Well, what a superb weekend of glorious weather. Lovely sunshine, and clear skies, but not too hot. Excellent racing conditions this morning down on Bournemouth sea front.
Was well prepared for this one, and looking forward to a sea swim in very calm water. It was supposed to be a 1500m swim but it did seem further than that, and this time I managed to stay right on course!! 35-39 age group was the last swim wave to go off at 8 o'clock. I was nicely warmed up having run for 15 minutes and got in the sea warm up area for 10 minutes getting used to the conditions.
So off we all went in another mad dash for the water! Didn't get bumped around much this time and I picked a good line which took me close into the first turnaround buoy and then after that was a long straight to the next one. I managed to stay on course, I always had someone to my right, which is the side I breather on and the turns were all left ones, so it did help. But again, I didn't really work hard enough, I just went through my paces and stroked nice and easy without really breaking much of a sweat. I must try going harder in a race at some point, and keep telling myself it's not a training session!! So I finally got out of the water with 33 minutes gone, a good 4 minutes slower than where I expected to be. And after a short run on very soft sand, it was into transition. I was not as quick as I should have been through here, but got away ok, only to then be held up by a marshall who was letting a bus turn into a stop. Got going again, only to get to Richmond Hill after 50 yards, to be held up behind traffic and a slow van, who were not overtaking riders up ahead. This was most annoying as it was uphill and I was ready to fly up it, feeling very strong and wanted to get off to a good start and get up to speed quickly on the bike. At the top of the short hill I then got stuck behind the same van, and had to hold back because I didn't want to get a 2 minute penalty for drafting. I reckon I lost at least 2 minutes in the first half a mile because of all this. At last I got clear road and hammered it! Out to Ringwood I was up averaging 28 mph, really feeling excellent. Got to the turnaround and started back. NOw I was expecting this return to be easier but there was a slight headwind and my average speed dropped to 23 mph, and a couple of inclines that got the legs working a bit harder than I anticipated. Then came the next hold up, pedestrian crossing. Now Stratford Triathlon took off 30 seconds for anyone held up by lights. Not today. Very frustrating. Then , the bike dismount came up quick, unexpected, and no time to get my feet out of my shoes, so unclipped shoes and ran in to T2 with shoes on, not good, as downhill!! But 40k(25 miles) in around 1 hour 3mins, pretty pleased with that.
Quick in T2 and set off on 10k run.
And again like the swim I just went through the motions and didn't push. I didn't work until the last 2 km when I finally gave myself a good talking to. I don't know what my first 5k time was, but my 2nd 5 k was a lot quicker at 21 mins. Finished with a big smile on my face and had a really enjoyable race. Finish time around 2 hr 30. Slow swim, fast bike, slow run. I have 4 weeks til next Olympic distance, to really work harder at my swimming and running.
See next post for some pics!
1 comment:
sounds as though you are enjoying yourself too much and the big smile should be a big grimace! Of course you will always smile when the going is good - take care and keep enjoying the journey once you do not it's time to stop.
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