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

Photographs

Allerthorpe Country Park

This was my second and final olympic distance race for this year and I approached it feeling pretty hopeful.  My preparation had been okay, better than the run up to the last one, that's for sure.  I never do quite as much in the summer holidays but it had been working out so that I was still getting a fair amount of training fitted in.  That really, was why I started making sure I had an August race, to stop from me from downing tools for six weeks, losing loads of condition and fitness while putting on weight - not a good combination, especially as I then always wanted to race in September.  Anyway, I was feeling pretty good, I'd done a reasonable amount of training and I knew the venue, having raced the sprint distance there earlier in the year.  I always feel better if I know what I'm going to.  In fact, I was quietly hoping for a good time as my training has been consistently okay this year and I'd managed a fast time on the sprint course.  I hoped it'd be a pretty speedy course and that I'd be able to put it together on the day.

However, the sight that greeted me when I got out of bed at 5am was nearly enough to make me want to crawl straight back under the duvet.  I'd been awake since 4, listening to the rain against the window, it was absolutely pouring.  I just had to go for hoping it would clear up as it looked atrocious.  The kids were away at Daniel's Dad's, so at least I wasn't worrying about their reaction to heading out in such foul conditions, but Daniel wasn't feeling too good and was only coming along because he's a hero and knew I didn't fancy going alone!  Things didn't improve as we drove towards the venue, in fact they appeared to be getting worse.  The rain was torrential and required the wipers quite often to be on the fastest setting so we could peer through the window at the vast amounts of standing water - lovely!  The nearer we got , the more nervous I became, I didn't much fancy cycling in those conditions.  I didn't think it mattered too much for the swim or the run but I really didn't like the idea of cycling in such nasty weather - the visibility was rubbish for a start.  Driving onto the field for parking was fun in itself, it was really muddy and slippy - we were worried about whether everybody would be able to get off again (so were very pleased to see all the gravel that had been put over it by the end of the race, nobody had any trouble getting out at all - very good thinking on somebody's part).

As I got my stuff out of the car and wandered off to transition I wasn't feeling at all comfortable about things.  Poor Daniel was quite concerned and saying that he wasn't sure I should do the race at all.  I registered myself in slow motion and got myself into transition with some reluctance.  I certainly had very mixed feelings, I'd been looking forward to the race and training for and it goes against the grain to give up on something, but on the other hand I was feeling very unhappy about how bad the conditions were - ugh!  I did quite a bit of umming and ahhing about what to wear, but part of the decision was made for me when I realised I'd left my race number belt at home.  So, I pinned my numbers to my lightweight jacket and decided that wearing it in the cold and wet conditions was probably for the best anyway.  Then I went to find somewhere indoors to put my wetsuit on, to try and avoid it getting too wet before I was actually in it - there's enough contortions involved in getting it on as it is!  By that point I'd made the decision, I was racing no matter what - I hadn't done all that work, got up early and trailed all the way over there for nothing.  I was going to race.

I stood in the holding pen before the start chatting with a few other members of Wakefield Tri, always nice to see a friendly face at these things.  I also found myself explaining the swim route.  The lake isn't that big and so the swim loops around the lake and then inside itself before heading back to shore.  Iwas feeling pretty confident about it as it was the same as the sprint distance one except for being the opposite way around and there being two laps to do instead of one this time.  In a first for me, the two laps were separated by a quick run along the lakeside before returning to the water for the second time around!  We were given warm up in the water before the first wave start, then herded into our pens to await the off.  There were 3 waves with the fastest predicted swim times going first, followed 2 minutes later by the likes of me and then a further 2 minutes later for those who thought they'd swim more slowly.

