Harrogate Sprint Triathlon
Swim – 8:25
T1 – 1:33
Bike – 48:17
T2 – 0:29
Run – 21:36
Total Time – 1:21:19
21/134 – Overall
5/24 – Age Group
2022: 1:31:09
This event was my first ever triathlon last year, so I thought it would be good to do it again to get back into the season, and to compare my fitness level. The vast majority of my training since November has been long and slow, while training for a couple of ultramarathons. So I wasn’t sure what my speed would be like, having only done a few speed related sessions since. My main aim was to beat last year’s time, as I think my fitness has come a long way since then, so it would be quite disappointing if I didn’t.
I decided to stay in Harrogate for the weekend and double it as a bit of a family trip, so got down there on Saturday afternoon and spent a couple of hours running after a 3 year old and going down slides then met up with a fellow club member to do a light recce of the bike route. I was nice and relaxed going into the event, it feels quite natural now, which is reassuring. I wasn’t starting until around 10:50, so I registered and set my bike etc. up in transition around 9am, then headed back to where we were staying for some breakfast, before heading back over with the support crew at about 10:15.
Swim
I am not really a fan of how they do the swim at this event. They have 4 in each lane, and set you off with 5 seconds between each swimmer. I was first to head out both last year and this year, and I just feel that there is such a small time gap between each swimmer, that if you are leading out, it is easy to get caught quite quickly with the other drafting behind. Also, it is a 30m pool, which makes a surprising difference until you get used to it.
Off we go, same old story with my swimming though, I feel like I started off really well, good speed, technique, even gained some distance between myself and the guy behind, but after 100m, I just fell apart. My goggles were leaking and slipping down every time I kicked off the wall, and I swam into the side wall at one point, as I couldn’t see much. The guy tagged my foot after about 4 lengths, so stopped and let him go out. I was drafting behind him quite well at first, but goggles kept bothering me. I had to stop at the shallow end to take them off and try and sort them, but as soon as I pushed, they slipped down again. I was so bothered about them, my swimming went to shit. About 3 lengths to go, the next guy caught me and tapped my feet just after pushing off, and continued to tap my feet the whole length, which was quite annoying, once was enough pal, give it a rest. Float went in to tell me 2 lengths left, thank fuck for that. Out of the pool, got shouted at for not walking, and headed out to my bike. Also forgot to press the lap button on my watch, so I think the time was about 8:00. Think I put down 7:45 for my 400m time, and it was a 420m swim, so not far off, but just felt awful.
Bike:
T1 went ok, helmet on, race belt on, socks and shoes, and away I went, probably could have been faster, something I haven’t done for a while, so I should probably practice this a bit.
Set off on the bike, with the recce from last night still fresh in my head, I knew what was coming. Now typically on the bike leg, pretty much everyone who started at the same or similar time to me would now overtake me. I didn’t spend much time on the bike last year, and it really showed. I have made much more of an effort recently, and it paid off. I think I only got overtaken by 2 people, which I was really pleased with, possibly the only event where I overtook more people.
Uphill sections are long and gradual, and the downhill sections are very fast and steep (I think my max speed hit 70km/h at one point).
I had a couple of incidents where I had to do an emergency stop thanks to caravans. One decided he would just randomly stop on a country lane, without warning or indicating, and on a downhill section too, so lost a lot of momentum, and another one completely cut a corner off coming towards me, so had to stop again so I didn’t decorate the side of his caravan.
Other than that, I was quite pleased with my bike time, about 7 minutes quicker than last year. I still have work to do on the bike, but I’m definitely seeing progress lately.
Run:
T2 went smooth, flying dismount (think I was about an inch away from getting a penalty as I left it very fine to jump off). Helmet off, shoe change, belt spun round and off I went. I knew it was a bit of a tough run, a bit of flat, then a long gradual downhill, and a sharpish uphill coming back to transition. 2 loops of that, so I knew to make the most of the downhill section to keep a good average pace. The run was uneventful, and the part I was most happy about. Kept a good pace throughout, finished strong in 21:36 (course is just under 5km, about 4.8km I think).
All in all, a good start to the season! I forgot how much fun triathlons were. Really enjoyed blowing the cobwebs off and had a great time. It was great to see a bunch of RTC folk at the finish line!
