On 7 June I travelled up with CJ to our old stomping ground in Cambridgeshire for the National Middle Distance Triathlon Champs, which was to be held at Grafham water the next day. I remember when we lived at RAF Wyton that there was mutterings about a triathlon being introduced in the Grafham Water area. I was even asked about potential routes - interestingly, the route of the Grafman was almost identical to one that I suggested. But I won't take any credit for the course! That goes to NiceTri Events, who have developed over the last few years and now host a number of multisport events in the area of varying distances. The Grafman is the longest, at the half Ironman distance of 1.9k swim, 90k bike and 21k (half marathon)run. I dropped CJ off at her friend's house on the Saturday afternoon. She had not seen her buddy, Holly, for nearly 3 years and it was quite an emotional reunion. Then I whizzed off to Grafham Water to register and park the trusty van up to camp prior to the normal early start for the race. The sun was shining and the event set up was taking shape. The mini transition village that NiceTri constructed was, without doubt, the best venue plot that I have seen. The atmosphere was great and I was relaxed - ready to race hard over the longer distance for the first time this year. The big question was whether I was in good enough shape to be competitive within my age group and also be in a place to feel confident to attack the Outlaw Ironman later in July. I do not jut want to finish this Ironman; I want to race it. As it is only my second experience at the distance, this is potentially a big ask. Anyway, here is how the Grafman race took shape. . . .
So I awoke to a bright sunny morning just a few hundred metres from transition. This was the most relaxed set up for a pre-race morning that I could remember. After breakfast and a kit check I chatted to a buddy from Newcastle Tri Club, Kelvin Amos. He was in the 55 - 59 age group and would also be competing in the Outlaw Ironman. I also met up with fellow RAF Tri members Mark Lee, Paul Fullalove, Gaz Hughes and John Philips. Most, if not all of us were using the race as Ironman prep.
The Swim
The 1900m swim comprised a 2 lap triangular course, with one triangle inside the other and a swim exit after the first triangle. Sounds complicated but it actually worked really well. I started off to the left in an attempt to find clear water. This was my first open water swim since last July; so my focus was keeping out of trouble. As it was I felt very content and swum in a straight line for once - or so it seemed. I also jumped on a few feet and generally had a great swim. The swim split of 29:15 backs this up and I am still utterly amazed at how well the swim went. If I can reproduce this type of performance at the Ironman I will be well chuffed. Something tells me that it may not pan out quite the same!
The Bike
T1 was straight forward and I had kept things as simple as possible: no socks, all nutrition pre-loaded. On to the roads and the sun was on my back - delightful! As I moved through the field my XLab bar mounted bottle was spraying water on me from the road rumble. This was most annoying as I had a visor on my helmet. It took me at least 30 miles to figure that by blowing back down the bite valve after taking a drink I could removed residue from the end. This seemed to ease the spray effect. However, I need to compete more testing with this as I do not want 112 miles of spray in my face in July! I felt strong as I completed the first loop through the village before entering the main back and forth laps. After about 10 miles a bunch of drafting cheats eased passed me. There were 5 of them and as each one came passed I duly fell back to not draft. The gap between each was a bout 1 bike length - clearly gaining a tow as they moved along. I got frustrated and rode passed them all and tried to settle into a pace. Then, the whole situation repeated itself. I was seriously annoyed now and just hit the accelerator and put a decent gap into the cheating pests. I did consider whether I had over cooked it but at least they were off my tail. They never caught me again and I am sure that I did not maintain the silly fast pace for too long. But enough of that. The course was good and although quite flat, I often wondered if I was pushing too hard. My nutrition was working - half a power bar alternated with a gel every 25 mins. I only drank water and filed up the spraying XLab from the feed stations; hence I had no bottle cage water to carry at all. As I turned for the last 5 mile leg, I was chuffed that nobody had caught me and I was finishing strong but within myself. I had exchanged salutes during the bike leg with Gaz and Mark but failed to spot anyone else. My position was comfy and the Cobb saddle had passed the test! Into T2 and I lost some time by running down the wrong rack aisle - school boy error! I put some socks on for the run and set off, tucking 2 gels in my holster pockets.
The Run
My training runs off the bike had been centred on holding back the effort for at least 5 miles. So the mantra here was 'hold back run' chanted in a slow rhythm in my head. I felt like I was crawling, but I did feel very comfortable and bouncy. A couple of younger guys passed my immediately and pulled away. But I held firm with my plan. After about a mile they started to come back to me and this was not due to my speeding up. They were blowing hard and puffing away. Me thinks setting off too fast not too good when over 10 miles left! At the first turn I eased a gel into my stomach and monitored how I felt. All good. So maintain the hold back mantra. As we went past transition I grabbed some water and stopped to make sure I downed the full cup. This was my plan as I figured getting the fluid in was far more important than losing 5 seconds, only to potentially lose 10 times as much from not drinking sufficiently, Through the next 4 miles to the turn point and I passed Gaz, who had started in an earlier wave. He seemed ok but his breathing was not relaxed - I didn't tell him this! If you are reading Gaz, don't take offence! After the turn, the mantra was chnaged to 'hold back less' chanted in my head. Now I started to pass more people. many folk seemed in a bad way but I was feeling good. The leaders crossed heading the opposiet direction. Boy they seemed to be moving fast! A guy then past me but not moving that much quicker. A snap decision and I upped the pace to run with him. I chatted to him but when I asked him if he knew what pace we were running (his Garmin bleeped madly) he puffed out 'too fast. . .'. A the next turn I drank and took a gel. My running buddy did not and eased away as I stood still to drink. An easy couple of mins to check digestion. All good. The new mantra was now 'hold back slightly. . . ' I quickly caught my buddy and moved away. He was getting slower. Through transition and I grabbed a gel for a final feed later. I was moving faster now and passing many people. But it was now hurting. Just before the turn I took the gel. No slowing down to check digestion as it was time to empty the tank and go for home. Full on effort and I pushed the last 4 miles very hard to clock 1:26:15 for the run. I was well happy with that.
A final finish of 4:25:15 gave me second place in my age group and 20th overall. I couldn't have wished for more. I was in shape and another National Silvr Medal to add to the Silver from the Duathlon back in April.
As has been the plan all year I held back significantly on the run. This works great for long distance but with only 10k to run I accepted that I would be slow and probably lose places. But I felt great and gradually upped the pace as I reached 3 miles. Finishing with a 39:10 split, I was happy enough.
As it turns out that bagged me 3rd in my age group and 1st RAF Vet (Mal was injured). So overall a most successful and enjoyable event that enabled some speedwork and allowed me to train normally the following week. I have wondered whether I could have won the age group with a more focussed race but I am keeping my eye on the goal for The Outlaw on 27 July.
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