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

Photographs

Waiting for the Start	By the Pool
The Swim	Run to Transition
The Bike	Etwall
Running Out	Busy Road
Transition	Finishing Line
Last Stretch	Nearly There

This year saw my seventh running of the Derby Triathlon, a run that I'd like to keep up.  I enjoy this race and certainly wouldn't want to miss it.  I can't quite believe that I've been doing triathlon long enough to have done anything seven times, but it would seem that I have.  This is always a good race, a beginner friendly one which is probably why it was the first race that I ever really enjoyed.  The first time I raced there was my make or break for triathlon, was I going to keep doing it or was I going to decide that it really wasn't for me after all.  All this way down the line you can see what I chose and Derby was a large part of that.  This year looked a little different as there is building work going on at the school where the race is based.  This didn't much affect things, it simply meant that transition had moved a bit nearer to the school buildings, and that I had to spend a couple of minutes looking at the new layout and making sure I knew where I needed to go.  A race ref came to ask if I was okay while I tried to suss it out, his comment being that I looked like I was thinking, something a triathlete shouldn't do unless it's about getting psychiatric help!

Anyway, onto the race.  My start time was a very civilised 10:44am, so there was no need for dragging everybody out of bed, we were able to get up and out at a calm pace.  We were there in plenty of time, there's never that much traffic on a Sunday morning, it took less than an hour and a half to get there.  We easily got parked in the designated field and I was in and registered with time to faff around in transition and suss things out.

I felt very nervous standing on the poolside, not about being able to do the race but about how it would go.  I never get to this one feeling prepared enough.  I think it's problematic for a teacher, it's always manic at the start of September and I never seem to get enough training in while I adjust to the new school year and the demands of my new class.  That's all even more so this time as I'm getting my head around a new school and increased hours at work.  So, it's safe to say I wasn't feeling as well prepared as I'd have liked to.  Mind you, I've done better than I often do in September - I've cycled to and from work a few times and managed a few other bits and pieces.  A whole lot better than nothing.

The swim takes place in the school pool and comprises 16 lengths to make up the 400m.  I was interested in the race briefing on the poolside to hear stated the idea of waiting at the wall if someone tags your feet.  I've heard many times that it's the accepted thing to do but have never before heard it stated at the start of a race.  It didn't make any difference anyway, I caught a few people and got held up behind their feet, nobody made any effort to wait at the end of the length, so it was still  a case of squeezing past where you could or waiting behind them and hoping they'd get out soon!  I didn't get very held up I could have been very marginally faster, but I swam a good time so I'm not going to worry about that.  My watch read 7:39 as I climbed out of the water, close to my P.B. for the distance.  I was creditted with an official time of 10:17 due to the length of the transition between the swim and the bike.  That was faster than I've done before, whether because of the moving of transition or me swimming faster, I don't know.  Probably a mixture of the two as my swimming is generally faster this year.

So, out onto the bike.  This course is an undulating 18K around the local villages and is a pretty pleasant ride.  I pushed hard, I really wanted to improve my time this year.  I'd managed a year on year improvement up until last year - last year I didn't do better than previous attempts, so I really wanted to this time.  I was thinking about my cadence quite a bit and trying to keep it up.  I had quite a fun ongoing battle with a bloke for quite a bit of the cycle route.  We clearly had skills in different parts of the bike, so he overtook me up hills and I clawed it back downhill and on the flat.  Eventually I mamanged to stay ahead of him.  It's fun to have someone to battle with at times.  I pushed hard all the way around and completed the course in 43:06, not my best time for the course, but a pretty respectable one all the same.

Looking at my watch as I came into T2 I knew I had a reasonable chance of a P.B if I could just hold it together on the run.  I've always found the run for this race very hard.  This is partly because I've never done enough running going into it (certainly the case this time) and partly because of the short but steep killer hill going out of transition and up the school playing fields.  The hill took a slightly different route because of the moved transition but was still just as bad and involved steps now too - ugh!  I was determined this time though.  I slogged my way up there, determined not to stop and walk - that's been the fatal mistake in previous runnings.  So, I kept going.  It wasn't easy, that's hard work at any time but up out of transition, straight off the bike - yuk!  However, I dragged myself up there and then things got better.  The course from then is generally either gently up or gently down and I settled into a rhythm and was quite happy to hold it.  I knew I was pushing myself due to the lack of run training, probbaly heading for achey legs, but I could hold my pace.  I was very pleased to see that I could keep it going and so made sure that I did.  Heading back towards the school I knew I'd break into a new P.B. for the race as a whole and also for the run course.  My run was 30:09, a bout 2 minutes better than I've managed in previous years - certainly does pay not to stop and walk!

My overall time for the race was 1:23:32.  That's a full 3 minutes faster than my previous best.  Now some of that could be accounted for if transitions and things worked out shorter due to the moves, but not all of it.  So, I was very pleased with that.  I pushed myself and ended up feeling it was well worth having done so.  And my support crew were there for me, wearing their sweatshirts and shouting as I ran to the finish.  It's always nice to come home to that.  A really good day.  Roll on next year!