Trentham Triathlon - July 2008
I didn't do this race last year because it clashed with Salford, but there's no Salford this year, so back I went to Trentham. It's a lovely backdrop for a race and a good family destination for a weekend away. That's what we did, got ourselves organised nice and early, booked ourselves into the Premier Travel Inn that's actually on the site and made a family break out of it. This is another fun2tri race and as such I expected, and got, a well organised race. I did have mixed feelings going into the race though as I've had a rather chequered history when it comes to this race. I've always enjoyed going here and have always been happy enough with how things have been organised and suchlike, but I've never really managed to have a race that just went well and without incident. So, I was hoping that this time would be different in that respect.
The morning began well, being able to tumble out of the hotel room at seven for a ten past eight start was lovely. We got our suncream and what have you sorted before we came out, a pretty leisurely start for a race morning. I still had plenty of time to get my bike racked, work out what was happening where and pay the obligatory extra visit to the toilet. Triathlon - one of the very few times when the queue for the ladies is the shorter line! When we got down to the lake the Half Ironman competitiors were already well on with their swim, we cheered them as they came out of the water. The weather was looking set to be very hot and sunny, it was clear and already warm so early.
My first sign of trouble appeared when I tried to get ready to go in for my swim. I couldn't get my wetsuit on properly, it just got stuck on the suncream on my arms and wouldn't slide into the correct position. I spent ages trying to reposition it, it just wouldn't go. In the end I had to go with the theory that it would adjust itself once it had water in it. The swim was 500m in a very shallow lake, beginning with a congested start of all the sprint men and women together. Intitally when we got into the water to get acclimatised I was feeling pretty hopeful, the water was reasonably warm, I filled the suit right away and put my face into the water - zero visibility, just muck (literally all I could see was blackness!) but I wasn't phased this time. I managed to maintain a little space around me and got going right away after the count down for the start. I very quickly found out that my suit wasn't going to right itself and I felt very uncomfortable. I found it very tiring and was out of breath doing such a short swim because I was fighting against the suit instead of swimming with it. So much for a wetsuit making swimming easier, it didn't this time. The other people in the water didn't worry me, not even during the total logjam around the first buoy, we basically had to stop to get around it. Then some idiot thought butterfly leg kicks would be a good idea, he was kicking everybody in sight. I got out of the way and got on with the job in hand. I didn't enjoy the swim at all, it was such hard work with the suit not being right. I was very, very glad to be able to clamber out of the water.
This race had an extra transition area, there was a compulsory shoe transition once we'd climbed out of the water because the run to transition itself was so long and on very gravelly pathways. I plodded up to it feeeling rather cheesed off with how my race had begun, hopped over the low fence and stripped the suit off before all the water could drain out of it. At least I got the stupid thing off easily enough! I pulled on my old race trainers, I didn't want to wear the ones I'd want for the run later and end up running in soaking wet shoes. That turned out to be a good call as the transition shoes were soaked. It really was a very long run to transition and quite a few people that I had emerged from the water ahead of went past me as it went on. Still, I got there, found my bike without any trouble and took my time about getting myself sorted. I was feeling rather negative after the swim and wanted to make sure that everything was right before I went on to the next thing. Swim time wasn't credited until all that was done and so I ended up witha time of 16:57, still faster, would you believe, than my previous best here of 18:37! The set up wasn't quite the same but I doubt it made much difference over all, the actual swim route was the same and there was a very long transition both times, so I expect I did still manage to do better. That'll no doubt be due to the improvements I've made to my swimming since I last raced there and to the fact that I'm calmer about open water swimming in general these days.
The tone of the race changed once I got out on my bike. As soon as I was up and running, feet clipped into my pedals, I felt that all was right with the world again. I love being on my bike, I felt able to push myself and I began to relax into it a bit more. The course is on public roads but they weren't too busy at that time on a Sunday morning. The route is probably best described as undulating, but the ups are balanced out by the downs and I felt I was going okay. I used my tri bars quite a bit, on the flats and on the downhill sections, I even managed to pass quite a few people. Of course, some also passsed me, but then that's to be expected. I stood for quite a few of the climbs and managed to maintain cadence and gearing ready for the next section, I felt things were going quite well. The bike was a 2 lap 23K course, so the second time round I was probably a bit faster as I was more sure of what I was doing and my legs had got going more fully. It also meant I could come around for the kids and Daniel to cheer me on, which they did a very good job of. In the end I was credited with a time of 50:12, my best bike time for this race- in fact, my best ever 23K cycle time by about 45 seconds. I was very pleased with that.
When I got back into transition it was to chaos, the people around me appeared to have thrown their stuff anywhere and everywhere, however, I managed to extricate my shoes and cap, shove a bike up a bit so I could get mine onto the rack and get myself sorted to go out and run. By this time it ws getting really rather warm. I didn't feel that I had very good running legs, but I got out there and did what I could. The run was a 2 lap 5K along the side of the lake. Very nice setting but boy, was it hot - I dread to think what it was like for the Half Ironman runners on such a hot day. I ran most of the second lap with another competitor and we had a bit of a chat, that was nice and helped a bit to keep me going. It just didn't feel great today, not one of my best runs, but I kept at it and I came home in 30:48. Not a stunning time, not even by my own standards, but it was all that seemed to be in my legs this time. However, that said, it was still enough to take me to a race PB, knocking 3 and a half minutes off my previous time for this race. I completed the course in 1:37:57, improving on my previous 1:41:15. I was pleased with that. Overall I enjoyed the race, but it would be nice to race Trentham and actually have a good swim for once! Still, I won't make that mistake again, no suncream underneath the wetsuit!
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