Late race report...

One last tri - 3rd October 2010

Preparation for this race wasn't the best it could have been to be honest... I have had a lot of issues, like ongoing stomach problems (blood tests needed, medication etc), a slightly tweaked calf and not a whole huge amount of training was done to be honest!! One thing I was looking forward to was the run :o) My run training had been coming along quite well and had been doing some good interval sessions (yasso's - these are a predictor in what you can run a marathon in and say, if you think you can run a 3hr marathon, you have to do 800m in 3 minutes and then have a recovery of the same time.). So I chose the 3 minutes as bit of a laugh as I though how hard would it be... VERY, was the answer!! I started off doing 4 reps and then planned to work upto 10 and start again but with cutting the rest down. Over the weeks that I was doing these, I averaging around 2.57's for the 800's so I was pretty chuffed to say the least - now only if I could do a 2.57 marathon ;o)

Race week:
Picked up a cold, the race distance was cut in half, was in two minds whether to do it!!!

Made the decision on the Friday that I would give it a go and just tough it out - it was only a cold...

Racked up and registered on the Saturday and this took a bit longer than expected (got bit of an earful from someone for that!!) but had a good chat with the brothers Bairstow (friends and also guys I am coaching at the moment). The forecast for race day was not good so Chris kindly got a huge cover for our bikes (well, I think it was so big it would have covered the whole of transition!!) and this was a godsend, as nearly as soon as we were finishing it off, it started to rain :o(

Race day:
Got up at around 3.45am OMG!!! Had 2 x croissants with honey and a cup of coffee and then waited for Mr T (No, not BA Baracus but this was the Bionik Man from Tri talk) as he was supporting us down there - he was a real help on the day :o)

As we set off, there was no rain and no wind - what do these weathermen know!! Quite a lot actually... As we drove 5 minutes down the road, the heavens opened and the wind started to gust :o(

Got down to Sandy Balls and checked the run bag was OK and kept with the racing flats even though Richard (the race director) had advised us not too due to the conditions. Got onto the coach in good spirits - I think it was the madness setting in, as the conditions were now awful...Thank god Chris was there with a spare set of goggles as I had stupidly left them in my car!!!

Got to T1 with a bit of time to spare and just managed to get everything set up (drinks, extra clothes, hair dryer) before the generator that powered the lights failed!! Thats how miserable it was down there :o(

Headed off to the swim start and the atmosphere was surprisingly good - the aforementioned madness had started to spread ;o) We were nearly all huddled under the canopy of a little hut trying to stay dry, uh, we were all about to go for a swim....

SWIM: We were called into the water and it was surprisingly warm(ish) - well, warmer than the outside temperature! Thought I'd start far left and go pretty hard for the first 100m's or so. Off we went and got going pretty quickly but then I started to hit some weeds, I mean ones that you put your arm into and it almost gets stuck!!! Then tried to head towards the centre and got into a bit of biff - there was only around of 100 of us and for fook sake, I still manage to swim into people!! I was trying to find some feet to swim off but I only managed it with about 200m to go - my sighting was that bad!!! I really need to work on this as I have the short distance speed and my predicted times are a lot quicker than this but once I get in OW, I just cannot put it into practice!!!
Got out in about 30th odd place and saw a time of 20.xx - I was actually really pleased with this at the time as I thought that this time for 1300m was good - worked out that the swim was a tad short :o(

T1 - Spent a little while trying to put a jacket on and also trying to find get my race belt on as this had blown off my bike due to the wind... Total time for this and swim was 22.45.
Bike: Got onto the bike and set off pretty quick overtaking three riders within the first few hundred metres :o) Negotiated the nasty wet cattle grid near the start and was off...
The bike is my strongest discipline so I had hoped to give Bluey a good first showing. One major mistake I made was wheel choice! Opted for a disc cover rear and a tri spoke front as the conditions on the Saturday were pretty good but did I listen to the weatherman, did I eck!!! The rear was fine but it was the tri spoke, it was a twitchy as a twitchy thing in those strongs winds!! I had to on several occasions, sit up a grab the handlebars - the aerobars were not a safe place to be... This (along with my new SRAM gears seizing uparound half way) cost me a bit of time, however, I did still manage the fastest bike split of the day - well done Bluey :o)

T2: Pretty quick but had to take jacket et al off so was quite time consuming...

Bike time and T2 (I think?) was 1:14:10.

Run: Got my racing flats on (oops, bad decision...) and shot out of T2. At this time I was in fifth place :o) The run course was a basteward to say the least, up then down, round and up a bit more, you get the jist... Managed to catch up to 4th after about a mile and a half and was running too fast as I was getting excited as I had never been this high up in a race before!! Not long later caught the third runner (found out later that one of the other runners ahead of me had dropped out) who in fact was second... It was just past this stage that I felt my right calf (remember the twinge I mentioned...) starting to hurt and not just that, my left hamstring was also - in fact, both legs were in loads of pain!!!
I spotted the leader about 150m up the road at one point and I thought I might get him however, it was at this same point I looked back and spotted two runners that I hadn't passed behind me - damn!! Well, they quickly overtook me and the young girl (eventual winner) flew past me and I tried to stay with her but by 200m at her pace I let her go and then to compound it, another guy went past but this time I stayed on his feet for a while longer but once again I had to let him go as I was pushing much too hard and if I wanted to finish, I had to back off!!! So, I was back down to fourth, a little disappointed but happy that I was in the top five. With about 1 to 2 miles to go I was passed again (chicked for a 2nd time...) but I kind of expected it as my calf was really bad by now and I was just hoping that I could get to the finish at all!!!The course did not lend itself to racing flats at all and at points on the run, I was over ankle deep in mud and it was this, along with all the ups and downs, jumping over tree roots etc that led to my now pulled calf!!!
Ended up with a 1:14:32 run which was 6th fastest of the day - just wish I could have been able to show my true potential on the course but it was never to be...

However, things weren't all bad ;o) Got fifth overall, 3rd male and a I won the 35-39 age group and got a £50 Primera voucher (already spent!!) and a nice little trophy :o)

A big thanks to Richard & Jo & Paul at RNF for the great organisation and also the free food at the end, that was great...

Oh, forgot to tell you Mick (if you are reading this?). We were talking to a couple of TTers (ManVsTarmac and MarkD) and they actually thought you were a girl with a name like 'Tweenster'... I had to chuckle ;o)

Now onto the Gosport Half Marathon in November - if I can shake this calf pull off...