Wednesday 10 April 2013

It is good to be back

  After the swim time trial on Friday I had a rest day before my first triathlon of the season in my home town of Andover. I was really excited for this event and be back to competing in triathlons again. Although I had done the Winchester Duathlon which included transitions there is nothing better than the tatical side of transitions during a triathlon particularly after the swim.

  Before driving to my parents where I was staying the night before the race I went to see the venue for a wedding I am filming in May and saw my Dad in hospital. I mentioned before the pain he has been in recently with his hip and on Thursday he had finally had a hip replacement. Hopefully this will rectify the excruitiating pain he has been in. He was slightly down due to feeling ill and having hardly any sleep since being in hospital. There is also the worry that a procedure may not fix the problem and this may have been playing on his mind. However, he was in good hands (the doctor had said they would give him a sleeping pill that night) and was due home to then be looked after by Mum the following day.

  I arrived at my family home around lunchtime. My four year old niece was there so we made some bracelets together and then went to the park. My sister met us there and then mum and I went on a recce of the bike course. I haven't done that much preparation before a race and I have to say it paid of on race day - good idea mum! It obviously helped that I know the area well but doing this extra preparation was really beneficial. Throughout the drive around the bike route I was pin pointing what mileage I was at, therefore come Sunday I would know where to push it. As well as that I knew where the hills where and whether there were any pot holes to look out for. This made me definitely think of trying to get back down to Devon to try and recce the cycle route for the half-Ironman. After our little road trip I had my compulsory pasta dinner, got my breakfast and clothes ready and went to bed with mum around 10pm.

  After my trusty breakfast of porridge, sugar and banana with a coffee I was on my way to Andover at 6.30am. There were two transition areas during this event, which I haven't come across before. This meant I had to drop my running kit off at a seperate locaion to where I was starting, this was T2 (Transition 2; the change over from cycling to running). I picked my spot and then I headed off to registration, where the location of T1 and the start was. This was at my old gym, Andover Leisure Centre. Unfortunately due to open water temperature regulation stating the lakes are too cold this was a pool based triathlon. The majority of races stay indoor based until June. I am not too keen on these due to having to be split into wave times as opposed to a mass start. This means that during the bike and run I would likely to be with the same 16 people in my wave rather than getting a whole array of competitors. This makes it difficult to assess how I am doing, as although I may look like I'm behind some of the other cyclists our overall time post race could show something completely different. However this is something I am getting used to and I have to say after today I do not mind an indoor triathlon as it is the time splits at the end that matter. However, you cannot beat a 'real' triathlon outside.
  One of the members of Chiltern Tri, Will, was doing their first triahlon with me so I knew I had a friendly face there as well as some friendly competition, especially as we were in the same wave. It was Dan's brothers birthday and they were planning to go paintballing. I told him a week before the event I would rather he went to that than watch me do a race that was just a training event. As well as that it would do me good to do some events alone as I need to get used to not seeing familiar faces very often as it will not happen during an Ironman. As I was registering I did a double take as I saw my brothers best friend, and best man at his wedding, Ben, walk through the doors. I had never realised he competed in triathlons and soon found out we were in the same wave. More competition now. I then managed to be racking up next to a girl who went to the same school as me, this was also her first triathlon. I had been back in my home town for a day and it was like a reunion.

