Where: Windsor
When: 12th June 2011
Organiser: Human Race
Distance(s): 1500m River swim, 42km bike and 10km run
Marshalling: excellent
Facilities: portaloos - quite a few off them
Technical: up stream for 900m, down stream for 600m , single lap bike, 3 lap run
Freebies: small towel, bottle of water
it was my first time doing Windsor and I had been looking forward to it for months as I had missed the entry for 2010.
we turned up on Saturday at 1pm and headed to register. Registered and I racked my bike and was very nervous about leaving my baby overnight as this was the first race I had to do this. Met up with "Joninho" and had a drink and he showed me the swim start and exit and gave me some great pointer for the swim, we looked at the bike start and end too. then met "Tritans" for a quick chat too. Both very nice people and good to meet them too. I had brought a specialised aero bottle and cage so went back into transition to fit it but found he wouldn't fit... the position of the bootle cage screws on my bike were too low down to fit the cage on so returned it to the stall I got it from. Whilst doing this I saw Tim Don being interviewed and went up to meet him afterards (see my post from Saturday on this awesome moment!). After going to the orca sale round the corner where I got a nice base layer and Liz got a set of matching run shorts and run vest we headed to Slough where we were staying at the premier inn to meet my mum and her other half who along with Liz like to come and give me some much needed support (and in my mums case take some photos of me!). We headed back into windsor on the train and I had a meal of soup, basic pizza with chicken and mushroom and a cheesecake at the Bella Italia and headed back.
With a wave time of 7:20 I set the alarm for 5am so I could have a breakfast of Jam sandwiches (usually have porridge but not an option at that time of the morning in a hotel!). But I just couldn't settle and get comfy and probably only slept 3 hrs or so... I wish I had lizs ability to simply fall asleep at any time she needs to and sleep right through to whatever time she needs to be up! we headed to the race at about 6am ish and I left her top wait for mum etc Got set up and then met Ben Laws who was also very nice (such a shame his race didn't go well) and has a pretty damn nice bit of bike I got into my wetsuit and headed to the water. Like Ben I think they need to put some matting down by the river as the path is full of sharp bits. Jumped into the river and found it not too cold (fresh at most) and headed to the right of the bunch so I could cut to the bank on the other side of the river. Had my usual pre start wee wee break (appologies to anybody behind me but needs must and it makes me warm!!) and then we were off. Got into a good rytham early on and loved the fact the waves had less people in than other "big races" (cough london cough blenheim!). had a great race with a guy next to me as we were matching each other stroke for stroke for a large chunk of the opening 900m until we drifted into different lines at the turn. Didn't find swimming upstream a problem but have heard it wasn't too that bad compared to previous years. I had taken over a fair few from earlier waves until I had the same near the end from the wave after me as 2 dolphin like triathletes torpedoed past me! I knew I was coming up to the exit but still nearly missed it as I looked up and realised nobody was in front of me, a quick turn to the right saw everybody swimming in a different direction than me so I turned and headed that way. I got out of the river and headed to T1... ran up the right isle but went past my bike so had to turn back! Quickly got helmet on and shoes and headed out to bike exit.
Got on bike and felt great straight away. At this point the weather was still dry but as I was heading out the first drops of rain started falling. I prayed to the tri gods to hold out but to no avail. had the first of a regular race with a guy dressed as a pirate on the bike (we kept taking over each other although he won the race in the end ). I found the ruote fantastic and was in the aero for probably 99% of it apart from a couple of mini climbs mid race. Drift way turn was a worry for me but in the end it isnt that bad. By now the rain was coming down fast and I was feeling very cold.. this spured me on as I figured the quicker I went the faster I will be back and in the dry. Heading back into windsor it was a little hairy on the bends in the wet but managed not to fall and back into T2. My feet and hands were numb with cold and I had trouble taking my bike shoes off and putting trainers on. I ran out to the run with no feeling in my feet!
the rain was now coming down hard on the run but once I got feeling back into my feet I went for it. I had trained hard on my run and specifically my run after a bike and it paid off. I stormed up the hill and down and kept a strong pace only really feeling it on the last 1km of the 3rd lap as I dag deep. Did a sprint finish (well ran faster than my usal pace) to finish my new favourite triathlon.
Swim - 30:33
T1 - 2:31
Bike - 1:18:20
T2 - 2:00
Run - 46:43
TOTAL - 2 hrs 40 mins 07 seconds
really pleased with these times. I had been doing a 2km per min pace in flat bike legs of triathlons this season so bettered that. My run was superb as I was a 55-56min 10km triathlon runner last year so that work paid off. My swim wasn't too bad in the end - would have liked a 28min split but can't complain and I pushed mys elf all the way through the race with nowhere where I coasted it a bit.