Pink Triathlete

September 2020

I’ve never written one of these!

Pre-race- I felt really chilled and for the first time ever not nervous! Had a fabulous time chatting to various teammates in transition: mostly discussing ‘nervous poos’ or lack of. Ain’t we a delight?

Swim: Started to get nervous when everyone dived in. I haven’t dived since my sea cadet days so I adopted for a run and plop approach- legs first. But my comedy sized, NHS prescription style goggles dislodged and I ended up having to slap them into my face every couple of strokes to get a good suction! No fish- very disappointed! The wind on the return was quite rough for my left side but I really enjoyed not being swam over.

T1- I went for a minimalist approach- just arm warmers and didn’t regret it. Guess my lockdown layer helped!

Bike- yikes that was scary. The gaps in the hedge were quite a shock and I didn’t know the best approach to tackle them. I found it a bit of a slog against the wind but enjoyed that I was able to overtake a few people. Until, that is, when I turned right a bit early 🤦‍♀️ and ended up going down a road with no followers! So, after turning round and finally rejoining the actual route, I managed to catch up with the people who I’d over taken previously. The last 20k was tough and annoying- I had to break a few times due to cars but in all I was 15mins faster than last year- even with the extra 1.4miles. I didn’t stop at the aid station but I only managed to drink one water bottle.

I saw lots of roadkill. 🤷‍♀️

My nutrition strategy was to eat one Velo forte bar an hour (a piece every 15mins) but in the last half hour I became lax and didn’t eat anything because i just wanted to be done!

T2 Always a struggle to get toe socks on but felt better than I have on a Tri at T2 before.

Run- my shins really hurt off the bike and I found myself walking for 30 seconds and running for 4mins till 3 miles in. The support was so lovely that it definitely made me not think about it too much. I was surprised to see that (even though I was sure I didnt know how to run faster than e-pace) I was managing to do a normal half marathon pace for myself! I ended up with the strategy of walking up the hills and running down them, rather than 9:1 because It felt more of a prompt. At the end of lap 1 Laura Kate Hillier spotted me coming up the grass hill and I was so happy to see her that I sped up to catch her. Then for the last two laps I continued to try and catch her – chasing down a random triathlete in the process (another palm face). I started the run hungry which I realise now was bad and because I didn’t eat enough on the bike. A couple of gels really helped and no adverse stitches like I’ve had previously with them. On lap 3 the motorbike cameraman decided to film me for an uncomfortably long time, preventing me from walking up a hill (that was probably a good thing and just shows I wasn’t pushing hard enough).

In all- I loved the event and I’m so happy! I didn’t expect to see a 50min pb (I know the swim was short but the bike was longer). Most importantly: I didn’t feel desperate or out of my comfort zone which was nice, but I think I need to push myself more. Particularly on the run. I stuck to my watts on the bike for fear of messing up the run but I think my motivation to run uphill was lacking. All the lovely teammates who passed me and said hello absolutely made my day!