Now if you have read previous posts, the early season had been built around trying to win the CTT TT Series, this meant that running prep hadn't been that focussed and as such was a bit of an unknown when it came to running a half marathon after a strong 56 mile bike leg. Still this ideally was more about a learning experience in the build up to doing a full iron distance, so whatever the outcome I would still take away a huge amount of knowledge.
We all arrived on Saturday afternoon and camped by the water's edge, it was a lovely setting watching the sun go down over Grafham Water whilst getting the bike all sorted out for the following day. It did help settle the nerves I had thinking about the race on Sunday, in all my TT races I have never felt like this.
A pretty good night's sleep was had and I awoke before my alarm went off at 5am to the sounds of birds singing away on a lovely summers morning. The water was dead still and with hardly any clouds in the sky it looked like it was going to be a hot day. I sorted myself out with breakfast and getting everything ready for the bike and got everything into transition. I then got myself sorted out and ready for the briefing. My nerves hadn't got any better and it was a great pleasure to see both Ali and Liz from the Tri Spirit Team at the briefing, they helped settle my nerves and told me not to worry about the swim. The swim did worry me a little, as I know if I go too hard from the off I really suffer with breathing technique and end up floundering, and being my first mass start swim filled me with a little dread.
With 3 waves at least there wasn't going to be as big a bun fight, so after the 1st wave it was into the water for a quick warm up. About 8 mins after the first wave, the hooter went and off we went. There was a few bits of biffing going on, but too my surprise I didn't seem to be fairing that bad, and I settled into a nice rhythm. Sighting wasn't too bad and with following a few feet it wasn't long before we got to the first turning buoy. I made a slight error here by not turning quite tight enough and I ended up swimming on my own to the side of the main pack, I was happy here though and just aimed to bisect the main pack at the next buoy. The final leg to the shore went well now I was back on some feet, and then it was out of the water around a turn and back into the water for a 2nd lap. This didn't upset my rhythm though and I was soon back into the swimming. The second lap went well and I was passing some slower swimmers now, the course I took was much better and I arrived back at the exit in good shape and not feeling bad at all.
As I ran to T1, I noticed I had taken about 35 mins for the swim, I was hoping for a little quicker, but still no point in worrying about it. I got the wetsuit off quite quickly and into my cycling shoes without too much bother and then I was on the bike. I had ridden some of the course the previous evening, I knew it was going to be quite quick. I settled down pretty quickly and tried to get some food inside me, though as per normal for me, at high tempo I struggle to actually eat anything. I decided to stick to drink and gels for the remainder of the race. The bike went really well, and with being in the 2nd wave and not being the best swimmer it ended up with me overtaking riders for the whole 56 miles. What surprised me though was the sheer amount of blatant drafting going on, there was riders doing 2 or 3 ups and even a pack of 6-8 riders riding in a peleton at one point, so much for a non drafting event. Despite riding at a fast pace, I was keeping well within the power limits I had set myself, and although I had hoped for a 26mph average, I was still able to get my average just over 25mph. I started the bike leg in 161st place and ended it in 11th place with the fastest bike split. I actually felt quite fresh after the bike, power ended up being lower than targeted, I think self preservation helped on that score.
Coming into T2
T2 went well and off out onto the run my legs felt good, though my stomach wasn't feeling that great with all the energy drink and gels (next time make sure I have water as well, I should know this by now d'oh). It wasn't long before other athletes started running past me, I didn't worry too much as I was running at a good pace and I knew if I tried to up my pace I would suffer. The first few km's went well, though in hindsight I think 4:30min/km was probably a tad too fast, and although this did drift out slightly I started feeling the run after about 8km with some pain in my quads. I told myself that once I got to 10.5km I could ease off a touch, though the quad pain was only getting worse. Through past the finish after the first lap, things were feeling very tough with the leg pain and the heat, I was able to keep up the effort for a few more km's then it started dropping as fatigue took hold. I kept telling myself just put one foot in front of the other and this did work up until the 17km mark where I had to walk as the pain was so intense. It was now a case of just trying to run as much as I could with short periods of walking. It wasn't only me that was suffering, more seasoned triathletes were reduced to walking at points, and the last few km's were a real tough challenge.
I was able to pick up the effort and ignore the pain for final km however and managed to end my suffering with a steady jog over the line, probably made to look even slower by someone sprinting past me in the finishing chute.
Suffering about to end
I had set myself a target of a sub 4:30, I did miss this by about 4 mins with a 4:33:49 but I was happy with how things had gone in my first attempt at the distance. I finished 37th OA and 5th in my AG in what was a pretty stacked field, so really happy with that.
Swim 00:35:28
T1 00:01:37
Bike 02:12:45
T2 00:01:01
Run 01:42:55
Could I have done things better, well I know I should be able to swim faster than I did based on my open water training, I think I played it a bit too conservatively here. I know I could have gone faster on the bike, I was there or thereabouts, but I could have perhaps gone a little harder without any determent to the run. The run was the weak point however, I went off too hard in all honesty, but I was comfortable, little did I know how much it would bite towards the end. Lack of a decent amount of run training hasn't helped here either. I suffered a bit in the heat and wished I had had a bottle with some water in rather than rely on the water stations, I think considering the heat they were perhaps a little too far spaced out between transition and the far end of the course. I wouldn't have been able to find the 8 mins plus I would have needed to get a medal in my AG, so nothing was lost in that respect, and as I say I gained a huge amount of knowledge that I can take into my next event. Thanks go out to Nice Tri Events for a great event, well run and thoroughly enjoyable.
So my next event, this is another step up again, on the 13th July I take part in the Hever Castle Bastion which is a full iron distance triathlon, based on this last weekend I expect it to be much of the same and then a lot more pain added on. It is the run that scares me the most I suppose, 5 weeks to go and I know I am unlikely to get much more conditioning run wise, especially if you take 2 weeks out of that to taper down, it could be a very long marathon I think.
Big thanks again to Zipp Wheels, Quarq, Powerbar, Tacx, Blue Seventy, and SRAM for all your help.
