dave-smith.co.uk

So last night, race three at Dorney Lake, for which the process of getting everything ready was made more stressful by the fact I was heading off to NYC first thing Thursday morning (and writing this in NYC I don't seem to have forgotten anything so far, for either the race or the trip)

There was added pressure to do well in this race as my boss was racing in it as well and I felt that with the way my recent training was going, things were going well.... pride comes before a fall....

The weather was good, dry, sunny with a breeze that picked up for the cycle part of the race (to provide a handy tail wind on the way out, and then a nasty head wind on the way back) but then dropped for the run (as did the temperature)

Got to the race venue with plenty of time, no need to panic and was able to setup my transition how I wanted, then re-arrange it, and then re-arrange it a bit more, bike tyres were checked, shoes readied, a bit more re-arranging.... and then time to get ready myself, on with the HRM strap and then zip into the oh so sexy tri-suit (not a good look and certainly an incentive to train more to lose weight)... finally a liberal layer of body glove applied to exposed skin and then the fight into the wet suit. Knackered already.

Race briefing, trudge to the water, wish the boss "good luck" and then into the cold wet stuff and prepare for the start, do a few casual strokes to the back of the pack and wait, and wait....

The foghorn goes and we're off, I quickly settle into my stroke rhythm which is nothing like my training, no idea why, but as soon as I'm in a race I'm breathing every stroke and only to the right, something I clearly need to work on. Fully aware that to beat my boss I need for him to have a bad swim and push, hard, too hard as I'll find when I stagger out of T1.... anyway the swim passes I'm with a group of about 5 people the whole way around the course, although towards the end I just seem to lose them, my original plan had been to get on the feet of someone and try and follow them around the course, but then no plan ever survives the first contact (or something) Towards the end of the swim I increase my kick to try and get blood moving more and so avoid staggering out of the lake and getting all light headed, suddenly my stroke seems a lot better and although I'm not exactly flying along, it feels better, smoother and less effort, clearly there is some thing in this using your feet more lark (note made for winter training)

....touch the bottom with my fingers and get up, step forward and stagger into a deeper bit, continue forward and on to the carpet to get out, when requested shout the number "10" at the time keeper so she can record my swim time, then look at my hand "err actually 24" and run / splash / stagger into transition. As I fight my wetsuit I get asked by another competitor for hand with her zip which seemed to be stuck, help her and continue battling my wetsuit, put on crash helmet, cycle shoes, watch, grab bike and head out on to the bike, legs still a little unsteady, smile as I pass the bosses bike still waiting for its owner, cross the mount line, put feet on to cleats, slide off pedals, swear, concentrate and try again....

The out is easy a nice tailwind pushing me along, suck on a gel pack, and take on some fluid, this is going to be hard, already I can feel my lack of leg power.... and know that the battle will be lost, just a matter of time before the boss blasts past on his wunder-bike...

Just over half way through the second lap it happens, with a "Keep pushing Dave!" the boss goes past, however not one to give up I do keep pushing, I'm still suffering from a lack of power but again I seemed to have found a rhythm that is working, I continue and although I've not checked my times, I feel as though the laps are getting quicker, certainly getting easier, 5 laps gone and back into transition, rack the bike, off with the helmet, off with the sun glasses now that the sun has set, change shoes, grab feed bottle and out on to the run course....

....now my legs really hurt, I keep pushing and although it feels slow and odd, I'm hitting 5 minute / km's which is my target, would prefer to be slightly under, but this will do while I "find" my running legs.

The first lap is hard, the second feels easier and I'm able to push the pace a little, again I feel stronger and faster towards the end of the leg, and the race.

No idea on times yet, I would say that overall it seemed slower than my first race, and it felt harder, no idea why, just one of those days, or maybe I just got it all wrong, the swim wasn't that comfortable until the end when I started using my legs more effectively, the cycle took a while to get going, and the first lap of the run was just painful....

Still enjoyed it though, and I'm still looking forward to my next triathlon, not sure about the 10K on Sunday though, but that's another story.

Results / Time
Official Time - 1 hour 29 minutes 5 seconds
:-(

Swim : 18:28 (disaster - worse time ever!)
T1 : 2:49
Cycle : 42:47
T2 : 0:38
Run : 25:01