Aims:
- Have a better swim – the swim in my last tri was a little rough, never really got into it
- Semi-flying mount and moving dismount on the bike
- Finish under 1:10.
Got there early, but still felt like I was rushing, time flew. Got registered, set my bike and transition area up. Went back in for a final loo stop and to get my tri-suit on (which went on successfully ;P). While I was on the toilet, I heard my name and number being shouted, popped my head out and turns out my bike was in the wrong area. I had just set it up where I wanted it, turns out there were allotted spaces. Would have been handy to be told that at registration! The marshall talking to me while setting it didn’t even mention it, just talked about how w e had the same bike shoes instead, lol. Finish on the toilet, tri suit on, run round to move my bike, set my area up again, double check etc. and back in to queue for the swim.
Swim
Queuing up for the swim, turned around and saw Mark holding his goggles, realised I didn’t have mine (put them in my bag while I was setting my bike up again), sprint back to the car to grab them from my bag, sprint back – I considered that my warm up.
A minute or two to spare, in the pool, ready to go. Was told to go just as the person in front was pushing off the wall, so had to wait to push off, and then just powered past her straight away, no messing about. Then I had the lane to myself until my last 100m, which was nice. Relaxed, got into a nice rhythm, felt good. Was joined by 2 others towards the end, they overtook me, but no problems. Bopped on the head, assumed that meant 2 laps left, and I was out. Tried running through the leisure centre instead of out the door (I think I was a bit dizzy from the swim). Quite a long run round to transition, did it barefoot, caught my breath back.
Bike
Transition went smoothly. Squeezed a gel in, socks, shoes, race belt and helmet on and off. Managed a jump onto the bike whilst running fairly successfully. Pedals were in the wrong place, forgot to put them back after moving my bike, but clipped in and off I went. I had done the course a couple of times, so knew what to expect, uphill and some grinding for the first half then fast and downhill for the last. Pretty uneventful bike ride. I was overtaken by 2, and I overtook a couple of others, so I was pretty happy. Course was well signposted and marshalled. Great little boost to see some Redcar folk marshalling around the course and getting a cheer.
Over the last hill and under the bridge, bent down and undid the velcro on my shoes, put my left foot on top of the shoe, pedalled the last bit, and then leg over and jumped off running before the dismount line. I was quite pleased with that. Bike done.
Run
Bike racked, helmet off, running shoes on and done. Found having my bike shoes already off and left on the bike much quicker for transition. I noticed Mark coming in from the bike just behind me, so I knew he’d have me in his sights on the run.
Felt really strong coming out of transition, then felt like my legs had a little wobble after about 20 foot, but then carried on. Hills kicked in, looked down to see my pace was averaging 4:20. Bit too quick, I wanted to do just under 5 minute Km/s on the way out, so I could really push on the way back. Felt like a long 2.5kms on the way out, especially when Mark came whizzing by. Tried to keep up, failed, and settled back into my own pace. I Saw a lot of RTC guys coming down the hill which was great, but I was definitely jealous that you were on the downhill.
Turned back around, and knew I could pick up the pace now, passed quite a few runners on the way back down the hill which felt nice. Before I knew it, I was coming up to the school, heard cheering, picked up the pace again, round the corner, and over the line. Another event ticked off and another event thoroughly enjoyed.
Great race, enjoyed the course, and definitely another one on next year’s list.
Results
Swim: 7:54 (Actual swim time was about 7:40, didn’t press stop until I was down the path)
T1: 2:26
Bike: 35:45
T2: 0:20 (Bit longer, didn’t press until bike was racked)
Run: 24:05 – PB!
Overall: 1:10:30
7th in Age Group
30th Overall
30 seconds over my target, but still happy with my result. I managed a 5km PB as well, so I’ll take that.
