The best inspiration is not to outdo others, but to outdo ourselves

This was probably my last trip to Stratford for this race in the forseeable future.  Not because of the race itself, which I really enjoy doing, but because of it's distance from home.  We're trying to find races rather nearer here for next year, trying to cut down on the fuel and accommodation bills that go with racing.  It can become a very expensive business, especially with prices rising as they are doing at the moment.  And what a trip it was!  We made a bit of a thing of it this time and stayed down near Stratford, after all, we've generally just blasted in and out for the race and it's a nice place for a visit.  It was great to have a family weekend away, not so sure about the race day weather though.  We woke up this morning to torrential rain - lovely.

We arrived at the leisure centre really early to ensure that we found a parking space in plenty of time, the traffic wardens in Stratford are very quick off the mark.  As it was we found a space without any trouble at all.  I went to register while everybody else hid from the weather in the car!  As I neared registration I heard an announcement over the loudspeaker that they were running about 20 minutes late, it seemes that the fire alarm had been going off earlier in the day and that the race had been stopped for safety reasons.  So, I duly registered and got myself branded with the legend - 660, then hurried back through the downpour to the car.  We then wandered into Stratford to find some breakfast.  We'd eaten in a nice cafe the day before and decided to go back there, they could all have a cooked breakfast and I'd be quite happy with a drink and a toasted teacake - I don't tend to feel much like eating before a race.  It was a pleasant run up to a race.  We had plenty of time to eat and wander back, I wasn't feeling at all stressed by timings, always a good start.

By the time I was racking my bike though I was starting to feel really nervous - mostly due to the unpleasant conditions.  Here comes my list of extenuating circumstances!  I've not done much training because I'm still trying to work out how everything will fit into my new work schedule, I've put on a little weight because I was eating rubbish due to new job stress ( and that needs to stop right now!), the weather was atrocious and I hadn't been on my race bike since my last race - which didn't fill me with confidence heading out onto wet, slippy and busy roads.  So, by the time I was waiting for my start on the poolside I felt positively sick - yuk!

Daniel and the kids came in to watch the swim, they stationed themselves up in the viewing gallery and waved like mad while I was waiting.  My swim went pretty well, not my fastest ever time for 400m, but a pretty good one all the same.  I was still well under 8 minutes, I will definitely have to change my predicted times for next year.  All this season I've been needing to overtake people because my times have dropped and what I thought was a realistic time based on last year's efforts turned out to be nothing of the sort.  I felt very, very sick for at least the first half of the swim, it was quite unpleassant.  However, I was out in 7:45 and gingerly picking my way down the slippy metal steps and out into the weather.

My transition went okay, I'd found a racking spot directly in front of the bike out, so I knew I'd be able to find my bike easily.  This I did, although I was still quite a while in transition as I stopped to put on a jacket and to make sure I was properly zipped into it.  As I headed out on my bike I felt quite unsure and a little unsteady.  My tri bike feels completely different from the one I've been riding to and from work, however, I soon settled down and felt at home on it again.  My cycle went okay (barring a rather close shave with a caravan right near the beginning - the car missed me fine but they clearly weren't paying enough attention to what was happening behind them).  It was hard work out on the bike, pretty cold and very, very windy.  It was also very wet, but it was really the wind that was the main issue.  All the way around the 23K course I was fighting against the wind, whether that was head on or with it buffeting me from the side.  My cycle time wasn't a fast one and I can't say I'm surprised, nearly all the lost time from my PB time to today's time disappeared out on the bike course.  I completed it in 56:35.

When I got back into transition I wasn't especially fast, it's that trying to persuade cold fingers to do as they are told!  Still, I managed to detach my helmet and get my running shoes on before heading out for the run.  I knew it was going to be very muddy, I'd seen the state of some of the returning runners and heard the cheering announcements about how bad the conditions were - it was all true.  The parts of the run course nearest to the leisure centre had just become a mud bath - it was very unpleasant.  I was running very slowly on those sections and without much commitment, I was far more interested in staying on my feet.  That in itself wasn't an easy task, many feet before mine had slithered and slipped across the mud, it was deep, wet and extremely slippy.  At one point I nearly lost my shoe as the mud sucked at it and the elastic laces thought about stretching that bit too far!  I tried to push it a bit more on the path sections and managed a reasonable flow there before facing more mud on the return towards the fininsh - two laps of that.  Lovely!  I completed my run in 30:22, not great but quite respectable in the circumstances.

My overall time was 1:34:42.  I'm quite happy with that considering all of the situation.  The important thing being that I enjoyed racing and am glad that I was out there - horrible weather or not.  It rather epitomises the spirit of triathlon for me - bloody minded in the face of adversity!  And a special mention has to go to the marshals who were out there braving the weather.  They were doing a brilliant job, managing to seem really cheerful and making a big effort to cheer everybody on.  Brilliant, it makes a difference, especially on a day like today.  They must have been so cold and wet and they were still giving it their all.  Thank you!