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oldbury white horse tri, calne - 2016

PostPosted: 01 May 2016 23:25
by ris
i've done this one before... about here, and also over here.

Where: calne, wilts
When: 01 may 2016
Organiser: events logic
Course details: common-garden pool sprint
Distance(s): 400m in the white horse pool, 20k bike up and down the a4, 5km mixed surface run
Marshalling: loads, cheery
Facilities: swimming pool for changing, watching the swim from etc
Technical: Chip timing
Freebies: tshirt, nice medal, cheap massage option

i've completed this race a couple of times before - 2012 and 2015, with a decent reduction in my times from one to the other. this year i've been a bit less trained going into the event (i was already ramping training up with IM in mind in 2015) and so was expecting to be a bit off the pace this time round. i've been doing some inconsistent run speedwork, almost nothing on the bike and my swimming has been a mixed bag. i thought i'd done very well in 2015 so was expecting to be a minute or back from there.

i persuaded two people from work to join me - andy (who was with me on the hideous audax last year) and a total tri newbie who i convinced would find this a nice welcoming race. the latter had an early wave and andy was a bit after me in the last one as his entry was late in.

i went for a swim first thing, as a bit of a loosener, and it was crap. no rhythm, no pace, just pffft. i then picked andy up and we headed over to calne just in time to see the newbie start and cheer her through transition. it mean't that we had a couple of hours before our own starts, but it gave us a chance to see the new pool sprint wave start process in action.

for those that haven't done one, the new system does away with waves of 4-ish to a lane every x-minutes, in place of putting 1 swimmer into the lane every 3 minutes. this means that the pool is in constant use and there is no waiting for a wave to clear before starting the next. it also reduces bunching and potential drafting on the bike, particularly in the later waves. looks fine on paper.

the weather was ok, dry, bit breezy, and when the sun was out it was warm. the longer we waited the more it clouded over and so i was glad i'd left a jersey in transition if i felt cold enough to warrant it.

when i start time came there was one swimmer left in my lane, and they had only a few laps left. sadly, they hit the end where i was waiting to start at almost exactly the time the whistle went. i pushed off and pretty much immediately swam over his legs. the new system... for me... needs work. 23.5m later he let me past, but i'd lost 15-20s as a result. not just the time he swam the 25, but also the benefit of a decent start, rhythm and visual pacing along with the others in my wave.

i swam ok, nothing spectacular, but OK. as i got out i had a look at my watch and it was 6:35ish, which immediately put me in a grump. I can swim a lot better than that and i'd really started the race poorly. partly this was bad luck, and partly i hadn't got on with it afterwards.

through transition i put on the bike jersey, socks, lid and number and toddled off. i probably didn't need the jersey and it added another 15-20s to my time that with the benefit of hindsight i should have saved. these things happen.

the bike is a simple out and back and i tried to make some headway into the swimmers i'd misplaced during the swim. there is one mandatory foot-down early on, and it was just my luck to then get 3-4 cars i needed to let through. bit of a bugger, given the less than stellar start i'd made. i cracked on with the course, the wind was behind me early on and the argon felt good. i've only ridden it a couple of times this year so still getting reacquainted with it. garmin said 33:40ish, chip time a little more.

once back in t2 it was a fairly quick change and out onto the (actually a bit less than) 5k. this felt hard, but i aimed to hold a hard but manageable pace. my running has been a bit varied over the spring so i wasn't expecting much. as it was i put together an 18:40 run, which when the missing 1/4 mile is factored in gets me around 20mins - not a bad show.

all in - 1:01:50, - about 19s slower than 2015. given my scratchy bike work and rubbish swim this felt like a good return. i was 13 out of 210 or so, and in 2015 was 12 out of 120 i think. not bad.

splits: [2015] (2012)
swim (incl run to t1) 6:45 [6:34] (6:54)
t1 1:33s - ffs! [1:15s] (54s)
bike: 34:00 [33:19] (35:50)
t2 51s [47s] (48s)
run: 18:39 [19:36] (21:24)

overall: 1:01:50 [1:01:31] (1:05:48)

Re: oldbury white horse tri, calne - 2016

PostPosted: 02 May 2016 18:46
by kfjatek
Bugger me ris you're quick, dude. Awesome time!

Sub-1h next year then? ;-)

:ugeek:


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Re: oldbury white horse tri, calne - 2016

PostPosted: 03 May 2016 06:31
by King Sad
Well done old bean :D

Re: oldbury white horse tri, calne - 2016

PostPosted: 03 May 2016 15:29
by CCS
Speedy! - well done!!

Re: oldbury white horse tri, calne - 2016

PostPosted: 15 Aug 2017 14:05
by didds
Only just seen this ... that bike is excellent - assuming it is still the up and over labour in vain hill route.

the swim idea seems on paper a good idea... but your experience shows where the problems lie. Not sure that is really workable - because in other circumstances that could have been three other swimmers all bunched together on the turn - it would be ages before you could get in and if you are faster than them that would be three lengths to get in front of them ...

didds

Re: oldbury white horse tri, calne - 2016

PostPosted: 15 Aug 2017 19:21
by Jack Hughes
You've dug that one up from the past!

I wonder what happened this year?