A Weekend by the Sea: Southport Sprint 2015

[Sir Jibbenstein]

What: Southport Marine Sprint Triathlon
Where: Southport, Merseyside, UK
Organiser: Vital Events
Course details: http://www.vitalevents.co.uk/events/sou ... -triathlon
Distance: Swim 750m (Lake), Cycle 20km (Road), Run 5km (Tarmac path around lake)
Closed Roads: Yes
Marshalling: Marshals at major turns and junction. Sign-posts at every turn.
Facilities: Portaloos, Coffee van, Tri shop.
Technical: Chip timing. Start from timing mat. Mats at bike out/in, finish.
Freebies: Tech-tee or voucher, Medal, water, protein drink, oat bar.

So, my first qualifier of the year. After a common sense check from Faith when I planned this year I abandoned ideas of Nottingham the weekend after Les Stables and did this instead as a lead into Dambuster next weekend. Jude and I drove up on Saturday, calling in a Bridgtown Cycles on the way as we were passing, my wheels need servicing, and I wanted to say Hi to Mike. After a brief stop and obligatory purchases we were back on the road and made good time up to Southport. We checked in to the hotel and headed over to registration, I got my race pack, and then headed out for my brick set, planning to ride the course. Well sort of, I knew it was an out and back along the coastal road, and I thought the turn points were roundabouts. I loved flying along easily at 35 km/h. So much so I over did it a bit and my route recce ended up being 25km, still, it was the 45 minutes I was meant to do, quick transition (Jude had my shoes all ready for me) and off for a 15 minute run, and I did a little loop over the opening part of the run. I was feeling good, and totally psyched. Then a nice wind down in the hotel spa…

In a town where every other shop seemed to be a fish & chip bar we actually skipped the club tradition and stumbled upon what turned out to be an amazing all you can eat Tapas bar. Fed and watered we strolled back to the hotel and got ready for the morning and turned in. On the night England were playing… so we got woken a few times. Still. Didn’t feel too bad at the 5 am alarm. Had a porridge pot, put my number tattoos on then we strolled the mile over to the race.

I set off to rack my bike and get the kit ready. And discovered my next cluster. I’d put my numbers on each arm. Everyone else was putting them on 1 arm and 1 leg. Oops. Transition set up I set off to check the mount line. Then I heard “James”. It was Ryan the Les Stables pro from 2 years ago. Impressed he had remembered me we had a chat and I scoped out the mount line. Jogged back, convinced myself everything was fine then headed off. Thought I’d better ask about my numbering mistake so found the BTF ref and asked, he was fine with it. Phew. I just looked like the plonker that hadn’t read the race info.

We headed down to the swim start I chilled, stretched, got my wetsuit on, then the briefing. I thought they were cracking some joke when they said it was almost a non-wetsuit swim. Yeah right. Pretty simple really. The ladies went off and it was time to get in. Hmm, water cool but not bad. Actually quite warm. They weren’t joking when they said 20°C! Nice. Shallow and mucky though around the start. The countdown began, 10s, start Garmin, HONK!

Not in the best spot, but near the front and on the inside line, I maybe let people get away a bit too much, but settled into a nice rhythm. First turn, A couple of guys outside me, focus on catch, don’t slip, pull, push, finish. My strong stroke get me ahead and I start retaking places. Next turn and stretch to swim out. Plod on. Don’t lose focus you idiot. Sight. Power. Form. Sight FFS! Catch some of the tail enders of the women’s wave. On the slipway. Out.

Collar, zip, wetsuit on shoulder. Right arm out. Damn, steps, safely up, left arm, long long run…. Run some more… bike! Wetsuit down step left, step right, feet out. Helmet on. Grr, new helmet cradle slipped. On, sunnies, bike, off running again…. Running… mount line. Head out right, jump on and I’m off.

Get up to speed, right foot in, wave to Jude, left foot in, straps. Now it is just a game of power. Pain. Power (Strava estimates 306W average). I’m flying, working my way back up the field, getting a little harder now as the slower females are blocking the course. Not much to remember on the first half. Screwed the dead turn up by unclipping inside foot. Back through transition, see Jude, then off the other way. Get really annoyed by a woman properly blocking, eventually I manage to undertake her. Other dead turn, back homewards pass the 10 mile mark and guess I’m worst case 4 minutes down on leader. Going well. On the mental positivity loop and I push on to transition. Get my feet out. Damn should have recced the dismount line too! Assumed it was on the road. Bugger. Leave it too late and end up doing a slow dismount.

Run in. Rack. Helmet off. Shoe on, other shoe on, run out. Catch a couple of women, now it is just a game of run hard, pace judgement, run harder. As I get passed every now and then by some lighting fast runnerists I focus on form. In my head I can hear Mark shouting at me not to “sit in” as I self-analyse how I’m feeling; my back doesn’t hurt, I’m sat back. I feel myself surge. I feel drained as I think this is a long 5km. Turn back and before I know it I’m in the car park on the final straight. Still a mile to go though! Round the back of transition, up the hill, round and onto the last stretch sprint for the line, dig deep and I’m done. Totally done. My finish line photo is a picture of pure pain.

Swim: 11:27
T1: 2:25
Bike: 33:32 (http://www.strava.com/activities/154413 ... 3563021883)
T2: 1:25
Run: 20:33 (http://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/521434259)
Overall: 1:09:20

Overall I was really happy. I knew I gave the race my all at every stage. I was really strong on the bike and overtook a lot of people, and lost only a couple. T1 & T2 were pretty much without incident, and I paced the run well enough for a strong finish.

[Bopomofo]

Excellent work, Jibbs. S, B & R all looking very strong and well balanced. Once again, I'm very impressed by your running improvements. Doesn't seem that long ago that we were having a sprint finish tussle at a 10km in Southampton... now you'd be about 15mins in front of me. Great work.

So, now we need updates on how the qualifying is working out...

[jonathon.e]

Well done, hope you get to qualify with that.
" up the hill. ", with Southport being flatter than the proverbial pancake , did they build one specially, or just run through the Dunes. ?

[kfjatek]

Nicely done Jibby - sounds super slick!

Keeping fingers crossed for a qualifying time.

[Sir Jibbenstein]

Thanks. Should see where I stand this week. I'm optimistic, although OD qualification at Dambuster this weekend is/was the real goal.

Doesn't seem that long ago that we were having a sprint finish tussle at a 10km in Southampton... now you'd be about 15mins in front of me. Great work.

Blimey that was a while back...

" up the hill. ", with Southport being flatter than the proverbial pancake , did they build one specially, or just run through the Dunes. ?

Err, it was the road from the seafront car park to the dinghy club, so maybe 2m height difference, but after 3 miles of hard running it might as well have been 2000m!

[King Sad]

Well done Sir A good disciplined race, fingers crossed for you

[CCS]

Great work Jibby - sounds like things are kicking off well this season! Everything sounds very nicely under control.
Good luck for the Dambuster.

P.S. when I saw your update on FB, I couldn't help misreading that you were with Jude Laws and wondered what you were doing mixing in celeb circles

[Tarka the Nutter]

Well done Jibby. Great times. Hope you qualify and good luck for Dambuster. See you both in france

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2

[Bopomofo]

Doesn't seem that long ago that we were having a sprint finish tussle at a 10km in Southampton... now you'd be about 15mins in front of me. Great work.

Blimey that was a while back...

That made me go and look... October 2010!

Good luck for Dambuster, Jibbs.

[Worrying Will]

Another cracker Jibby. Well done