Blithfield Triathlon - August 2007
This was a new race for this year, run by Punishing Events. I entered it because I wanted to keep myself going over the summer. The last couple of years I've done Salford and then totally run out of motivation to train, before suddenly realising in September that I'd left it too late to get ready properly for the next race. The theory was that I couldn't do that with another race on the horizon, especially an olympic distance that I'd never tackled before. It worked, I had a reason to get out there and so was quite happy to do so. I was quite nervous in the run up to it, mainly because I didn't know what to expect with it being a new race, but also because it was going to be another very early start and I was worried about a repeat of the migraine problems I encountered at Salford. Anyway, we were up at four o'clock and got the poor kids up at quarter to five, we were all out the door before five!
The race began with a 1500m swim in Blithfield Reservoir. The open water swimming practice has definitely helped, I felt pretty calm once I was in the water and managed to hold my own at the start. I swam my own swim and just got on with the fact that there were others around me. Mind you, it was a pretty well mannered swim on the whole, a bit of bumping and jostling at the beginning, but nothing to constitute a problem. It was quite pleasant going, a little choppy, but nothing to worry about. My main problem was the sighting. I'd worked out that I needed to swim straight out towards a house on the other bank to reach the first buoy and then turn left towards the second one. The first one worked fine, although for ages it didn't seem to be getting any closer! It was when I turned to sight for the second one that things got a little tricky. I simply couldn't see it, all I could see was the sun glinting off the water. I set off in what I thought was the right general direction, pausing every now and then to see if I could see it yet - I couldn't. I was also going on the assumption, possibly rash, that if other swimmers were going in roughly the same direction I was probably near enough to being right. There were people stopping and squinting and muttering about not being able to see, quite funny really. No doubt quite a few of us swam some extra there trying to work out where we should be going. Still I found it eventually and the third one was easier to see, followed by heading for the boat house and back to dry land. I wasn't surprised to see I'd been in the water for about 34 minutes, I definitely lost some time trying to work out where to go next, but I enjoyed the swim, so who cares about a few extra metres? It was a very long run to transition and so my final time for the swim, including running up to transition and generally getting sorted for the cycle, was 38:29.
I had no real idea how long the cycle section would take me. Having looked at the elevation chart on the website I knew the course was pretty much undulating from start to finish, so I didn't think my Salford times would be much of a guide. I told Daniel to expect me sometime between an hour and a half and two hours - well, it took me two and a quarter hours to do 40K when I did the Ashbourne Duathlon a couple of years ago (mind you, nobody could call that merely undulating!). My legs felt a little tired at the start of the cycle, but once I got going I felt pretty good. It was brilliant to be out there. It was a lovely morning, the sun was shining, there was hardly any traffic around, there were some great views on the route and I settled in to both pushing myself on and making sure I looked around myself and enjoyed being there. I was pleased with my time too, I completed the bike in 1:30:33, right at the faster end of my prediction, I was well chuffed with that.
The run was 10K in two laps along the banks of the reservoir. I'd been expecting that to be when I found out just how far behind everybody else I was. The entry list for the race wasn't enormous and that tends to mean that the entrants are generally more accomplished in their triathlon endeavours than me. I was really plodding on the run, I just can't seem to string a good run together at the moment. The ground was stony and I found it hard going, but I just kept at it. So I was genuinely amazed after my second turnaround to meet people still heading out, I thought I'd pretty much be the back of the field. It was nice to realise that I wasn't holding the proceedings up! I was really tired by the end of the run but nothing could have stopped me by then and I completed the run in 1:06:38.
This made my overall race time 3:15:40. I was really pleased with that, I'd set myself a target of getting in under three and a half hours, but really I wanted to beat 3:16:39 because that's what I did on my first attempt at Salford. I felt that as Blithfield was a much harder course, that would show the progress I'd made in the last couple of years. So all in all, I was very happy with how it went. I achieved my goals and had a lot of fun while I was doing it. A good race and I hope they run it again next year, I know I'd like to.
Comments
Post new comment