Salford Triathlon - July 2007
Well, this is the big one, the race that I start thinking about at the end of January. I keep planning this perfect run up to the race where I train effectively for months and then go to Salford and do really well. It doesn't seem to quite work out like that. As anybody who's read my other race reports for this year will know, illness and general disruption seems to have been the order of the day this year instead. So, I decided in the end that hoping to enjoy my race and do my best would be the better plan. No beating myself up if there weren't enormous gains made. Having said that, the last six weeks or so went much better and so I was at least approaching the race a bit more hopefully than I'd expected earlier in the year.
There was also an added dimension this year as I responded to an email from the Salford organisers, sent on behalf of one of their sponsors, asking for volunteers who'd done the race before to use their product and race in kit advertising said product. I replied saying I'd be interested but didn't really expect to hear any more. So I was really pleased when I received an email from someone at My Goodness Ltd. saying that I was on the team. The product that they were asking the team to use was 'For Goodness Shakes', a milkshake that is designed to aid your recovery. I was advised to drink it within 20 minutes of finishing a training session in order to boost my recovery, and therefore, hopefully, my performance. I figured this was well worth a try, and it turned pretty well as I found the drinks pleasant and easy to stomach after a hard workout. I was sent the chocolate and vanilla versions, there are also berry and banana, but that wouldn't really be to my taste. If you want to know more about their product then go to www.ForGoodnessShakes.com for all the information, they offer free samples too I believe. I expect you can tell from all this that I like their product.
Anyway, onto the race. I was a bit worried this year as the race drew nearer and I realised that certain changes had been made to the organisation. I wasn't especially impressed when I worked out that my start time was quite a bit early than my previous attempts and that I'd have to get up at 4am to get from Leeds to Salford within good time. This was especially important as they had moved bike racking from the Saturday to the Sunday morning - I didn't want to be running about in a panic just before the start. So, we left Leeds at half four to reach Salford around half five, just as transition was opening to allow bikes to be racked (but I still had to trek to Salford on the Saturday to register for the race!). I woke up feeling awful, really sick, I didn't know whether this was the unpleasantly early hour or whether it was because I was nervous about the race or what. Still, we got there with plenty of time to park, walk to transition, get myself organised and pay the necessary number of trips to the ladies!
The swim for this race is 1500m, and the main reason that I was more nervous again this year. I do get nervy about open water swimming anyway and the reason for the earlier start was that all of the age group starts had been telescoped together this year. Previously the ladies have gone off about an hour after the first group of men, this time it was a matter of minutes. The first group were setting off at 7:00, followed by a second group at 7:04, followed by all the women at 7:07! This made me really nervous as I was worried about the number of people that would be in the water. That's my problem with open water swimming, not the expanse of water, rather the claustrophobic feeling of being hemmed in by others, I'm always worried somebody will try and swim over the top of me again. So, I was concerned about faster men coming around to lap me (which didn't happen) and about catching up with and having to pass the slower men (which did). I went for determination. I know my swimming is okay, so I didn't hang back at the start, I got off straight away, going at my own pace and keeping a vague eye on where there was space to swim. Somebody did try to swim up my legs near the start and I kicked harder to move away from them and persuade them to go around, that appeared to work. After that, things went pretty well. It took me a little while to get into my rhythm, but once I did I just kept going. My goggles did a good job, no steaming up and no water in, so I could sight fine when I needed to. I came up to pass quite a few of the men who'd gone off before me and coped fine with swimming around them. A few didn't seem to appreciate it, some aggressive flailing, but I was able to swim on past. So, the swim felt pretty good and I was pleased to see that show up in my official times. Last year I completed the swim in 31:37, this year I recorded a time of 29:51. I was well chuffed with that - and it works out at 12th out of 21 in my age group!