  So, Will, Ben and I were in wave 2 together which started at 8.10am. I had been worrying that I had put my swim time too slow at 8minutes and would be held up as I knew my 400m swim was now nearer 6m30. I couldn't think of anything more frustrating than being held up when you know you can push more. This was exactly what happened. It took 4 lengths and about 10 taps of the mans ankle in front before he stopped to let me pass and it didn't take long until I had overtaken the others and was overtaking him for the second time. I did end up coming 28th overall for my swim which obviously isn't bad but I know it could've been a lot quicker and therefore this affected my overall time.
  I had to navigate some very wet and slippy stairs to get to transition. I had said to myself that I would spend as long as needed in T1 in order to make sure I was comfortable. I have made the mistake in the past where I rush this and end up being uncomfortable during the bike (the worst discipline to feel uncomfortable). I did one triathlon with my cycle jacket undone and flapping all over the place for the 25km. It would've taken me 10seconds to do it up properly but I was too worried about trying to get my transition time down to think of the bigger picture. With that in mind, I was not impressed when I saw my T1 time was 3m06secs. That was far too slow, especially for a sprint distance triathlon. (It didn't help that my cycle jacket had the sleeves inside out - getting them back the right way seemed impossible when I was panting, high on energy and endorphins and in a rush). I left transition (completely comfortable I have to add) at exactly the same time as Will (Ben was still in the pool by this point). Within seconds I had pulled away from Will and was storming after my next victim to try and hound down and play cat and mouse with. It didn't take long. I had my first, the one who I kept overtaking during the swim but had a better T1 than me. I said well done as I passed, he tried to hang on but dropped off when the long slog uphill started again. By that time I looked over and saw a group of people climbing the hill too, one person in particular was someone in a red jacket. I was struggling and expected to be overtaken soon. I had done a really tough spinning session on the Wednesday and it was still burning. I had a small thought that I should've began tapering sooner, but pushed it back as I knew Dan would say he was right. Dan had told me to cut back on my training on the week before the triathlon so I was prepared and had fresh legs but I brushed him off saying that is was a small training race and didn't need to.
  I could see no-one in front of me by this point so worked out that I must be at the front of the wave 2 pack (of which there were only three women including myself). It occured to me that everyone else was struggling too as they weren't gaining on me. I hit the flat and tried to push hard. After turning onto a more secluded road I heard the cogs of a bike behind me. I admitted I may have to let one go past. However, after 20 seconds of him being in front I thought he wasn't going that fast, especially not fast enough for me to warrant letting him overtake me and stay there. I had regained my position soon enough. I then saw a flurry of red when I looked behind to see how I was doing. The guy in the red jacket had gained on me and soon overtook me. I was not happy. I got some energy and confidence from somewhere and bolted downhill past him. I was now the mouse and was the whole way to T2 but he did not catch me again. My bike split was 47m51s for 21km putting me in 66th position.
  Transition 2 went a lot quicker at 1m20s. The 5km run route was two laps around Charlton lakes. It was clear from the look of the men around me I was not going to be a winner here. They were all tall and thin and had that runners look about them. Ben also falls into this category, who was entering transition as I was leaving. I knew I needed to keep it steady to not burn out during the run and potentially affect me more later on. It was however very frustrating to see all my efforts on the bike seem wasted when runners came past me. It was pay back time for them, this was their discipline now.


Still had chance to crack a smile round lap 2
  Ben ran past me when we were nearing the end of lap 1. He shouted that my Mum was trying to get a picture of me. I had no idea she was there! I looked round and I saw her jumping around in the middle of the pitch (that was a nice lift to me which naturally brought a beaming smile to my face). However, I was not happy that Ben had overtaken me and wanted to keep him in my sights. I started running to his beat making sure he didn't get too far away. Mum had come onto the path and started taking pictures of Ben and I, I said to her "I'll have him". Shortly after that Ben peeled off the course to be sick. As I passed him I shouted "Come on, you can't be beaten by your best friends sister!". That must've struck a nerve as he stopped bending over behind the hedge and overtook me halfway round the second lap. Again I kept him in my sights but he was starting to pull away more now. I realised I should've saved that line for later and let him take his time in the hedge! By this point I was just enjoying the event. I had had fun pushing myself on the bike, had a laugh during the run and saw my Mum cheering me on too. I sprinted to the finish in 1hr27 a measly 5 seconds behind Ben! I cursed that swimmer who wouldn't move and my inside out cycle jacket during T1. I vowed to get him next time. I was 75th overall out of 125 competitors and the 8th woman. Will completed his first triathlon in 1h36.

Finishing with a compulsory sprint in 1h27m - good picture mum!

  Overall it was a great event and well organised. Mum said she was proud of me, especially seeing me up there running with all the fit looking men.

The Chiltern Triathlon Club at Andover Triathlon - Will and I post race

  However, I do have to take away one negative that I NEED to improve on and that is my run. I know that the thing I love about triathlon is the tactical element, how no-one can be perfect in every discipline and that everyone has a weakness. What I want to do now is get to the best I can be. My run has to improve. I did not like seeing the people I was hounding down on the bike overtake me on the run. For example, the guy who was in my swim lane holding me up and who was the first I overtook on the bike ended up 59th, 3 minutes quicker than me just because his run was faster. I had a quicker swim and bike than him by over 5 minutes but he made up the time as he was quicker on the run and 1m10s faster on the transitions. This just goes to show what a tactical sport triathlon can be and although I won't be looking into my time splits this severely during an Ironman or a half-Ironman the smaller distances are still exciting. It is good to be back!
 
  With my run woes, good mood, great weather and being finished by 10am I decided I wanted to use more of the day effectively. It was a perfect day to enjoy the Hampshire countryside and just enjoy running and doing sport. It reminded me of a day when Chrissie Wellington would have wrote, "We should never ever lose the joy of wind in our hair, the joy of sports for sports sake".
  I had commented on Facebook I may go on a post race run, whether anyone believed me or not I don't know but I did just that. Mum who knows the mileage of every run route starting from the house told me an 8mile run. I did that and more, adding extra on as I felt good. Shockingly my time splits for every kilometre were getting faster! I had no idea what was going on, maybe it was just sheer enjoyment of sport and fresh air. I never thought I would be the person to go for a run for enjoyments sake but I did enjoy the wind in my hair and the sun in my face. I may not be the fastest runner but I am determined to improve and after today I think I can safely call myself a runner, but most importantly a triathlete.
 

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