Salford Triathlon - July 2006
Watching the Elites
This race is a bit different to the others that I've taken part in this year. For a start, it's twice the length of the others, but it's also an ITU race, so there was the opportunity to see the experts at work. So that's what I did, I completed my efforts and then enjoyed standing on the sidelines giving my support to the elite women, unfortunately we weren't able to stay long enough to cheer on the men. It was fantastic to see three of GBs girls racing right up at the front until the final run, Liz Blatchford, Annaliese Heard and Julie Dibens all did a brilliant job, but were all outrun by a strong looking Samantha Warriner. I wish I looked like that at the end of a race!
The Race
I took part in this race for the first time last year, 2005. It was my first ever attempt at an Olympic distance race and I was happy simply to finish. Which I did. Last year's time was 3:16:39, not impressive by most people's standards, but I was ecstatic to have met the challenge of completing the race. This year my focus was a little different, having proved to myself that I was capable of going the distance, I wanted to improve on my time. Daniel had set me the challenge of working towards getting under 3 hours in the next few years and that seemed like a goal worth going for. I still wasn't concerned about what anybody else was doing, but I did want to beat myself. To that end I have stepped up my training this year, by starting serious training earlier on in the year and by focussing specifically on certain areas which I'll go into as I come to them. Last year I managed 8 weeks of proper training, following a schedule for beginners that I found in 'Runner's World' magazine, it was designed for runners who wanted to branch out and cross train, but it got me through last year's race quite well. So this year the plan was to follow the whole training programme, which was 12 weeks, but to begin in February and see it through twice in the year with a 2 week break in between. This was mostly accomplished, there were a few blips due to illness in the first 12 weeks but things went pretty well after that. I've managed to keep my motivation quite high this year, which has sustained me through all the getting up at 5am to train!
The Swim - 1500m
Last year I managed the swim in 39:33. I wasn't entirely pleased with that because I didn't get on very well with the open water swimming, I found it impossible to put my face in the murky water and ended swimming with my head stuck up at an uncomfortable angle. Not conducive to good form. Before last year's training I hadn't been able to swim far using front crawl, so my main focus had been to work on endurance to enable me to make the distance. I was also so worried about getting kicked and losing my goggles and possibly my contact lenses that I waited at the start until everybody else had moved off before I got going. I was determined that this year would be different. I organised some 1:1 swimming lessons with an instructor from 'Swimtime', she really helped me to improve my form and my efficiency in the water. I felt a lot more confident as a result of my work with her and I knew that I was going further in the same time in training, but without expending any more effort. There were a lot of elements of my stroke that were altered, but once I became used to doint hings that way they cetainly improved matters. She also explained to me how to do some of the drills mentioned in the training schedule that I hadn't quite understood. So I think I was training more effectively all round. I also joined with 'Wakefield Tri Club's' open water swimming session at Pugney's Lake one weekend, just to prove to myself that I could swim properly in open water. When it came to race day I was determined, I was going to start off with everybody else, I was going to be confident and swim my own race, I was going to keep calm and swim as I'd been doing in training. And do you know what? I did. The swim went really well, I got on with it, I found my rhythm and I felt confident in my ability. And the result? 31:37! Almost 8 minutes faster than last year's effort. I was alos helped by a tip I picked up recently about preventing goggles from steaming up, a dab of baby shampoo in each lense does the trick! I could see the whole way round, this helps!
The Bike - 40K
Last year's bike time was 1:33:22. I hadn't had a proper tri bike for all that long and I was only just starting to feel confident on it. This year's prolonged run up has helped with my confidence and bike handling, simply because I've been on it so much. In February I was out in the freezing cold in all the winter gear, sometimes even with snow and ice around! I've put in a lot of miles on the bike and have concentrated on pushing myself to go faster, on learning to use my gears better and on improving my bike handling and cornering skills. More recently I've also had a couple of additions to my bike that I've been trying to use to improve my efforts. I got a fairly basic bike computer so I could keep an eye on my general speed, distance covered etc.. Then I finally got around to getting my tri bars fitted to the bike and getting down to using them. I was very wobbly the first few times, it changes your centre of gravity and my balance needed to be regained. I found a flatish, straightish bit of the ring road and zoomed up and down until I'd got used to them. I definitely used my gears better than last year, I made use of the tri bars and I found I could corner pretty quickly, a definite advantage on such a twisty and technical bike course. And my time? 1:22:11, 11 minutes better than last year's time. I tried hard and felt good while doing it. One of the marshalls kept calling to me that it was nice to see someone smiling, but I felt great, things were going well.
The Run - 10K
My run time for last year's race was 1:00:27. I didn't really expect to do much better this time. I've done quite a bit of running this year but most of it was earlier in the year. I did a couple of half marathons and some 10Ks, the running for the training schedule was going well too, but then I picked up a minor injury. The physio I saw said I had minor Achilles Tendonitis and Plantar Fascilitis, anyway, it hurt. So I've been icing my feet and trying not to push my luck while still getting some training in. I did finally do some speed work, but I'm still slow! Still, I felt pretty good once I got onto the run, apart from the fact that my feet were objecting to my shoes. I don't know quite what happened there, they're the same shoes that I usually wear to race, but I did my feet a nasty. Blisters on both heels and on the inside of both feet too, they'd rubbed raw by the end of the race. Ouch! Still despite that I finished my 10K in 58:51, about a minute and a half better than last year. I was happy with that.
The Finish
As I expect you've worked out as we've gone along, my finishing time was quite a bit better than last year's. I managed the whole lot in 2:56:05, a full 20 minutes better than last year! I was so excited. As I ran I realised what I could do, that I could manage to get under the 3 hour mark and I had to give myself a talking to, to get mysef to calm down and keep at it so I'd manage it. And I did! I enjoyed the whole race, it was brilliant, well organised and with a great atmosphere. Roll on next year, because I'll be there. Maybe I can work on that run between now and then!