The fourth discipline of Triathlon is the transition, and is not something that I'm particularly good at. Add to that the fact that this was another thing that had been changed for this year and my transition time was atrocious! I had a bit of a fight with my wetsuit, trying to persuade it to allow me to unzip it, but the run back to my bike was so very long that I still had it done in plenty of time. Once I got back to my bike, I got in a tangle trying to remove my suit from my feet, then managed to get it tangled around my pedals when I was unracking my bike, so I had to stop again to sort that out and shove it back into my box. Finally I was off and ready to cycle. Transition took a truly pathetic 5:44! That doesn't help your overall race time.
So to the bike. I like this bike course. It's 40K over 8 laps of reasonably flat roads that have been closed to traffic. It's great to race without having to take cars into account - you just need to keep your wits about you for the appearance of faster cyclists from every possible angle when you least expect them! It's also quite a technical course with lots of tight corners and confidence in your bike goes a long way. Some other competitors commented on finding being so mixed in with the men daunting due to aggressive passes, that wasn't my experience. Once again I enjoyed the camaraderie of triathlon all the way around. I felt that things were going pretty well, the sick feeling from earlier on had vanished about half through the swim and I went out onto the bike feeling a whole more human. However, half way through my cycle ride I was thrown something of a curve ball. I was just beginning the fifth lap when the tell-tale visual disturbances let me know that a migraine was on its way. The result being that I completed the second half with interested coloured patterns in front of my eyes. I was very glad I'd already done a few laps and pretty much knew where I should be going as my ability to see it was seriously diminished - probably not the best way to try and cycle at speed. Still, I made a decision to stick with it. There was no way I was giving up after working towards it for so long. And my cycle time? Well, I was really pleased with that too. Last year I managed it in 1:22:11. This year my time was recorded as 1:19:26, 15th out of the 21 in my age group. Not bad at all.
My second transition wasn't too bad, it's another long one and the headache part of my migraine was really starting to kick in, but I was still out in 1:13 - still not exactly speedy. The run is always my least successful part of the triathlon anyway, add to that a full blown migraine and things weren't looking good. My legs felt really heavy and I developed a stitch on the first of the 4 laps of the 10K run. I had to slow right down and wait for it to subside. I'm afraid, in the end, it became a purely a matter of hanging on in there and being utterly determined to get to the finish. I realised as I ran that I couldn't now match, never mind beat, last year's time of 2:56:05 for the whole race, so I focussed my attention on making absolutely sure I didn't go over the 3 hour mark. I gave myself a good talking to and pushed for that. Thankfully I managed it, completing the race in 2:59:54, with a 10K time of 1:03:42, a lot slower than last year's 58:51. I just couldn't have gone any faster. That put me 19th out of the 21 in my age group! Migraine and slower time aside, did I enjoy the race? Yes, I can wholeheartedly say I did. It's well organised. It's a big challenge and I did it. I improved in 2 of the disciplines and firmly believe I could have done overall if it hadn't been for the state of my head. So perhaps For Goodness Shakes can say I'm a success story after all. And their kit was great, really comfortable - I was worried about racing in kit I'd never worn before, but it was good stuff.
We stayed on to watch the elites again, having found tablets to help with the head. It was great to be able to watch both the women and the men race, an advantage of the earlier starts all round. We watched as Vanessa Fernandes lived up to my prediction, came through the field and blasted her way to a win on the run. She is fantastic to watch, it just looks so easy. She was followed home by last year's winner, Samantha Warriner, who was a good way ahead of anybody else but couldn't hope to catch Fernandes. In the men's race we started out with high hopes for some of our guys, and out onto the run it looked like Tim Don might just do it. Sadly it was not to be. By half way through the run he had been caught and passed. He came home a very respectable 4th. The race was won by a comfortable looking Javier Gomez, followed by Simon Whitfield. The atmosphere was wonderful and I greatly enjoying yelling encouragement at all of our girls and guys as they flew past time after time. There is a great deal to be said for seeing a race live. Fantastic. Count me in for next year!
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