Laps a plenty in Brizzle

On Saturday I travelled down to register for the Bristol Olympic distance tri on Sunday. It was refreshing to take the time at registration to study the course, although I still couldn't make sense of it with numerous loops near to transition. I took on board the important bits - x2 swim laps, x4 bike laps & x2 running laps.

That evening I went with my racemate to Jamie's in Bristol looking forward to a bellyful of Linguinne Bolognaise. What I got was a portion somewhere between a starter and a main. After polishing it off & contemplated looking like a pig I opted the latter was preferable to lacking carbs - so ordered a starter of the same. The people at the table next to us burst out laughing!

I was off at 7am the next morning so after a 4.15 alarm, got myself sorted, ate a couple of porridge pots & set off for Bristol. I drove past 3 groups of hammered students on their way home - 1 girl who was struggling to stand with her mates trying to carry her lol. I arrived at 6 (when transition opened) & breezed into transition with no competitors around or many officials. I like to get there 90 mins early so by my standards that was cutting it fine. Then an official pointed out my bag was leaking - a 1L bottle of OJ had leaked in my bag soaking everything - great start! Anyway it was a long thin transition so Ingot my bearings, ran through the ins/outs & got ready including attaching the brick (well first generation c.1970's timing chip). My Polar watch had also packed in so I was racing without one, I thought I'd go with it but wasn't convinced.

My timing objectives prior were - Swim 27 / Bike 1:07 / Run 37 & Total time sub 2:20.


Swim - 1.5Km


The day before I counted 7 dead turns on a 2 lap course so wasn't expecting a fast swim. There would be no warmup, it was a case of the pre-race briefing, move to pontoon, wait for everyone, enter the water & start. I noticed it was quite a small wave of c. 60. Soon the horn went & we were off. Immediately I noticed how surprisingly choppy it was & realised it was the waves from the swimmers reflecting back off the wall immediately to our left & hitting us. It was like swimming in a washing machine. Soon I had clear water with a group following the wall to my left, a group to my right heading off course & me and a few others in the middle. I hit my rhythm quite quickly & wasn't long until turn 1 - I thought I was quite well placed but on turning around didn't seem many behind me. After turn 2 it was back to the middle to 2 buoys together - half the group headed to the right & round the first buoy, the other half headed through the middle & round the second buoy. At turn 4 into lap 2 I took a massive breaststroke kick to my jaw - ouch!! Overall I felt it was my best OW race swim of the season & as I came out felt good. it was a long run along the quayside into T1, I ignored the opportunity to stop & bag up my wetsuit as it would have cost valuable time.

As I hit T1 I saw there was still lots of bikes racked so must have done ok. Transition went like clockwork & gained 2 places in the long run out barefoot rather than slding about in shoes like the others. Another issue I have had previously in T1 is fiddling with putting gels into my tight trisuit rear pockets but started with them in place before the swim & saved time.


Bike - 40km


The bike was fast, flat & closed so was psyched up for a fast time. Last year in London I did a 1:04 & feel sharper this year. However when I set off my legs felt empty - I wondered if it was the after effects of the 3 peaks challenge the week before? Quickly though I overtook 2 people & 2 people went past me & pulled away. Whilst the course was flat(ish) there was a stiff breeze - I was curing not having a bike fit as I could feel the wind hitting my semi-upright chest. I was riding at an avg of 21mph, dropping to 19mph into the wind. The dead turn was interesting psychologically as you turned to fac the people chasing you. So the course was an out & back corse 4 times. Personally I felt It was a pretty uninspiring course, but wasn't helped as being in wave 1 I spent most of the ride on my own with no one to chase. I tried to straighten out the course through the bends but with one eye on my avg speed knew would be close to a 1:15 time. As I pulled through the final bend I got my feet out my shoes & hit the dismount well. T2 again went like clockwork - well unil the run out where 2 idiots stood chatting in my path despite several shouts from the marshals. Me hitting the second persons kit box as I ran past wasn't entirely accidental...


Run - 10km


Racing without a watch was something new to me & despite lots of people on twitter saying they all do it, it didn't work for me. I like chasing - be it people or a time. I felt like I was missing a part of me & was outside my comfort zone. I knew there was a big gap on the run to the next person but my legs felt like something had clicked & hit my pace quickly.

The course was a 2 lap out and back under the Clifton suspension bridge. Most of the run was along a muddy track & aft seeing a few people skirt around the puddles decided to go through them all. The run went well - aside from a lack of marshalling / directions on the turnaround after lap 1, I chased and overtook quite a w runners - though wasn't sure which were in my wave on the second lap. As I came around t the finish chute the announcer called out my name...wrongly then corrected herself! As soon as I finished I grabbed a spectator to ask the time & it was 9.26 so assumed I was c.2:25. Below my target of 2:20 but with a bike split of c.1:15 that was understandable.


Reflection


On reflection the race went to plan - with the exception of the bike. Of course that overshadowed my day & went home pretty miserable. However later I saw I had come 9th / 51 in my AG & 46th / 291 overall - that improved my mood slightly. 2 days later and the official results have just come out:


Swim 26:49. BIG PB!!!
T1. 2:24
Bike. 1:15:41
T2. 1:51
Run. 38:33
Total. 2:25:18


Whilst the bike was some way off my target, I think my target time was unrealisic having seen the course.  That's my last planned triathlon of this season, and tbh I'm keen to start planning next year which has always been my focus. I will continue to target OLY distance, but have also entered UK 70.3 at Wimbleball as part of my preparation. Basically if I achieve what I set out to do next season I will continue with this distance in '14 or if not target ticking the IM box. For the remainder of the season I plan to do a couple of OW races, big cow sprint and a sportive. Thanks for taking the time to read, I hope it was of some use. :)