Last Sunday I completed my first ‘A’ race of the year! It was the Trentham Big Half Ironman Triathlon – 2k swim, 56 mile bike, 13.1 mile run. The sun was shining and it was seriously hot…..just the way I like it! I had a good race (even with my normal slow swim!), finishing 4th overall and winning my age group by 12 minutes!! My first civvy age group win…..how pleased am I, woooohoooo!!
There were 2 other RAF triathletes competing: Jase Walkley and Reg Swallow. With Jase finishing 7th overall (2nd in age group) and Reg finishing 26th overall (11th age group), the RAF raced extremely well!
What follows is the normal race dissection – interesting to some, but probably boring to others!
The swim, being 2k, was slightly longer than the normal 1.9k. It was 4 laps too, which is strange. T1 was about 600m from the swim exit and we had to have trainers to wear for the run to transition. I never feel totally smooth in the water and I tried in vane to catch some draft off faster swimmers. At least I avoided getting bashed or going off course. As I came out of the water I stopped my watch at 36:30. I tutted at what was another slow swim! I stumbled into my trainers and was met by Nige Porter, who was waiting to start the swim for the Classic Distance race(finishing 7th overall too - nice race Nige!). He politely informed me that Jase was about 3 mins ahead of me! The way Jase was cycling at the moment, I had my work cut out to catch him on the bike.
Into T1 and a smooth transition saw me onto the bike ok. I had driven the bike course the previous day. Much of it was on dual carriage way but it was by no means flat. ‘Rolling’ would be a good description. With 3 laps to complete, it was easy to see some of the faster swimmers ahead. I clocked Jase going the other way on the dual carriageway – oh dear! He seemed a long way ahead! I concentrated on smooth but hard pedalling and started to pass rather a lot of riders. I had a nutrition strategy but as I felt a bit nauseous every time I tried to eat, I was not able to eat half of what I had planned……..eek! Thoughts of blowing up creeped into my head and I made a conscious effort not to go into the red zone on the hills. I could see that I was making time on Jase, but not enough to catch him on the bike. On the second lap the Big Half riders were mingled in with the Classic Distance competitors and it became hard to see who was racing which distance. I was happy enough, though, as I was carving through all ahead of me.
Into T2 and a less than smooth transition saw my into the run with Jase’s girlfriend (Kelly) announcing that I was about 2mins behind him. I had some muscular pain from the bike effort above my knees but I felt surprisingly ‘perky’. With 4 laps making up the half marathon, I had decided to make the first lap a warm up loop. Memories of blowing up at the Vitruvian last year had made me very cautious! Jase and myself crossed as he completed his first loop. He looked good. As I completed my first lap, Kelly shouted that I was about 1 min behind Jase. Still feeling ok, I eased into the 2nd lap slightly faster. I was taking one gel every lap and supping on a lucazade sport during throughout the run. As the 3rd lap started, I could see Jase just ahead……it was hammer time! As I caught him, I tried to get him to hang on but I think he was slowing. As the 4th lap began I was feeling strong and completed my fastest loop (offering Reg some encouragement in the process). A sub – 1:30 run time was mine and I finished feeling tired but not half-dead! The run course was 95% on gravel-type track and the final run in on tarmac. Once on the tarmac, it felt great and traction gave an extra burst of speed that made me realise that the course may not be that fast.
All in all, it was a good event. Having the fastest bike split of the day was immensely pleasing too! Despite my lack of nutrition during the race, I had maintained the efforts level. However, at the World Champs in August, I will have to make sure I eat and drink more or the extra distance will came back to bite me on the 30k run! Quite how I will do that, I am not sure? Maybe ease up on the bike? I am sure that Kelda will help me out on this issue. As soon as the pics are out I will post some……..just in case anyone is interested.
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7 comments:
Congratulations buddy. All in RAF Tri know what a fab athlete your are (and I'm resisting the "for your age" quip here) so it's good for you to perform on the wider stage. Go forth to Almere with confidence my young friend, eat well and race fast.
Best I give you a pasting on the bike this weekend just to bring you back down to earth!
Sags, thats a great report and a fantastic result mate. You are gonna fly at the worlds. Medal for you if you keep that sort of performance up!!
Turbo, don't think you will be pasting sags this weekend!
Well done Sags! A great race and interesting report. How did they manage the 4 lap swim? Did you have to exit the water each lap?
We didn't exit the water. We just swam round a triangle 4 times. Water like pea soup too! Even with thick water I can't grab enough to go faster!
The World Champs will be a diferent ball game and certainly up a few levels! Top 50% for my age group will be good.
You're probably right Daz, but I can but try!
top result mate, you are flying! train smart, taper well, get that eat and drink stratgy right in training soon and most importantly enjoy the worlds
Firstly, well done Sags, awesome result. As for the Almere swim, don't worry about it, the goal is to deliver yourself onto the bike in great shape, not half dead/drowned by trying too hard! Negative split always the goal at long course, think rhythm, relaxtion, range, the 3Rs as my coach calls them.
Eating/drinking, practice in training, say doing an hour interval on the bike at what you perceive will be race pace eating at the right carb rate that you will need for the 120 ks. Do you use 4:1, if not give it a try, because it contains protein it's more of a food (and it has super-carbs too which are more easily absorbed and give even, sustained energy release), so helps if you are having trouble actually eating. I rode to Peterhead (4:29 for the 77 miles average hr 138) on Sunday and drank 1.5 litres of 4:1 and only ate one Trek bar, then ran off around 35 mins and was fine. With regular sports drinks I'd have needed at least another bar at that effort level.
Try little and often, have your bars broken into small pieces in your topbox and take a piece very regularly, rather than trying to scoff one bar less often. I'll be using a camelbak for the run with more 4:1 and carrying gels, it's the only way I get enough nutrition/hydration on board when running longer than 2 hours off such a long bike.
Hope this helps, now, recover, taper and look forward to the challenge!
K
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