The swim was fine.  I found the first 750m really quite physical, a bit of a contact sport.  There appeared to be rather a lot of bumping and thumping going on - I got kicked and thumped on the head and pushed down and generally banged about.  Thankfully I wasn't too bohered and simply swam a little further than strictly necessary in order to give the buoys a wider berth.  That was probably quicker than the scrum route anyway!  We were given a band as we ran along the bank to prove that we had done the requisite number of laps, I attached it to my wrist and got on with the second half of the swim (I was strangely pleased to note later in the cycle section that it said 'hope' on it, a good sentiment for the day I felt).  I found it rather easier second time around as the crowd had thinned out a bit and it was easier to get into some sort of rhythm and swim.  Mind you, I was a little worried about slightly crampy feeling toes and I did have to pause to let water out of my goggles, but it was basically uneventful and I completed the full 1500m in 29:09.  I was well pleased with that, not my fastest ever time for the distance, but then the PB was set without a run in the middle of it!

So I ran off to transition, managing to begin the wetsuit removal as I went.  I found my place without any trouble.  I think my transition was okay, a few things made it marginally slower, but not dreadfully so.  I had quite a dizzy moment and spent a while trying to detach my wetsuit from my timing chip on my left ankle and not fall over as a reuslt of a spinning head at the same time.  I also had a bit of struggle getting my jacket on, it's always fun trying to put clothes on when you're wet - yuk!  Still, the weather was chilly and grey so the jacket was definitely the way to go.  In fact, very unusually for me, I left my sunglasses in my transition box.  I shoved my jelly beans in my pocket, made sure my helemt was properly attached and hobbled my way along the blue carpet to the mount line.

As ever, I felt good once I was out on the bike.  I always feel I can settle down then, try and find a good cadence and get on with the job.  I spent the whole race on the bigger chainring and simply changed gear within that to keep my cadence in the right area.  I was pushing pretty hard but feeeling pretty good and the conitions were greatly improved.  It wasn't raining any more, there were big puddles but most of them could be avoided.  There wasn't that much traffic around and I was quite enjoying being out there.  It is a pretty flat and fast bike course and it wasn't even all that windy.  I enjoyed it.  I made sure I got my nutrition in too, drinking pretty much my entire bottle of juice as I rode, but only managing about half of the jelly beans as I lost them partway through.  Usually I would have them in the back pocket of my tri-suit, but with wearing the jacket they were in an ordinary pocket and they must have fallen out.  Thinking back I probably heard them go as there was an odd sound and I did wonder what it was, but then when I went for some jelly beans they weren't there.  Oh well, nothing could be done about that, so I just got on with the rest of the race.  I completed the 40K bike route in 1:22:57.  Again, not my fastest ever over that distance, but not far off either.  A good time and I was pleased with it.

My second transition went okay, I think I managed to turn myself around pretty quickly.  I nearly forgot to attach my second drink to myself as I headed out, I'm very glad that I didn't as I needed it as the run went on.  I wasn't feeling immensely energetic by that point and by about of a third of the way through the run I had started to feel a bit lacking in oomph.  Not having the drink would have been a step too far, a good blast every 10 minutes just helped to keep my energy levels high enough.  I found some of the run quite hard.  I'm not that great at running on grass anyway and the tree rooty bits down by the canal were hard going.  However, I did encounter the return of a spring in my step once I reached the turnaround point.  I always feel better knowing I'm on my way back, even when I knew it wasn't quite half way because of the lap of the lake before the finish!  I tried to push on a bit between the 8K and 9K markers because it was on the road and easier running for me than the grass and gravel that I knew was still to come.  I ran around the lake with another competitor and then finally enjoyed a sprint finish.  It was great to hear my name called out, to see Daniel there waiting for me and to look at my watch and realise that I'd done what I'd set out to do.  My time for the 10K run was 1:01:24, okay but not brilliant.  But what was great was how it all fitted together.  None of my separate times were PBs in themselves, but the overall time was.  I managed to string it all together better than I ever have done before and managed my best ever Olympic Triathlon time of 2:53:30.  Quite a bit better than my previous best of 2:56:05!  I was very pleased with that, very pleased indeed.  I really enjoyed the race and completed it very hot and bothered as the sun came out during the run and I had to tie my jacket around my waist while still allowing my number to be seen, but it was far too hot for wearing it by the end.  So, a great day and a race I would gladly do again.