Objective - Kept it simple, to be sub 2:30 (revised to 2:21 with reduced swim). This was a best-estimated-rough-guesstimate based on minimal insight!
The Swim (1km)
At the pre-race briefing we were informed that due to a water temperature of 12oC the swim would be a 1km swim and a running beach start. When everyone started gathering just before 7am (in wave 1; 17-34) I took the opportunity to jump in and have a good warm up swim. Tbh I was shocked at the water temperature - my nost stang abit but it wasnt long until I warmed up and it felt fine. I got out and eased back to the starter ready to start 2/3 people from the front. Soon the horn went and everyone surged forward, the people in front dived so I followed. However the people behind carried on running past / across / on top of me. It was carnage - but must have been entertaining to watcg - like a herd of wilderbeast forging forward. Soon I started finding my rhythm but was suffering from leaking goggles and swimmers who couldnt sight so were heading off into the middle of the lake! Soon we hit buoy 1 and turned sharp left, but again quite a few carried on towards the shore. I got into a pattern of emptying my goggles, re-sighting and heading towards the next buoy. I wasn't swimming well and was breathing every 2 strokes. Soon we turned round buoys 2 and 3 and headed back to the exit. As I climbed out I felt that it was my worst OW swim of the year - but as I was running up to T1 the tannoy said the current time was 17 mins (my clocked time turned out to be 16:09) and I was pleasantly surprised - as a 27 min 1,500m swimmer last year I was expecting c.18 mins so couldnt have been as bad as I thought? The temperature was fine too and 1,500 wouldn't have been a problem. Anyway into T1, I ignored the rain jacket I'd left out as it felt quite mild and had a pretty smooth transition...
The Bike (42km)
I jumped onto my bike and started peddling, however my shoes were stuck tight shut with the velcro - by the time I had managed to get my feet in I'd counted 12 cyclists who had passed me. Nevertheless I soon found a rhythm of 90 cadence. There was a strong wind to contend with - mainly across you but no sign of the forecast rain fortunately. To begin with the hills were relatively gentle ascents and descents. What I enjoyed was that there were lots of cyclists around me - different to the Big Cow where I was off on my own. I LOVE chasing people down and the scope to do that was high with a line of cyclists as far as I could see. After a while the hills turned steeper and bigger; I found I was overtaking quite a few people on the ascent but then on the descent they were absolutely screaming past me - I just didn't have the confidence to let fly especially with the wind. I maxed out at 30.7mph - some coming past me must have been in the 40's. Then the next hill would begin and I'd catch and pass them all again, then on the descent they'd casually fly past me again. Repeat. It was like cat n mouse game! Alot of them were quite heavily built - so presumed they were cyclists and vowed to tear past them on the run (which I did) - but was also aware that a) I was wasting energy as my lost speed downhill meant I was carrying less momentum into the next ascent so was having to work harder on the next hill and b) I was working my legs harder so would this impact my run? It was the most technical bike course I have raced on, and did love the challenge. Also the scenery around Rutland is amazing so have to say its the most spectacular bike course I've ridden too. Part of the ride was the infamous Rutland Ripple and was as challenging as expected. Into T2, everything went well until I pulled my first trainer on and got searing cramp in my right thigh. I took a second to shake it off but when I started running I was relieved to say it dispersed...may be self inflicted though having forgotten my gels for the bike.
The Run (10km...well 9.7km so I've since been told)
I was pretty fired up to catch the people on the bike who had come past - so set off quite fast. There were alot of people ahead so I was just chasing people 1 by 1. When I hit the dam (2 laps over the dam) there was a strong crosswind, but I was just focussing on taking the next person...and the next...and the next. I was going past loads of people and conscious of the cramo potential grabbed water at every stations which I don't normally do as I also had a niggling feeling in my left leg that I was about to cramp - but fortunately it never kicked in. I had one eye on my watch and as I hit the supporters on the way back knew my time was ok - seeing the wife and my sons face near the end gave me extra kick and finished very strongly. Race done.
On getting my printout I saw my results were:
Having looked at this - my initial reaction was that I had the fastest 'bad' swim ever. Its hard to judge transition times as the results only give an overall placing - but looking at other times my T1 was quite strong as normal, T2 less so - but that can be accounted for by the brief cramp. My bike split....well less said the better - but same old story. And finally my run - my 10km PB is 37:40 - so thought I'd hit a new PB until someone pointed out they think it was only 9.7km - but still a very strong run.
Reflections
The Dambuster (and by definition the Vetruvian) is blessed with outstanding setting and scenery. I would thoroughly recommend this race to anyone. The thing with triathlon is that its really difficult to judge your performance. I beat my target time but having not raced the course, that was a best guess target. Fields vary so placing is also of little use so the only way is to race the same course year on year (albeit conditions very). Overall I'm pretty happy with the race and what exites me is the opportunity to smash my bike leg and start putting in some strong overall times.
Over the next month I am walking the 3 peaks challenge and then 10 days later have the Bristol OLY triathlon - my last confirmed race of the year. By all accounts it is a fast flat course so hope to nail a sub-2:15 OLY for the first time. I may bring an early curtain to the triathlon season after that and try and book a few cycling Sportives and TT's. I know what now what needs to be done so need to build an action plan for 2013...
Finally well done to the blind competitor who raced yesterday, certainly an inspiration to us all.
Cheers for reading it and love to have any feedback....
Rich
