Surprising Myself

Not sure how to start this blog, but suffice to say the Gauntlet at Cholmondeley Castle exceeded expectations.

As I said in my previous blog, this was a race I was going into with some fatigue and to be honest I was expecting a pretty slow painful day. The weekend started off really chilled and although feeling generally tired I felt OK and was looking forward to the race. Darren had told me to swim hard/bike hard and just take the run as it comes so in one way there wasn't really any pressure on my performance. Given that however, I still am a competitive animal and wanted to do the best I could.

I did a quick recce of the bike course on Saturday, legs felt rubbish and I just hoped that was because of the drive up to Cheshire rather than fatigue. It certainly was going to be an interesting race.

Woke on Sunday to a very pleasant morning and being right on the site it meant a very relaxed start to the day and unlike a few weeks back in Lough Cutra the lake was clear of any fog, it meant at least we were going to get a swim this week. The wind that had blown quite strongly over night had really eased as well it looked fair for quite a day.

I felt nice and chilled as I made my way to the lake and listened to the pre race briefing, again I think the lack of expectation really calmed my nerves. Briefing over and into the water, it was lovely and warm and I lined up with as straight a line up the lake as I could and just waited for the hooter.

Once off there was surprisingly a bit of biff for the first 50m or so, but after that it was pretty much clean sailing. The sighting of the buoys was easy and I just tried to follow the toes of faster swimmers. As this was going to be a 2 lap affair with an Australian exit I just tried to keep as near the front as possible. I had noticed that I seemed to be nearer the front of the pack that what I was used to and just tried to keep a nice smooth stroke going. It wasn't long before the end of the 1st lap, and after a twisty run back to the start pontoon I heard Brian Adcock shout 15th place to the guy in front of me and 2nd lady to the girl behind. Surely I can't be this high up I thought. Anyhow onto the 2nd lap and still following feet and still feeling really good. The lead swimmers had now got a gap however and I couldn't really gauge how I was doing. I decided to try and push up the effort for the final 300m to the swim exit and managed to get passed a couple of other swimmers. Out the water and run up a small hill to T1, noticed sub 34 mins on the watch and given the Aussie exit I was too displeased with that.

After a bit of a struggle getting the wetsuit off (1st race of the season with the wetsuit) I was off out onto the bike course. I didn't know what position I was in, but guessed top 15. As soon as I started pedaling however my legs just felt shot to pieces, this wasn't the plan. Darren had said go hard on the bike, yet I was struggling to produce normal power for a half ironman, this was going to be a real long day. After I felt I struggled with fueling at Lough Cutra I had decided to make sure I had plenty of sugary things on the bike, nothing like a big bag of Haribo to keep you going. For the first 20km of the bike I just tried to get as much Secret Training Energy drink down me and a fair few Haribo. I will admit though the speed still seemed there and I was passing a few of the faster swimmers. I got to the end of the first lap and to the cheers of the crowd in the castle grounds I saw that I had done around a 51 min lap. A quick calculation later realised that if I could maintain that it would still be a 2:30-2:40 bike time, which on this course isn't too shabby. My legs were feeling better now and although I still struggled to bike really hard at least I could maintain normal power better. 2nd lap done in 52 mins and I was feeling a bit more confident now. I eventually caught Neil Tandy and after a bit of cat and mouse up the hills I managed to get in front a few km's from the end of the bike. A decent bike of 2:37 in the end, considering how bad I felt at the start I'll take that.

Now it was the run, the bit I hadn't really been looking forward to, a quick change in T2 and nearly off out on the run with helmet (chopper). My legs actually felt OK, the normal 1st km wobblies but the pace was good. First km done in 4:30 which is what I have done for a standalone HM, the question now was how long can I keep this up for, Neil came back passed me around 2kms in and I did try and up my pace to stay with him but he slowly crept away. I just kept running at a pace I thought was sustainable, I just didn't know how long it would sustainable for. Towards the end of each lap there is a steep incline through the woods and even at the pace I was running it didn't feel too bad. The first lap done in sub 30 mins and I was feeling happy and my legs still felt fine. With more athletes from all distances on the course it was difficult to really tell if runners passing me were starting their first laps or had caught me. No point worrying I thought you can only go as fast as your legs will take you. I was expecting a bit of an implosion at some point but I still felt happy with the pace and even the 2nd time up the steep hill didn't worry me too much.

The 2nd lap was only 30 secs slower than the first, and now I felt confident that I could finish without too much of a problem, though I still expected to blow at some point. As I started the 3rd lap I could see I had caught Neil a bit, I decided to try and catch him and if it went wrong then at least I tried. I was closing in every so slightly with each km, but I think he had just enough in reserve to keep me at bay. Going up the hill for the 3rd time and the effort for the last few kms really told and my calf and hip flexors just started to cramp when pushing hard up the hill, I had to resort to a short walk, the race to beat Neil was over. Once at the top of the hill I managed to put in a good effort to the finish and happy to have run the last last only 12 secs slower than the 2nd lap. Neil finished 40 secs in front so well done to him on a great race.

Swim - around 34 mins, official timing got a bit messed up I think
Bike - 2:36:57
Run - 1:29:55

Total 4:43:17

5th Overall, 1st V40

This really was a performance that surprised me, I was a bit gobsmacked when told I had finished 5th overall, and even more so with how I ran. I have only done 3 proper half ironman events and this was by far the best performance I have put in at this distance. It really does show me how much Darren has done to turn me into a more complete triathlete.

Things to take away

1: Don't panic if the legs feel rubbish, just eat food instead
2: Don't try and do a HIM on energy drink alone
3: Never under estimate what you are capable of
4: Above all, trust in the training

Onwards to the Bastion in less than 2 weeks :-O, lets hope recovery goes well.

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/