Preparation
Well... bike training has been going well, but I have done very little swimming and running (closest to the lowest since records began... in fact, there might be more interesting analysis to be had there...) – though have been running quite well (for me) in what little I have done. A bit of panic swim training was applied in the week before the race (7.3km, having not been in the water since early March), which seemed to have the desired effect.
Feeling decidedly nervous the day before (why? after all, I am just racing for fun this year; have done this a million times before... think I still feel pressure to do better than last time... who knows...)
Woke up exactly one minute before my alarm was due to go off on race morning (that’s 4:34 am !), and decided on a new strategy. Rather than forcing breakfast on an unwilling stomach, I ate a banana, had a cup of mint tea, and as a last minute panic snack, ate a somewhat past its best before date cereal bar.
Nutritional plan for the day was similarly simple.
Water.
No messing with gels / energy drinks etc. Seemed to work well (and giant bacon butty and a couple of cups of coffee after were much appreciated)
Pumped my tyres (not a good idea faffing with the disc with nervous fingers... very nearly let all the air out...); loaded the car; and off to Hampton
Feeling very old (either that, or triathletes are starting to look younger... how depressing). Not helped by the fact that I needed to take a photo for my new BTF card. Now, I am never photogenic at the best of times, and swimming goggle marks don't help... but it seemed impossible to get a photo of me where I didn't look about 100 years old & very wrinkly.
Swim
Bit chilly waiting, so went and hid in the ladies changing room where they have nice underfloor heating.
Had a chat with fellow old lady competitor (actually, that's unfair to her - she was a youthful 40-45'er)... “you must be a cyclist” (she had seen Fluffy in full TT mode in transition) – damn – I do feel pressure to live up to that bike.
All of a sudden, someone announced that no 190 was starting (I was 203) – dashed out; joined the line; and was off. Swim was so so... passed a few; got passed by a few (the pool is always busy). Things started to come together, and by about half way through, I had finally got a smooth technique for ducking under the lane ropes (after years of near drowning / surfacing directly under rope / generally getting myself tangled up).
426m (got to love those 1930s lidos) in 8:28 (inc short run to transition). Course PB for me.
The stats (8/38 in W40-49; 50/132 in W; 182/403 overall)
T1
1:04 – average. Did have a bit of a sit down; wipe my feet in my lucky towel (sorry, Jon.E); put on socks etc
Bike
Long run out from T1 to the mount zone; major faffing on the mount (my new cleat wedges and position on the right foot don’t seem conducive to clipping in automatically) then off.
As I was in the middle wave, traffic was light; conditions were ideal, so went for it. Most of the fast folk were in the final wave, so no one really to chase, and didn’t get overtaken. Knew that my kit choices were perfect when at the Hampton Court roundabout, I got a cheery shout from a marshall “Loving the helmet” – other Vortice wearers take note. In fact, I think that’s the best thing about this race series – really excellent marshalling.
21.5km in 36:34 Course PB for me.
For the first time, I did actually race wearing a HRM – averaged 148 on the bike (which is much lower than TTing) – and rate was steadily dropping throughout. Perhaps I could push harder – though there were a few incidents of bile appearing in my mouth, which suggests not... guess that’s what comes of ingesting a lot of pool water and then trying to ride hard.
The stats (1/38 in W40-49; 5/132 in W; 57/403 overall)
T2
Seriously undercooked the 7 min non-compete zone (5:44... could have had another minute’s rest!)
0:57 – nothing special.
Can’t be bothered with elastic laces these days as they give me terrible tendonitis on top of my right foot – but strategy of leaving normal shoes laced up a bit loose, and just pulling them on and running with them like that seems to work OK.
(About 1km into the run slightly wished I had put on my shades... but not really worth going back for... my head still isn’t in the right place when running!)
Run
Passed 3(!!!) people on the way up to the gate into Bushy Park. Admittedly one of them looked about 80 – but still, that’s an achievement for me. Then had a bit to a chat to a random punter out for a run.
Her: “are you doing a triathlon”
Me: “wheeze, wheeze, puff.... yes”
Her: “Ooh, well done – you are going at a good pace”
... and I pulled away from her.
Whatever next?
Otherwise uneventful – near vomit feeling at 3km; and shameful incident of OMRF (optional mid run fart) – probably shouldn’t share that.
Sure the finish line was further away from the final turn this year.
5km in 25:25 – all time triathlon run PB!!!!!!!
This also proved that Mike the Bike can be fallible (
) - he said that Fluffy's new TT oriented setup would leave me unable to run off the bike. Evidence suggests this not to be the case!The stats (9/38 in W40-49; 59/132 in W; 269/403 overall)
So overall, home in 1:12:42. Huge PB (previous was a 1:14:43 last year) – really pleased.
The stats (1/38 in W40-49; 19/132 in W; 118/403 overall)
Even more exciting, I actually won a prize (W40-49)!!
Got a nice etched glass trophy; tub of PowerBar energy drink; £25 Compresssport Vouchers; £25 i-ride.co.uk vouchers) – a very exciting day out in all!!!!
However, at the prizegiving, did overhear the overall women's winner comment bitchily about the girl who came second or third "she is the one who overtook me on the bike...she has the most enormous bum" - god, I hate to think what people say about me!!!
