Yesterday morning saw me compete in the Lincoln Sprint Triathlon run by One Step Beyond events (Here) at the David Lloyd Gym in Lincoln (here)
I cycled to the start and although it was sunny it was freezing! I was praying the air temperature would warm up as I was not looking forward to stripping down to my tri-suit (incidentally the first time I've worn it for a race.) After I'd got registered and attached my race number to my bike and to my tri-belt I set up my kit next to my bike and avoided stripping down for as long as possible. After a quick race brief I made sure I had everything ready for T1 and walked across the car park to get ready for the swim. (Sidenote: I much prefer transition areas on grass rather than stony carparks.)
After waiting what seemed like an age I got lined up on the side of the pool and got in 30seconds before my start time. There was some dickhead in my lane swimming recklessly but luckily he had been in a while so would be getting out more or less as soon as I got in. The timekeeper shouted go and I was off on my 16 lengths of the 25m pool.
The first length seemed to be going really well - it was the best I'd felt swimming in a while until, oh no, my goggles started leaking in water. I got back to the other end of the pool and had a quick adjust - this happened again two lengths later before I finally got going. I couldn't hold on doing freestyle longer than length 7 so I breast stroked for the rest bar the last length, getting out of the pool in a respectable 12:36 (7 minutes and 24 seconds faster than the Southwell Tri 6months ago.)
Into the car park and I found my bike first time - result! I got my helmet on, tri-belt on and finally my shoes. Running out of the car park I got on my bike and I was off for the 24k route. Luckily I knew the route really well so knew where to pace myself and where I could afford to put the hammer down. Being one of the slower swimmers I had plenty of people who I could pass on the bike. I passed half a dozen going through Burton Village and a further 4 on the climb who were walking as I edged past. Along Lincoln Edge I caught and passed a few people although annoyingly my Garmin had stopped working - frequently showing speeds of 0.0mph and not recording the distance properly which was unhelpful to say the least.
As I headed down the hill towards Sturton I passed a couple more cyclists before taking the corner wayyy too wide, I was glad there was no oncoming traffic. Over the next few miles I was passed by number 94 - my first experience of being overtaken on the bike in a triathlon. I couldn't keep up with him and as drafting was not allowed I watched him sail off into the distance - his time was 4 minutes faster than mine so fair play to the guy. The straight down the A57 back to the gym was fast as I knew it would be and before I knew it I was back at the first roundabout. This roundabout was marshalled brilliantly by the guys who ran the day and as far as I know there were no incidents with people leaving for the bike course, returning from it or with any of the cars who graciously waited behind the STOP/GO boards held by the marshals.
I came in off the bike in a time of 49:41 which is a bit slower than I'd have hoped but still averaged 18mph which is okay considering the big climb at the beginning. I got into T2 quite quickly but struggled with tying my shoelaces up which was a bit annoying. I got out on to the run course but forgot to stop my watch after the bike and before the run so I was running 'blind' with no idea what time I was going for. This was probably a good thing as I thought I was doing quite a slow run but actually I kept a decent pace. I overtook plenty of people on the course with numbers lower than mine (meaning they started before me) and the only person I saw higher than mine was 94. The run course was left for 1.25k, turnaround, past the start and then right for 1.25k, turnaround and back to the middle to finish. It was along the river which was beautiful in the early morning sunshine and it brightened up to be a really nice day. I came in feeling fairly strong and I was disappointed not to have given it something extra in the final 100m or so as I did not realise the finish line was so close. I crossed the line with a PB of 23:16 (previous 23:20) and a total time of 1hour 28minutes 47 seconds. Good enough for 289th overall from 494 finishers.
A really enjoyable morning and I look forward to doing the course again next year if I'm still around and haven't made the step up to Olympic distance. Plenty of improvements to be made across the board I hope so watch this space!
My timesheet looks like this:
Swim: 12:36
T1: 1:46
Bike: 49:41
T2: 1:30
Run: 23:16
Total Time: 1:28:47
No comments:
Post a Comment