Essendex Last Minute Triathlon - September 23rd 2012

Sunday September 23rd 2012 - 5AM

Woke up feeling excited but after not too much sleep. 'Quietly' got out of bed and of course woke up my sleeping Fiancée! Got my things packed, took the wheels off my bike and waited for my Triathlon buddy Hayley to arrive.

Hayley arrived at half past 5 and we set off to Nottingham for the Essendex Last Minute Triathlon organised by One Step Beyond. Our first stop was McDonalds - to get a nice healthy breakfast of... porridge!

Alas, when we got there they weren't serving porridge due to a dodgy supplier so rather than go hungry I was persuaded into a bacon roll to start my day. (Alright, it was my idea..)

After that nutritious meal we set off for Southwell, where the Tri was to take place. My start time was an ungodly 7:25 AM so after I had signed on and picked up my race numbers and t-shirt I racked my bike and tried to listen to the briefing. The transition area could only be accessed whilst wearing your race number, and a bike could only be taken out of the transition area if the sticker number on the bike matched the number you were wearing. I hadn't experienced this before, so to be safe, I locked up my bicycle with a combination lock so no-one else could forge my number 26 race number and walk off with my bike.

After the briefing I got changed for the swim, placed my trainers outside the back and stood awaiting my start time.

Now, I should explain something about the swim. In the last decade, before this triathlon I had been swimming three times 'properly' i.e. not splashing about in the pool on holiday. The first time I struggled to do 4 lengths. The second time I managed 8. The third time, two days before the triathlon I managed the required 16 lengths (400m) all breaststroke and I think I pulled my triceps. They were still sore on Sunday morning. As a result I put my predicted time down as 16 minutes and thus started 26th on the day. Out of 520. 26th! Blimey that was a lot of people who might come past me in the next hour and a half..

After some banter and getting my sexy swimming cap on, I found myself in the pool ready to start. The pool was packed. There were 5 lanes set up, with 4-6 people in each lane. The woman blew her whistle and I was off! Ready to leave everyone in my wake and smash the 1hour 30 time I had set for myself.

Well. Sort of. I started off with my slow and steady breaststroke. Being overtaken on average once every two lengths was not much fun, pretty sure I got punched in the face on purpose too. Ah well. Sorry for being so slow!

After 14 lengths of excruciatingly slow breaststroke I considered getting out and pretending I had completed 16 lengths - who would know?! In reality  I doubt anyone was counting my slow lengths to see if I cheated. But I didn't. I stayed strong and I even front-crawled the final length! I clambered out of the pool without wanting to look at my time and set off towards the transition area.

This is where my lack of experience showed for the second time (the first being piss poor at swimming.) I got to the back door, put my trainers on and pulled a t-shirt over my head. I then walked(!) off towards the transition area, not realising that the timer chip on my ankle would be recording my 'swim time' until I reached the transition area.

Swim: 19:50 for a 400m swim. Looking at results that put me dead last. Last. Being 6 seconds slower than the 2nd to last person.

Anyway, I didn't know that at the time. I got to the transition area and went to my bike. It wasn't there. Crap. "Where's my bike? Where's my bike? Oh. I'm looking on the wrong rack." Silly me.
I took my trainers off that I'd worn from the pool and put on some socks and my cycling shoes. Put on my helmet, unlocked my bike and wheeled it across the grass and out of the transition area.

T1: 02:50 - now second to last. Though at the time I had no idea and had plenty of people in front and behind me on the course.

Onto the bike then. The course was 17.6km of rolling hills. The course started off with the biggest hill, which was nice, then three smaller hills before going round a roundabout and coming back on yourself. This meant the end of the bike was a fast downhill back to the transition area. Course map & profile found here.
The bike was my strongest point. I overtook at least a dozen competitors without having anyone go past me. Granted these were all the slow swim time people so probably slowest overall times but it felt good to see someone up ahead, catch them and pass them. I was lucky as when I got to the roundabout I didn't have to wait for any traffic and could carry straight on. I was passing lots of guys numbered 30-45 who overtook me in the swim, so it felt good to gain some time back.

As I finished I managed to remember to get off my bike before the transition area (girl just in front of me wasn't so lucky) and ran back to my stuff with my bike. Locking it up again once I got there.

Cycle: 36:45. Averaging 17.9mph over some hilly terrain I was pretty pleased with. Came in the top half just about for the bike which was great as I didn't have tribars or even a trisuit to get "more aero" just some wet shorts and a tee.

After I racked up my bike, I took off my cycling shoes, stepped into the running shoes and after a brief confusion of where to go, I was off. I thought that this was a quick transition but the timing says otherwise - not sure really what took so long but it's somewhere I can (hopefully) easily improve on in the future.

T2: 02:12. This made me on 1 hour 1 minute and 35 seconds, giving me a decent chunk of time in the run to get in under my goal time of 1 hour 30.

I set off on the run behind a few girls who I quickly overtook before the course took a sharp turn upwards. I knew this hill was coming (it's called the Southwell Slope) but it still took plenty of energy out of me. Here is the course map & profile. The next 800m were flat and upon rounding a corner I saw two race organisers stood by a cone reading the list of numbers and shouting out competitors names, which was a really nice touch and very motivating. You then ran back on yourself and down the hill before going into the final stretch and turning left 180degs to go back onto the course for lap 2. A quick water station done and I was within 2500m of finishing my very first triathlon. The 2nd lap was really difficult but also really inspiring. As you ran with/behind people you were encouraging each other "Not long left!" "Keep it up, you're doing great" and the people running in the opposite direction were equally as helpful/inspirational. As you weren't sure if people were on the first or last lap I found myself encouraging everyone I went past in both directions. Once more around the cone and the two girls ("Come on, Adrian!) and I was close, so very close. I paced myself behind a chap on the way back going at what felt like a decent speed for the last 1/4 of a 5k. As we went down the hill and into the playing fields the crowd was cheering and I could hear the man on the loudspeaker announcing who was about to finish. We turned right this time and towards the finish line. The guy in front of me kicked and he was off, 'beating me' by a couple of seconds. My name was announced as I crossed the line, exhausted. I found the High5 stand and took on some energy juice before contemplating what I'd just done. I had finished my first triathlon! After minimal training I hadn't failed and I felt really pleased with myself.

Run: 24:00. 24minutes! A new PB for me and after a swim and a bike ride! I guess the adrenaline really got me through!

Overall: My overall time was 1:25:35 which I was really pleased with. I had come in before my target of 1:30 and didn't feel like dying. I looked back at my splits and could easily identify where I'd lost the most time. The swim and the transitions - but I was still incredibly proud. Hayley came in at 1:19:46 with a quicker time in the swim and transitions but marginally slower on the bike and run - I'm coming for you next time!

In the end I finished 425th out of 505 finishers which to be honest is fairly horrific but hopefully easily remedied with a bit of swimming practice and being a bit more aware/quicker on the transitions.

Authors Note: The reason I mentioned locking my bike up a lot was at the end I had a "see me" from a race referee who wanted to disqualify me for locking me bike up as it was unfair to others if my bike was more easily noticeable (ironic as I lost sight of it in T1!) After I explained it was my first time and I just didn't want it to be stolen they let me off and let my time stand, phew!