I had decided to enter the Tuska sprint triathlon 7-10 days
before the race as I had not raced all season and was in need of some practice
and race simulation. I was not worried about times or speed I just wanted to
put in a good performance in all areas, with no real aspirations for the run,
as I did not wish to aggravate my injury.
Race morning
Alarm was off at 4:55am, good grief, why?!?!?!?! Anyway, up
and at em, porridge, coffee, wake the hell up! My lift arrived at 6am sharp and
myself and Phil headed up fairly early to get there in plenty of time to rack
our bikes, suss out the transition area and ensure we were prepared. We racked
our bikes, had a nose around, got our wetsuits on and waited for the start. The
sea looked nice and calm, there was no wind at all, which was nice.
We headed down the slip and waited for the gun to start the
swim. I started fairly close to the front of the pack, but still with plenty of
space, I had worked on my swimming so wanted to put in a good swim.
Within the
first 250m I was sandwiched and clattered by two swimmers who clattered me, I got pissed off
and swam around them, in my head I was now resigned to ‘’having a bad swim, but
make it up on the bike’’. Phil had now disappeared, but as I plodded onward
making up some ground and finding some feet to draft, I was amazed to see him
right next to me. I immediately thought ‘’either he is having an awful swim or
Im doing a lot better than I planned’’ as he is a good swimmer. Anyway, the
rest was uneventful, and we exited the water together in 14.52, probably a PB.
I then legged it into T1, ripped the wetsuit off, donned the helmet and race
number and I was off, T1 done in 1:06, bit annoyed but I felt good.
I pushed on
the bike within the first 2km and felt my legs had nothing to give, but soon
warmed up after 5km. The course is mostly flat with a few long type drags, but
no real sharp climbs that stop your rhythm. I was passing some riders and being
passed myself, only to reel them back in on the drags. I definitely regret the
decision to not use tri bars all year (I have since put them one for 100mile
rides and will use them at Ironman Wales) and in this race as felt I could have
got in to a better rhythm and saved valuable seconds over the 22km course.
Before I knew it we were coming in to the finishing straight, so for only the
second time ever I took feet out of my tri shoes whilst on the bike which
worked quite well, dismounted the bike and headed into T2 in 40:20, again, very
happy but know I could have gone harder and quicker.
As I had not done a lot of
running and not wanting to aggravate my hip flexor and knee injury, I decided
to take it easy on the run. I slipped off the helmet, grabbed the Garmin 305,
slipped into my trainers (no socks and elastic laces – again, not done in
training and worked well), and off I went.
To my astonishment I flew out of T1
with no heavy legged feeling or jelly legs, the support was amazing and I was
hitting 3:55/km-4:05/km with ease. However sense took over and after the first
1km I slowed the pace and immediately got a stitch, so in my head I thought
‘’just get around in 23mins, that’ll do’’.
My pace slowed to 4:35-4:45/km,
which I was happy with, I reached the turnaround point, got into a rhythm again
and felt very good so thought I would push on, coming down the final 1km fairly
fast and finishing quickly to the roar of the crowd and cow bells ringing in a
very pleasing 20:21, another tri PB!!!!!
And that was taking it easy J hence my pleasure!
Overall, 69th place, 39th category
1:17 - splits of 14:52 / 40:20 / 20:21.
Great race and great support!
I then went home and entered for Llanelli Olympic tri
1500m/40km/10km to get some more practice in and use it as my last hard
swim/bike before Ironman Wales. This time with the run, I will 100% take it
easy.
The next day (another sodding early start, alarm at 6:15, rain was tempting to stop the ride but we set of at 9:30 instead once it passed) myself and Phil headed out on the last big ride
before Wales, 102miles up Bwlch, Rhigos and Betws. Was an amazing route that was completely new to me. long climbs and long flats so pushed quite hard on the tri bars on flats. Im so glad I did it,102 miles (165km) in 6:46. It filled me with confidence and I felt strong all the way (except for one dark
moment at 130km when I wanted to go home ha-ha).
Have had another solid training week, with a 10km run in
41:59, so another PB, but will now lower the run volume even more, keep to a
minimal as rest days are in pain.
I have also got a new set of wheels for the bike ready for
Ironman Wales; treat from me to me, Thanks!!
I am now feeling more confident about this Ironman, although
a little disappointed with injury, but what’s done is done, bring it on!!
Happy training everyone!!
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