Born to Run?

Someday girl I don't know when were gonna get to that place
Where we really want to go and well walk in the sun
But till then tramps like us baby we were born to run

Or not, as the case may be.  But I did walk in the Sun!

Despite Battersby’s Bane I decided to start the Gower Sprint Triathlon. This was mainly because we had planned to camp down there anyway for an extended weekend with family and friends from afar. Also, as I can still swim and cycle, I thought I might as well get some more race experience. The plan, like at the Cymer tri two weeks before, was to swim and cycle hard and just see what happens on the run. I would walk or pull out of the run if necessary.

We camped at the Carreglwyd camp site which is right next to Transition. We camped there because we were staying for a few days more and its user friendly for kids. It also is very convenient to rack you bike as we were only about 200m away from transition. I was up early when transition opened and got the first rack position closest to the bike exit. As Sam Webster of Cardiff Tri commented “no one’s going to miss your bike”.  I went back to bed for a while before a leisurely breakfast and then wandering back to finish transition preparations. I wish all tri starts were like this.

Happy campers but Saturday evening clouds look a bit menacing

I’ve done the Gower sprint tri a few times before so I thought I would at least be able to compare my swim and cycle times to previous efforts. However the tide was further out than in previous years so it meant a shorter swim, a running beach start and worse (for me), a longer run to T1 in bare feet. Not exactly what I wanted with my Achilles. I was pretty happy with the actual swimming bit. Normally, for deep water starts I have a good sprint out to clear the pack and can be in the first few, for a few metres anyway.  With this run start and my running issues by the time I was actually swimming I was mid pack but I soon cut through without too much difficulty and progressed forward during the whole swim. Again, quite a few passed me on the long run up the beach and into transition. Apparently I was sort of limping along into T1. Overall in the swim I was 19^th out of 310 finishers which isn’t too bad and was faster than previous years but that doesn’t relate to anything. If it had been just a 750m swim (and short distance to T1) I might have just made the top ten.

Me about to get passed by more triathletes before I get to my bike

 I had a good cycle, which was directly comparable to previous years. I improved my cycle course PB, which I set last year, by 4 mins 4 secs. That is pretty pleasing and I was 26^th overall for the cycle.  Then the run!  OK, it wasn’t really a run but more of a “walk in the sun”.  Whilst I knew I had to go slowly, it was still quite demoralising being passed by so many, especially by fellow age groupers who I’d beaten earlier in the season. As I was quite recovered by the end of the run I thought I would do a good “finisher” pose down the finish tube.

 

 

 

 

 

I ended up 52^nd overall, but still managed to finish 2^nd in my age group in the Welsh Grand Prix Series.

Last weekend I met up with some friends in London for a lads night out. I took the opportunity of getting up early on the Sunday (ok, with a bit of a hangover) and cycling into central London on my mountain bike to check out Hyde Park and the sprint cycle course for the World Champs. I’m glad I did this because it hit home quite hard the enormity of what is going to happen in three weeks.  The cycle course, because the sprint race is during the week – Friday, is all inside Hyde Park and I was a bit concerned about the track surface, 90 degree turns and 180 degree dead turns at both ends of the three lap course. But the course is fine. It’s actually on the perimeter road that is all inside the park (South, West & North Carriage Roads) which are as wide, or wider, than normal roads and a good surface. With my Achilles I guess it is still touch and go if I manage to finish the run but it has got me exited.

 Hyde Park - Looking down at what will be the swim exit, run course & finish in a few weeks time

Over the last few weeks I’ve been practising my T1’s and trying out all sorts of things. I’ve come to the decision that I’m not going to attempt shoes clipped in the bike – flying start out of transition. The reason’s being that I know that I’m going to get a groin strain jumping on the bike; I’m then not stable (enough) before engaging my feet with the shoes; but the biggest reason is that I get cramp in the foot when I try and put my feet into the shoe whilst on the bike. It happened EVERY time I tried it over a couple of weeks, which was more than 20. So I resigned myself to losing 10-15 secs by putting my shoes on in T1. But will try and claw some of that back by making my T1’s as fast as I can, importantly, getting up to speed as quickly as I can (whilst hopefully passing those less successful in getting their feet in the shoes!).

This weekend is the Welsh Triathlon Championships at the Tuska sprint tri at Porthcawl. It’s also Cardiff Tri’s club championships as well. So just like the last few triathlons I’ve done I’m going to do it for more swim/bike and transition experience. I’ve done Tuska quite a few times before so hopefully I can compare my times. This time on the run I really must be careful and not over do it. I have to consider a DNF because I do want to make it to that start line in Hyde Park in three weeks.