When: 08.09.13
Organiser: Triferris http://www.triferris.com/
Course details: Flat bike and flat run, a proper PB course
Distance(s): Distances 750m Swim, 20km Bike, 5km Run
Marshalling: Loads everywhere including police managing the traffic on a crossroads to allow us through
Facilities: Cafe, trade stands, portaloos, kid's park, camping
Technical: chip timing
Freebies: Finishers T-shirt, medal
I've been looking forward to this one for a while now as it would give a clear indication if the training and commitment, sorry new bike, would help get the PB down a bit. It is a flat, fast course on almost car free roads so a real opportunity.
Got there in plenty of time having set off at 6:00 and got racked and set up before wandering down to the race start to watch the first few waves go off and have a bit of a warm up swim. Water in the lake was great, 19 degrees and pretty clear.
And they're off.......
The swim start is a run in and the water gets deep pretty quickly so only a few steps before a slightly conservative dive/flop into the water. I'm not the most confident competitive swimmer but felt in a good place today and was determined to hold my own amongst the cut and thrust of the first few metres. So head down and building to a rhythm with the water clearing after about 100m. Managed to find some feet to follow and tried to keep close, sighting every 10 strokes or so just to be sure. Round the first buoy nice and tight and then into a long straight back down the lake. Found a really nice pace here and relaxed into it, enjoying that I could see the bottom with the water being so clear. Round the last buoy, again keeping it close on my left and head to the bank. As we got near the guys either side of me stood up so I took that as a sign to stand, bit of a mistake as we were still five meters or so from dry land and had to wade a bit. Must remember to swim until my hand scrape the bottom. Checked the watch and delighted to see 14:53
My 750m PB is 16:30 so a good start. Made it out of the water and ran to transition with the clock ticking 16:00.Transitions are OK generally and I was in and out in just over a minute making my way up the longish run to the bike mount point.
Clip in and off with a couple of aims for the bike. Stay on the drops throughout and register a 20k PB. It is a pretty uneventful bike route, essentially a big rectangle with a couple of minor ascents, you can't describe them as climbs, so it is big ring all the way and keep the head down. That was until the uneventful bike route suddenly got slightly eventful. As with most roads there are a few holes and rough patches and a momentary lapse of concentration meant that I didn't avoid the pot hole and only saw it at the last moment. Shifted my weight back a bit and hopped the front wheel over, allowing the back to hit it as I always think this is less of an issue, (Don't know why). Anyway as the back wheel hit I felt the seat post slip, quite dramatically, about an inch or two
My 6'1 set up was now ideal for an oompa loompa and proceeded to slowly drop every time a hit a bump. This continued until the plastic coated sticker for my number reached the clamp and seemed to wedge it a bit. By this time the seat was about two inches above the frame and my legs were extending about 85-90% on each stroke. This all happened about 8km in. I wasn't carrying tools so just tried to get a move on.Reached the bike dismount line, feet out and straight into a running dismount. I had been wondering whether it would be more difficult getting my trailing leg over the seat on a bike with a more aggressive set up but this was no longer a problem. Bike leg completed in 35:33 for a new PB, but left wondering what might have been if I had checked the seat clamp
T2 was completed in 0:44, so happy with that, and for keeping my combined transition time inside two minutes.
The run is a flat two lap around the lake which is quite picturesque, but means you can always see where you are in relation to the finish. Start to run but find it a little difficult to get into an early rhythm, I suspect the unexpected bike position didn't do me any favours, but the Garmin is showing well under 5:00 min/km so happy with that. Start to pick off people from my wave and those from other waves mean that there are plenty of targets to aim at. Run is completed in 21:44 which is another PB. Happy days.
So despite a slight bike cluster, finish in 1:15:16 to register a massive PB, knocking some 12 minutes off my previous full sprint time. This is partly due to the course which is very forgiving, but also because for the first time in ages I performed well across all three disciplines.I'm normally just about either side of the 50% mark in races, so the following were quite pleasing
128/486
22/59 in age group
Then had a classic conversation in transition........
Chatting to the guy next to me he asked how I had got on. I was quite pleased and explained I had got a PB and told him the time which he was complimentary about. I asked him how he had done to which he replied he'd come 7th in the AG and finished in 1:09. Brilliant I said that is a great time, to which he replied " Yeah I wasn't really sure what to expect in my first race!!!" Classic. I suggested he should probably do some more. Really nice guy with it too.
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