Big Cow National Sprint Championships - 27/5/12

This race was another one down in my plan to train through - still, I never want to put in duff performances. As it was I trained as normal through Friday and just had a light spin on the bike on Saturday.

This was my first real race of the year after the up against the elements slog to the death that was Marshman. Was also my first open water dip of the year (I tend not to practice open water so as not to cut further into my tiny weekly swim allowance) and first swim in my lovely new Sailfish G Range Wetsuit.

I was off in the penultimate wave, and managed to actually get myself ready with a minimal amount of rush and fuss, rather than the usual pissing about thinking I've got loads of time, then realising I should already be in the water type affair. I had a little warm up and found myself right in the middle (not my usual position) waiting for the start. The start of the swim was as frantic as expected with a variety of hands and arms trying to pull me back over the first 75 metres. After that it was clear water though, and once I'd recover from the initial oxygen deficit I felt good and swam on my own as the group out front had a bit of a gap on me. I've swum in the G Range Sailfish for 4 years now and am constantly amazed at how good I feel in it. Off the back of an average of 2.5 hours a week in the pool I was out of the water in 5th place in 9.59, and that included a 75 metre run to transition.

T1 was really quite poor. The initial process of wetsuit off/helmet on was fine, but as I took my bike and picked my sunglasses off the bars I dropped them and caught them between my arm and stomach. I was trying to run with the bike and roll them along my arm to my hand, but after about 10 seconds of this I dropped them and had to turn round and get them. Hit the mount line and went for my first jumped mount onto the bike - success. However, I put my left foot onto my shoe before my right, which caused the elastic band on the right to snap before my foot was there and started 15 to 20 seconds of me riding along with shoes getting stuck under pedals/veering about onto the grass etc. Amateur hour.

The bike leg was where I lost all the time today. Once again I'm at a loss at where I'm going wrong on the wheels. My training has all the elements, but on the day I was left 60 seconds down on my peers once again, which equated to 8-10 positions - and could have given an interesting run for the Age Group win.... I pushed, but the splits tell me once again it's just not good enough.

Back into T2 and it was pretty swift. On with the race flats and cap and off for the 2 lap 5.2km run. There were a lot of fast runners out there, so always people to work off and chase. It didn't feel awful, but was reflective of my lack of speedwork - although my pace wasn't bad, it felt like all I had was 3rd gear. Sprints aren't my focus, so the times are always going to be a little way off. I did go over on my ankle on the first lap (again!) but it wasn't enough to slow me done significantly.

Over the line to finish in 1:00:48. 13th overall and 3rd in my Age Group.

I told myself before the race that whatever position I was in, I would be content to go under 1:01:00. It doesn't work like that in reality though. I really shouldn't be dropping a minute on the bike, and if I hadn't, and the little T1 mistakes weren't there it would have been a more pleasing result.

Swim - happy. I've been going through a pretty good phase in the pool and this should equate to a 30-40 second improvement over 1500m from last year with no extra hours, just more focussed training....

Bike - rats. This will be turned around before the racing year is done....

Run - more speed will come. While my short distance speed is very similar to last year I have come endurance-wise which is what I'm after for middle distance.

2 solid weeks then Bala.....

Marshman Tri - 6/5/12

Well that was a toughie. First race out for the year and a little bit later than usual. I'm always a late starter, getting my year's training up and running in January rather than November time - but usually sneak a tri of some description in during April.

 The lead up to the race weather-wise had been truly abysmal - lots of rain and cold weather for a month or so. I try not to complain 24/7 about the cold, but I have very poor circulation and do really suffer. Consequently when the swim was called off 20 minutes before the start I (as did most others) breathed a very big sigh of relief. Regardless of the water temperature, the air temperature was still only 6 degrees and raining so to get on the bike after a swim would have been extremely tough.

So a 1900m/92k/21k race turned into 5.3k run + 92k/21k - a lot of running. I had't set any particular hopes for the race - just to put a stake in at the start of the season and identify current weaknesses. The lack of a swim gave me the chance to add an extra pair of socks - big bonus. The first run went off at a pretty crazy pace - leaving me in the latter half of the top 10, but happy to hold back 30 seconds in a 4 hour race.

Coming into transition I decided to take off my jacket - leaving me with trisuit and long sleeved top, a decision I really shouldn't have made! Out onto the very flat bike course and it was just a case of getting settled in for the 56 miles. I got through into 3rd/4th within the first 30 minutes but after that it was a lonely ride. By 40 minutes in my hands had frozen so much that I could get my bottle out of the cage but couldn't squeeze it, and my jaw was so cold I couldn't suck the drink out! Still had half a litre on the bars though and could get to my Stoats nutrition so it was enough to get me through.

Rolled into T2 at a smidge under 2 1/2 hours - not fantastic but looking at splits for the other guys it wasn't as bad as it felt. As soon as I went to change my shoes my body just seized. I'd long since lost feeling in hands/feet/legs etc, but as I tried to get my run shoes on a muscle completely locked up in my neck - evidently an effect of being in one position on the flat bike course. I managed to pick up my gels with my locked in position arm and ran/walked out of transition.

It took close to a mile to unlock my neck and actually get the gels into my pockets (and a further 2 to get the feeling back in my feet). The run really was just a case of grinding it out. There were no sort of distance markers or reference points of any sort - so it was just a case of running for 90 minutes and hoping I'd been running 7 minute miles! The story of the run: started in 3rd, got overtaken to 4th, overtook someone into 3rd. The end. It was as bad as I'd felt on any run in any race, and once 3rd was safe I actually walked a couple of aid stations just to hoover up coke and jaffa cakes (surprisingly easy to choke on while running I found...)

Over the line in 3rd, but due to a DQ and the winner Joe Skipper being an on the day entry I got the winners prize. A very tough race due to the conditions, and a real kicking at the start of the season - onwards and upwards has to be the way from here....