Swim
Comments: I put myself on the front line for the start, as we had a very wide line and it worked out great. The hooter went and off went all 400 of us at the same time. Not too much washing machine stuff, as I went off pretty hard to avoid it. Sighted really well on the first lap off the course and kept it steady and actually enjoyed myself. I liked the busy turns around the buoys. Crash! Bang! Wallop! All good fun. The 2nd lap was not so good. I was tiring and my sighting wasn't as good. I was quite happy to be done. What would you do differently?: The swim course was definitely long. I've been swimming long enough to know that I wasn't doing that pace. I would have expected 1:45ish pace at the most. Other competitors also felt it was long. Not bothered though. A race is a race. Apart from that I was happy with this given the pathetic swim mileage I've had this year. Transition 1
Comments: Had a little trouble getting the wetsuit off. Just lack of experience really. Also had a little trouble with the bike shoes. Apart from that it was alright. What would you do differently?: Oh wait I know. Practice transitions! Bike
Comments: I REALLY enjoyed this. Maybe a bit too much? Got up to speed and was cruising at 21 MPH most of the time. Overtook a lot of people and only got passed by the really fast pro looking guys on P3s ;) I had one mishap where my number belt snapped and I decided to stop and go back for it. Probably lost a good 45 secs doing that. A muscle in my groin started acting up about 2/3rds in to this and nearly cramped, but I got out off the saddle on the little inclines over the bridges and managed to keep it at bay. Again this course was a bit long. My computer said 25.5 What would you do differently?: Train more. And stretch more. That groin issue could have been avoided if I wasn't such a creaky donkey. Transition 2
Comments: Oh bother. I decided to take my feet out of the shoes on the bike before the race. I HAD practiced this, but in the race I started too late and ended up dismounting with the straps undone, but my feet still in the shoes. That meant I had to re-strap them and run to my transition spot. I then nearly cramped badly changing shoes. Oh well. What would you do differently?: PRACTICE!!! Run
Comments: Oh bother. I'm actually surprised about the time on this, as I felt even more crap. My lack of training really bit my donkey rear on this run. At some point i passed a 8-10 year old boy spectating with his mum. As he saw me approach he said the following to his mum: "Look mum, that looks painful." I just laughed. He definitely hit the nail on the head there. Still I ground it out and gave what little I had. I felt like half the field passed me and I passed only 3 people. I was VERY happy to cross the line. What would you do differently?: Train and even more importantly STRETCH. I'm waaaaaaay too stiff when running. Post race
Warm down: Walk around a little then pack up quickly and go home. What limited your ability to perform faster: My pathetic training. I would love to a TRI one day that I actually feel prepared for. Still, the family has priority over any TRI stuff Event comments: I was a bit surprised they didn't have chip timing with a field that big. Having paid £55 I would expect that. It's a great venue though. A clean lake and smooth as you like traffic free paths for both biking and running. Last updated: 2009-04-21 12:00 AM
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United Kingdom
F3 Events
19C / 66F
Overcast
Overall Rank = /
Age Group = 35-39
Age Group Rank = 0/
Got woken up by a pair of quarreling cats at 5:50 and they in turn woke Julie. Daddy! Daddyyyyyyy! Up I got and had breakfast with the two little ones while Sandra caught some more Zzzzzzzz! Eventually left for the race at 7:45 and got to the site at 8:15. Got registered and then setup my transition. Dithered a bit about gels etc, which eventually meant I ended up with no fuel on the bike except for water. DOH! I'm still learning in this game.
A few stretches in transition and then swam to the start line which was about 100m out into the lake.