SBR Triathlon Series Race 1 - TriathlonSprint

Diappointed not to have swum. Was glad to wear the John although had practised putting on the Full the day before and managed to get a good fit with it. Would also have liked the OWS practice. Was almost last in my wave (all women) - everyone just took off! Pace was 7:23 and now looking at the results I was 103/126 on time!

Nothing.

Bumbled a bit with my shoes as they are road shoes and have 3 velcro straps. Immediately obvious that shoes with one strap would go on faster. I've done cyclo-cross in the past so my preference is put the shoes on, run and then do a flying leap. I actually passed about 8 people right past the timing mat doing this. They seemed to be all dithering around fretting about shoes and mounting and this and that. I put sunglasses on for the run so that I wouldn't have to put them on. Just helmet on, shoes off, shoes on. This was 28th best time for T1 - that is encouraging but obviously did not include the wetsuit !! Looking at times, I passed the 7 women in total in T1, 3 of them in my age group.

Have shoes with one strap. My road shoes are 10+ years old - high-end Shimano and fit great so don't *NEED* new shoes but would definitely save time if I wanted to blow some $$$.

I haven't done a tri in 15 years but one thing has not changed: many triathletes seem to be poor bike handlers/have low bike confidence. I was by no means fit to ride this course - I had been back on the bike for 3 wks I think for a total of maybe 5 rides. I passed two women on the first rotary just because they didn't carry their speed in and know where the course went. I passed 2-3 guys from the wave ahead and one woman on the DH (I'll call her "Aquaphor" girl - she looked less like a biker and more like a runner). Then there was the bumbling around with them getting on their bikes at T1. I worked hard the whole way with what little fitness I had trying to gain any advantage from the terrain. Scouting the course a week ago definitely helped. I was able to rip the DH and also the long up hill didn't seem so endless. The net on this was that I passed 4 women on the bike leg.

Train - I'm looking forward to the August race on the same course.

Pushed the pace all the way to the mat and then hopped off cyclocross style and ran into TA. Had anticipated maybe slipping in the cleats on the asphalt but didn't have problems. Dropped helmet, shoes off and into running shoes. I was tired and out of breath from the bike but remembered a point where I was trying to think and thinking "don't think, just go". because I had really pushed on the bike my legs were super spastic.

Do more bricks? Train.

Apart from the 3/4 mile uphill start and my classic knackered spastic bike legs, I loved that it was a trail run. I had my trail shoes with me for some better foot protection and grip. I felt that I would have an advantage on the trails over those who don't run them often. I normally am a wuss on running hills but just kept chugging away possibly as my legs hadn't got going yet. Eventually started to pick off guys from the earlier waves and then eventually saw the gal in the red shirt who had pulled away from me on the bike climb. Felt my legs coming back and the course levelling a little and used all the people ahead as motivation. Passed the red shirt gal shortly before the turnaorund and was feeling very proud of myself that I passed one woman on the run. Then I hit the turnaround and to my horror there was what seemed to be 6 - 8 women in the 150 yds leading into the turnaround including Aquaphor girl the closest to me - maybe 30-50 yds back. This kind of really freaked me as I envisaged them all slowly coming past me on the run back to the finish. My legs had kicked in at this point and I just worked the downhills to try and gain as much advantage knowing that I would run the rocky stuff better than them. Caught a few more guys this way too. Could look back at one of the last turns with maybe 1/4 mile to go and Aquaphor girl seemed further back than at the turnaround. Worked like the blazes to get to the finish and even pushed it to almost a sprint (it's amazing what fear at losing a spot will have you do ! LOL!). I think my splits were 9:03, 8:19, 7:36 (8:22 for the final 1.1 miles).

More bricks at true race pace biking for the transition. Some speed work and hill reps for the overall run performance.

Shagged. Walked around, stretched, drank. Really gave it my all and felt it in my legs and arms (from riding in the drops). Thought about jogging but wasn't sure I was capable! Cleared out of the TA and changed clothes. (After the race we went to the outlets so I was walking around a bit)


Equipment wise - probably bike shoes and no tri bars. Training wise - just early in my training - only decided to do it in March so had enough training/experience to complete the race but not enough training to feel like I was really racing it. So more bike time and intervals to get the speed up. Also overall results would probably have been different had the swim happened - hard to say where I would've been in he swim - equal?, better?, worse?. (Can't imagine anyone swims as slow as me?)


Only gets a 4 because it was a small race so none of the hoopla of a big race. Event not on time due to thunder delay which led to eventual swim cancellation. (The USAT official asked for "experienced" racers to come and discuss what to do/preferences when it was clear that the swim wouldn't happen. I presume a short run was used so as not to favor runners but just to get the event going.)
I would classify this as a small local tri - I think it's the first time these guys have organized a race, field size was small which actually was nice as it meant more room in the TA and less general waiting and thrashing around (total of 126 racers). Well organized. They also have four races here this summer over the same bike and swim course with differing length runs - race #3 is on the same course as this one so it's nice to be able to race it again so soon and look for improvements - get to implement the "I should've done this" straight away. I would imagine that water temps will preclude wetsuits in August.