The 2nd week was a family holiday up in Yorkshire, plenty of time spent with the family help with the mental side, and a little light training got me back into the training regime, though to be honest when running my left hip flexor and back still weren't right and running felt very hard work.
The weekend of the Castle Howard Triathlon was great, we arrived Friday and after a practise swim I felt pretty relaxed. Saturday was spent helping the Castle Triathlon crew out, and a quick recce of part of the bike course, it certainly wasn't an easy bike course but didn't seem too bad. Saturday evening at the campsite was spent having a few beers and BBQ with the Castle Triathlon crew, and I was in a really relaxed mood going to bed on Saturday night.
The beautiful Castle Howard
Sunday came and after a short ride to transition we were greeted by the news that the lake was 24 degrees, and that wetsuits would be optional though it was highly recommended that we didn't use them. Now not being a fantastic swimmer I was in two minds of what to do, the lake had been 22 degrees on Friday evening and hadn't felt overly warm, but I wasn't swimming at race effort. Others were still donning their wetsuits and after a quick chat with Eleanor Haresign, who just said "if it's optional you have to go with wearing it", I decided that there was no point in putting myself at a disadvantage. and it was on with the wetsuit.
Into the lake and whilst waiting for the start it didn't feel that warm, those that had decided not to wear a suit were shivering, I am sure they soon warmed up though. The swim was a 2 lap affair and went great I got onto some toes and settled in, I managed to start passing people and by the far turn there seemed to be a little line of us. I did try and swim past the swimmer in front, but realised that I just wasn't able to pick up the pace enough to get by, so again I settled in behind and hoped that the pace was good. After the first lap I could see I wasn't too far down the order and decided that I would swim to the far turn again following toes and then try and hit the last 500m fairly hard to try and make up a few places. This went well and I exited the water with a sub 32 min swim, now it was a fairly long run uphill into T1 where the swim time was recorded.
After a pretty quick transition it was out on the bike and feeling pretty good. After a few km's though I could feel my left hip flexor aching, this wasn't a good sign to be honest, but I hoped it would just settle down once I got into the swing of things. I soon started passing the faster swimmers and power seemed OK, just it felt hardish work for the power. After about 10km the flying Matt Bottrill passed me, I was hoping I might hold out for longer LOL. Unfortunately Matt punctured shortly after and I repassed him before the 14km mark, I wouldn't see him again until another 20km later. It wasn't long before I felt it a bit of a struggle to put out normal 70.3 power, and some of the guys I had passed early on were started to gain back time on me. Now normally I would have felt a strong urge just to have a talk with myself and knuckle down, but the various aches were starting to wear me down. The end of the 1st lap ended up being a bit of slog and the seemingly innocuous rollers were certainly challenging to say the least. Power was getting more difficult to maintain and as we were now encountering the standard distance racers I was more mindful than ever to keep the legal draft distance.
One of the Gauntlet competitors that I passed earlier in the race repassed me, now this was a bit of a new experience but I was struggling to ride at the effort I should be able to. I just decided to take a break and get more food and drink inside me. After another short hill one of the standard distance guys came passed, we rode together until the standard distance racer slowly pulled away. I was feeling a bit better by this stage and as I watched the average speed drop I decided to try and make up some lost ground. I eventually got back to the standard distance guy but again the effort needed to go past just wasn't really there. Now I had a decision to make, did I just follow the legal distance back and save my legs for the run ( and yes you still get a hell of a draft being >12m back) or end up playing cat and mouse with the other guy. I didn't really think that was fair for either of our races so I just held back and decided to try and save my legs for the run.
I came in off the bike in around the time I expected, I had told Heather between 2:35 and 2:40, 2:37 seemed pretty decent enough. Out onto the run and my legs didn't feel too bad, though not surprising really giving the lower power ride. The 1st 3km went OK with it being relatively flat and steady under foot. There was a steep hill just before the 3km mark which I walked, my back was still achy from the bike and I didn't want to make it worse this early into the run. After a much needed fuel and toilet stop the harder part of the run course started, and it was tough with niggling hip flexor and achy back. With the rough edge of an uphill field to negotiate I started to struggle even more and the uneven ground really caused me a few issues. Once over this I ran a bit better but the aches and pains were starting to get a bit more than niggling. I did contemplate ending the run after 1 lap, but then thoughts of the Bastion began to haunt me, I would do 2 laps even if it meant a slower pace. The end of the lap meant a stiff climb to a water tower over looking Castle Howard followed by a steep downhill. The cheers from the crowds drove me onto a 2nd lap and again the first 3km of it went pretty well and the pace was decent enough. As I started counting down the kms I actually felt I could run more and although the pace was slower I actually ran more. As soon as I got into the gardens of the castle I tried to run as strong as possible and actually sprinted across the line as there was someone just behind me.
The run was tough and although a 1:45 isn't fast by any stretch, it was great to get across the line without suffering the pain I did at the Bastion. I am certainly not fixed yet, but at least things appear to be going in the right direction. Not my best of races, but a pretty decent one and one that filled me with happiness. To be honest I never expected to be on fire for this race, I guess if I had completed the Bastion it might have been even worse LOL.
My thoughts on Castle Howard, it is a simply stunning race location. I found the lake nice to swim in apart from one or two weeds right on the edge of the course. The bike course is deceptively hard, especially the "rollers" on the estate roads, but it is a lovely course as the roads in the main are in great condition and the traffic was minimal to what I am used to. The run course is tough but a nice mixture of hard and easy bits. A massive thanks to the Castle Triathlon crew for putting on another great weekend of fun and enjoyment, their races are some of the very best out there and I highly recommend any of the races.
Swim : 34:29
Bike : 2:37:04
Run : 1:44:45
Total : 4:58:43
17th Overall and 5th V40
As usual big thanks to those that help me
Darren Jenkins - www.nevagivin.com/Darren_Jenkins.html
Secret Training - www.secret-training.com/
Go Resourcing - www.go-rg.com/
Hart & Co Resourcing - www.h-cr.co.uk/
Sundried - www.sundried.com
Castle Triathlon Series - www.castletriathlonseries.co.uk/
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