6th Overall : 57:23
Swim 400m Pool
Bike 20km
Run 5km
So yesterday was my first race of the season, a chance to blow off any cobwebs and get back into the real fun of triathlon! I had a pretty relaxed week of taper training after the hard work was done in Spain and so i was feeling relaxed and ready this morning. I got up early had my breakfast some coffee and did my usual routines.
I was fortunate to receive a lift from Matt Rayment from the Plymouth tri club to the race so i am very grateful for that and enjoyed the animal game in the car on the way with his daughter. This definitely helped me relax!
The weather was a slight worry of mine, yesterday had been very wet and windy and today seemed like it would be much the same and driving to the race the rain was starting to come on. However there was nothing i could do about the weather so i just relaxed listened to some music and worked through the race in my head.
Bike racked it was time to get into my tri suit and warm up by the pool. Tri suit pulled on and then slight disaster. My new tri suit zip had broken completely, no idea how but at first i was full of panic. But i soon calmed myself down, figured it wasn't a massive issue and used some safety pins to hold the back together. Who said us surf scientists aren't clever eh?
So with my tight trisuit i was ready to wait for my number to be called. I sat by the pool tried to imagine a really good race and got into my zone. Then my number was called and the nerves built up. I'm usually pretty stressed and nervous before a race but today i just kept telling myself you have done the work, you are ready it's the first race get going!
So a rather abrupt GO! and i was off, the swim was 16 lengths only 400m so i basically just tried to go as hard as possible, i had some really solid tumble turns and counting the lengths in my head they were flying by. I'm not the best swimmer but in my head i felt like i was going pretty well! Two lengths to go i gave it everything and jumped out of the pool and ran into T1.
Transition was really good for me, i grabbed my helmet, race number got the bike and was out. I sprinted through transition as with such a short race every second counts. The mount line worked brilliantly as it was straight onto a downhill so shoes were easily strapped up on this! The bike course was well a battle! It was very windy, very wet and a lot hillier than i expected. I got onto the tri bars and just gave it everything. I felt really strong and knew i climbed well so just focused on that. Some of the climbs were drags so it was important to keep focused turn a high gear and push hard. On the flats i really pushed the pace with rain bashing off me and the wind trying to throw me of the bike! After about 12km of climbing and flat it was a pretty fast descent, i was descending like i never have before taking a few risks and trying to gain as much time as possible. I overtook a few guys and no one overtook me so that is always a great feeling. However braking was very difficult with frozen fingers!
Into T2 and my legs were cold and hurting but with such a short run i really didn't care. Running shoes on, Oakleys grabbed for some unknown reason i set off at a pretty quick pace. I knew i had good running legs and so just pushed the pace as best i could. I tried to stand tall think about fast feet and just hammered on. Fortunately i was a bit warmer at this point and the sun came and went. I overtook another couple of guys on the run and was again not overtaken. At the turnaround i picked up the pace and just pushed as hard as i could, with an uphill to the finish i sprinted as hard as i could and crossed the line feeling like i had a great race.
Finishing 6th of 202 has really filled me with confidence, the top field was really strong with a lot of good boys and in tough weather i feel i put in a good performance.
I'm really happy with today's race especially with the fast guys who were racing. I know a couple of things i could work on and feel like my long winter of training has paid off. I'm so happy to be racing again and really look forward to a Summer of races.
I want to thank Matt again for the lift and his family for the support. Cogs bikes for helping with my equipment. Also a big thank you to Coach Graeme Stewart.
Thanks for reading!
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