Two pots of instant porridge later and I packed up the hotel room and made my way downstairs to the car, and a painful 40mph (average speed cameras) drive across to the National Water Sports centre. The conditions however, could literally not be more perfect. Cloudless sky, and windless conditions. Excellent.
When I arrived the centre was already a hive of activity and I found myself a parking spot and began to unload all of my gear I would need for the day. I found it strange this year I wasn't really particularly nervous, but was becoming nervous for fear of not being nervous enough if that even makes sense. Worried I was becoming over confident!
I got to transition which was a pretty cramped affair and managed to set out my stuff the way I wanted it, and put my wetsuit on. It was by this point I was in severe need of a toilet stop, which I began the long queue for at 6:10am, the race was due to kick off at 6:30am. 10 minutes later I was still queueing and the organisers were beginning to gather my wave at the water! One seriously quick toilet stop later and I was jogging down to the water front still grappling with my wetsuit to try and get it on, now I was getting nervous!
I finally managed to get the suit done up, hat on, goggles sorted and in the water with a couple of minutes to spare. One of the great things about this race is the wave starts, and the space you get. I seeded myself in the faster group to the left hand side, with ample room to spare. 1 minute to go, watch ready googles sorted, ready to go. 10, 9, 8... you get the picture! We were off, immediately I found a good amount of space and was swimming nicely with room either side, perfect! The water itself absolutely stank though and was seriously full of weeds. At times it felt like you were fighting through it slightly.
The long outward leg was fairly uneventful, and due to this set to be the longest swim I'd done all year I wasn't expecting too much in the way of pace, eventually the halfway mark came without incident, I steered clear of the buoys to prevent any biff, and was shortly round the second turn buoy and back towards transition. Quick check of the watch showed 16 mins which I was more than happy with. On the way back in I managed to find a great pair of feet to follow in which I'm sure saved me a minute or so. I throttled back a touch in the slipstream and felt good.
Eventually the swim exit loomed and I began to kick to wake the legs up slightly, up and out of the exit feeling decent, albeit with a bit extra weed plant life attached to me! Swim time 33:34
Now the bike has always been my favourite discipline and given the conditions I hoped this would be no different, especially as an already fast flat course. I managed a 2:47 here last year so hoped to better this. I set out riding to a fairly inspecific power goal of around 220-240, managing it as I went and comparing power to heart rate so as not to over exert myself. The bike course was brilliant fun and went mostly without drama. My garmin decided to enter a sort of diagnostic mode a couple of times which was a bit annoying but nothing a quick reset couldn't sort. I felt good for most of the bike, and was on top of my nutrition nicely. I had to make a toilet stop at the first aid station which cost me a minute or so, this was as a result of waking up so dehydrated and drinking so much in the morning! Toward the latter end of the bike my quads began to become a bit full of lactate, which was annoying as they really shouldn't have considering I was going reasonably easy. I began to push a bit more the last 10 miles, as I was coming up on a bit of traffic and wanted to get past, and I was still feeling really good by this point. Much different to last year where I was falling apart at this stage!
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| Thumbs up! Feeling good. |
Eventually onto the last mile and I did a few short bursts out of the saddle to wake myself up a bit. Into T2 with a bike split of 2:36, 10 minutes improved from the year before. 22mph average with an average power of 214w. Quite a bit less than what I was expecting to ride to, possibly as a result of the morning dehydration. Happy nonetheless to come in quicker and with plenty left for the run. T2 was dealt with in
2:07 and I was off out onto the run course feeling pretty good.
I started off the run at sub 8min mile pace which was probably too quick but I felt good so just ran by feel, I ended up turning off my garmins HR warning as I was pushing 168bpm by this point. High, but I felt good so just rolled with it. A couple of miles in and still feeling well. The run went largely without incident and felt as good as you can throughout. Had to make two toilet stops for a minute or two each time which was a little frustrating but something I've come to expect consuming so much caffeine. I concentrated on a rhythm and just kept tapping away. Walking aid stations where I felt I needed to.
The grass section was a bit energy sapping and the toe path was congested at times, especially with members of the public still being allowed on!
The last lap of the lake was tough and the sun was beating down by this point, but I was still feeling ok so began to push a bit on the last leg. I knew I'd probably just missed out on a 5:10 finish but under 5:15 was still on the table and a sub 2-hour half, so I kept going.
Down the finish chute, and you just can't beat that feeling. Smile says it all!
Looking forward to the next BIG block of training now IMUK is very near indeed. Need to get three or so big 100 mile rides in the legs and a couple of big runs before the taper. Started back to try and train today but only managed a 500m swim and a couple of minutes running, due to picking up the biggest blister I've ever seen on my left foot. Something I didn't notice on the run, but definitely did afterwards! Product of not changing socks in T2 I think. Lesson learned!
Great effort Tom - well done!
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