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Louth Triathlon: A last Hurrah

PostPosted: 04 Sep 2017 18:58
by jonathon.e
I must admit that this season hasn't quite gone to plan. Towards the back end of last year I had a cunning plan, no, not as cunning as that though. Run over winter when the weather is inclement build up my endurance and do the Manchester Marathon and attempt to go under four hours. Whilst tapering for that, move into cycling, ready for the triathlon season. Enter a few sprint, OD events, and aim to qualify for AG at Ripon, a nice course, one that suits me. Finish off the season at the championships and a local event. Simples. Bollocks, and buggeration, the wheels fell off and exploded. Early January, the running is going well, up to 20 miles, ideal for the marathon in April. Unsurprisingly, things went snap, when the snapped items were fixed, others items broke. No base training, no marathon. Bouncing from injury to injury, canned the marathon, didn't get up to speed for the AG qualifier, nice race though. Which left one local tri at seasons end. A last hurrah.

Louth Triathlon
400m swim
13.5 mile bike
3.2 mile run

Probably the most local of my triathlons, but first time of entry, the bike course is not ideal, but I was day off.

Just a 20 minute drive to the venue. If you don't know Lincolnshire, Louth sits at the edge of the Wolds, hilly bits, but on the other side is the Lincolnshire Marshes, flattish area, where the bike course would be. Louth is a great town, it hasn't been Starbucked yet, plenty of family run businesses.

Venue.
The local leisure centre.
Registered and racked my bike, plenty of room, even for those with picnic blankets who wanted a transition area the size of a small country. Advised the competitor next to me that it was not best practice to use a mobile phone in the transition area, if their race was just going to consists of racking and unracking their bike, to please continue.

Swim
16 lengths, nice pool, 8 lanes, never more than two in a lane. Quite leisurely, possibly because with less swimmers in the lane I didn't feel the need to push myself, but out of the water in a reasonable time. Fast walk and slide around the pool, and a 200 metre run to T1.

T1.

The hardest decision of the day was whether to use trainers and pyro platforms, or bike shoes on the bike. Opted for bike shoes, due to the nature of the bike course, and the 250metre run from transition to the road was on grass.

Bike.

The problem I had with the bike course is the number of junctions, one compulsory foot down junction, and a large number of acute bends. Attempting a 120 degree bend at 25mph when on the aerobars is going to end in one of two ways. Badly or in the ditch, if you haven't visited the marshlands of Lincolnshire and seen the ditches, you might not realise that people and cars end up in them, and are not seen for weeks, if at all. Plenty of hard braking, and accelerating, never getting into a nice consistent pace. Slightly undulating, not flat, just unsettling. At least the roads were quiet. Only passed by one other cyclist, and they were in my swim wave. The route left the town after a couple of miles, into the open countryside to be blasted by the wind. We have a lazy wind here, it's always in your face and goes right through you, never around.
Looping round to reverse the first couple of miles and back to transition.

T2.

Another 250m run across the field, and my legs are asking why I didn't do more training as they would like to go on strike now, if that's ok.

Run.

A quick talking to the lumps of jelly, and I coaxed some life into them wobbling off out of transition. A two lap run, through part of the town, and a nice sheltered wooded path. As I left transition, I could feel my knee ligaments twinge in discomfort, not a good sign, so backed the pace off until it settled down. Thankfully it did, so a nice pace adjustment to keep the pain at bay, and settled into a groove. Not surprisingly I was overtaken by a number of others, but I did manage to pass some as well. At the end of the second lap you peel off back to transition and the finish, about 400 metres. There was one runner ahead which I was catching up quickly and one behind that was trying to catch me. I caught the one ahead after about 50 metres, and could feel the one behind pounding the ground and breathing down my neck. 300 metres to go, and a sideways glance I could see his feet just coming alongside, just as he was about to pass, a quick acceleration by me, he tried to stay but fell back, so I slowed slightly, let him catch up, accelerated slightly, felt him try to keep up and fall back, I only managed to mess around with him three times before the finish, I will give him his due, he tried, but he didn't look happy after he crossed the line. Life has few bonuses,

Quite pleased with the result.
6/24 in age group
39/179 overall

Seasons end.
Conclusion, don't make plans, you only find disappointment.

Re: Louth Triathlon: A last Hurrah

PostPosted: 09 Sep 2017 10:00
by Jack Hughes
I am, and will remain, in awe at your ability to get out and do it for more seasons than many of the other competitors have been around for.

Chapeau.

Re: Louth Triathlon: A last Hurrah

PostPosted: 09 Sep 2017 18:46
by Kevy427
jonathon.e wrote:if you haven't visited the marshlands of Lincolnshire and seen the ditches, you might not realise that people and cars end up in them, and are not seen for weeks, if at all

I have seen them. There are a few (nowhere near as many or as long as those in your neck of the woods) like that near me and after the first summer downpour or touch of frost on the ground you can guarantee a car will end up in one, normally upside down...

Well done on finishing and having the bare-faced cheek to have some fun and games at the end :lol:

Re: Louth Triathlon: A last Hurrah

PostPosted: 10 Sep 2017 13:10
by jonathon.e
Kevy427 wrote:
jonathon.e wrote:if you haven't visited the marshlands of Lincolnshire and seen the ditches, you might not realise that people and cars end up in them, and are not seen for weeks, if at all

I have seen them. There are a few (nowhere near as many or as long as those in your neck of the woods) like that near me and after the first summer downpour or touch of frost on the ground you can guarantee a car will end up in one, normally upside down...
:lol:


:oops: worked with a guy who would not drive a car with electric windows, when he worked out at a bombing range on the coast, in case he ended up in a ditch and the water fused them shut, so he couldn't get out :shock:

Re: Louth Triathlon: A last Hurrah

PostPosted: 10 Sep 2017 13:11
by jonathon.e
Jack Hughes wrote:I am, and will remain, in awe at your ability to get out and do it for more seasons than many of the other competitors have been around for.

Chapeau.


Thank you, kind words as always