photo isn’t from the race – it’s an example of getting held up on the Gower!