Race time

So the first race of the season has been and gone, it feels like such a long time since I last raced, in fact it's nearly 9 months!! The main purpose of this race was to get back in to the swing of things and blow away the cob webs.  It was also a good opportunity to see where my current fitness levels were are at.  Although I was hoping for a good performance I didn't expect anything too great as I was training right up to the race with a 17 mile training run 3 days before.  The main purpose of the race was to get some much needed pacing practice.  Having raced the shorter version of this event back in 2010 I knew it would be anything but flat! So ideal preparation for my main race in September.

Race day dawned very misty but was clearing all the time and was set to be yet another lovely sunny day. My hotel was only 15 minutes away from the race venue so I was able to take my time and have a relaxing breakfast before the short drive.  The event is set in and around the stunning Belvoir Castle estate and is probably one of the most beautiful places to race in the UK.  As it was a British Championship event you were also guaranteed that the organisation would be spot on too.  With the temperature set to be hot I was wishing that my new 2 piece race kit had been ready from thetrimarket.com but we had only decided a couple of days earlier to switch from my usual 1 piece suit.

The race was a 2 wave start 8am and 8.10am with me in the first wave.  I made my way down to the lake and got in ready for the start.  With the previous week’s warm weather it made for a warm swim for once, 16 degrees by all accounts, the lake is very shallow and in certain places you can stand up!! which helps with the temperatures. The siren sounded and we were off, in hindsight I should of positioned myself nearer to the front as it took me around 400 meters to get past a group of slower swimmers and by this time I had lost the main pack but I wasn't too concerned and just kept a nice even pace and swam well within myself.  I had an unusual experience for me...... I was actually passing people!!  The swim was soon over and I exited in 32.46 which isn't mega fast but for me that's a 5 minute plus improvement in 9 months and I felt very relaxed. The run from the swim is a 400 meter uphill climb on uneven grass and it's very easy to skyrocket the heart rate so I just kept at an even tempo whilst taking off my wetsuit.

I quickly got out on to the bike course and settled into a rhythm with the focus again being pacing, the course had been changed at the last minute and was now a 3 lap 50 mile course.  It soon became apparent that there was going to be a head wind for the second half of the course and that's also where the main hills were!  I picked up the pace on the second lap and was passing the quicker swimmers now especially on the hilly sections which is my strength.  I kept the pace on the 3rd lap which was proving tougher now as the wind had increased. I finished in a time of 2h20 which I was happy with considering the course and conditions, best of all my average heart rate was 148 so hopefully I still had some energy for the run!.

I started the run with one aim.... don't go off too fast and keep taking on food.  The run section was a 4 (not 3) lap route that goes out to a turn point in the grounds of the castle and you retrace your steps back to the start and finish area only problem is it's virtually all up hill and quite steep in places! time to get the head down and dig deep. I just kept a steady tempo on the uphill sections and tried to open up the legs on the downhill quicker sections, this type of course is difficult to pace yourself as you're going from slow to fast paced running but an excellent chance to practice ahead of IM Wales. I had a very tough patch where I thought I was starting my last lap (3rd) and I checked with a marshal only to be told it was 4 laps! I had to dig deep mentally and keep the pace for another lap. I finished strong with my last lap time only 1 min slower than my first.  I definitely felt the weeks training in my legs at this point but was still happy with a 1h 31min run split on such a tough course.

Swim: 32:46

Bike: 2:20

Run: 1:31

+ transitions and run from lake

Total 4h30

I was very happy to find out that I am now ranked 8th in the Country in my age group and 34th overall.  The signs are very promising and the most pleasing thing is my training so far has only been in the base phase with zone 1 and 2 sessions only. All in all a very good race.