Daventry Sprint Triathlon 2013
September 1st 2013
Daventry was a nice early start, most of my journey being made in the dark. Definitely not a fan of short days and long nights!
I'd entered this triathlon as a fall-back, most of my first choices, such as the Black Country Triathlon, were full by the time I'd realised I wanted to enter. However, arriving at the centre I was greeted by a lot of friendly people. The pack we were given was great too - another performance t-shirt to add to my Bassetlaw one (this time small enough to be worn as a t-shirt and not some sort of dress, note to self, free t-shirt sizing is unisex(!)) plus some energy stuff.
I laid out my belongings in transition, which was numbered, pleased again that by chance I'd secured a great position, fairly near Bike Out and along the main rail rather than the numerous rails behind, which would have been a minor detour.
Again nervous, I made my way to the centre to observe a few swim waves before the start. Probably a good idea, but watching the swim did not make me feel any better. Having not much swimming experience I'd never seen a pool with such high sides! They were probably 500 mm above water level, with sheer tiled walls. I watched a fair few fit-looking males struggle to get out, often failing and occassionally succeeding in a seal-like fashion. At this point I decided that if I ended up in a middle lane I'd have to swallow the additional time and duck under ropes to the edges. The combination of my weight (I'm not a small girl) and a very injured right shoulder would not facilitate getting out any other way...
Thankfully on being called up, I had an edge lane, so all was good! This swim was lane-counted by volunteers sitting on the edge. They put a float in the water in front of you when you have two lengths to go. I guess this is to ensure fairness but I'm quite happy to abide by the honesty policy. I can just about count to 16 and wasn't too trusting in some of the lane counters abilities. One! lady ended up swimming 22 lengths thanks to her lane-counter...
Successfully making it out of the pool I ran/slipped down the flight of stairs and then proceded to transition. This run was advertised as 'matted' but in reality was an interesting mix of tarmac, slabs and kerbs(!). Finding my bike easily, I set off on the bike with a fairly OK mount (ie I got clipped in within one revolution).
The bike route was fairly well signposted and had distance markers - a personal necessity on an unfamiliar route. Admittedly these were in miles when I was expecting kilometres, but I can't complain about that. The start of the route was lightly undulating but catching up with a few cyclists spurred me on. A left turn brought a welcome downhill section that was unfortunately spoiled by a necessary foot-down for safety reasons. I then went on to tackle a rather large and long hill. Again glad to be distracted by another rider, I was soon bearing down on a lady who'd decide to ride on a mountain bike, with what seemed about 3 bottles of water and a full saddle bag. Feeling a combination of sorry and smug I inched to her back wheel and began to overtake - at which point a very loud hissing noise alerted me to the fact that one of us had punctured. Thankfully for me, it was the poor lady on the mountain bike, so I carried on up, pondering the lack of nearby marshals, and whether taking a saddle bag would actually be a good call in the future...
Glad to be off the bike, I made my way to Run Out and onto the run route. This route has to be one of my favourite runs. It was a single-lap route in a park by a reservoir - off road and almost dead flat. Having to struggle up and down hills on my training runs at home this suited me well, I was amazed at how much more speed I could gain on the flat and in the welcome shade of the trees. The last up hill to the centre was a killer, but overall this was my most enjoyed run of the season so far.
My results showed some improvements on Bassetlaw, noticeably my swim time and run time. My transitions remain blisteringly fast:
Times
Total time: 1:22:17
Swim: 09:44
T1: 01:39
Bike: 43:54
T2: 00:40
Run: 26:19
Standings
Age category: 04/05 80%
Gender category: 23/92 25%
Swim: 47/92 51%
T1: 01/92 1%
Bike: 10/92 11%
T2: 03/92 03%
Run: 47/92 51%
Daventry was a nice early start, most of my journey being made in the dark. Definitely not a fan of short days and long nights!
I'd entered this triathlon as a fall-back, most of my first choices, such as the Black Country Triathlon, were full by the time I'd realised I wanted to enter. However, arriving at the centre I was greeted by a lot of friendly people. The pack we were given was great too - another performance t-shirt to add to my Bassetlaw one (this time small enough to be worn as a t-shirt and not some sort of dress, note to self, free t-shirt sizing is unisex(!)) plus some energy stuff.
I laid out my belongings in transition, which was numbered, pleased again that by chance I'd secured a great position, fairly near Bike Out and along the main rail rather than the numerous rails behind, which would have been a minor detour.
Again nervous, I made my way to the centre to observe a few swim waves before the start. Probably a good idea, but watching the swim did not make me feel any better. Having not much swimming experience I'd never seen a pool with such high sides! They were probably 500 mm above water level, with sheer tiled walls. I watched a fair few fit-looking males struggle to get out, often failing and occassionally succeeding in a seal-like fashion. At this point I decided that if I ended up in a middle lane I'd have to swallow the additional time and duck under ropes to the edges. The combination of my weight (I'm not a small girl) and a very injured right shoulder would not facilitate getting out any other way...
Thankfully on being called up, I had an edge lane, so all was good! This swim was lane-counted by volunteers sitting on the edge. They put a float in the water in front of you when you have two lengths to go. I guess this is to ensure fairness but I'm quite happy to abide by the honesty policy. I can just about count to 16 and wasn't too trusting in some of the lane counters abilities. One! lady ended up swimming 22 lengths thanks to her lane-counter...
Successfully making it out of the pool I ran/slipped down the flight of stairs and then proceded to transition. This run was advertised as 'matted' but in reality was an interesting mix of tarmac, slabs and kerbs(!). Finding my bike easily, I set off on the bike with a fairly OK mount (ie I got clipped in within one revolution).
The bike route was fairly well signposted and had distance markers - a personal necessity on an unfamiliar route. Admittedly these were in miles when I was expecting kilometres, but I can't complain about that. The start of the route was lightly undulating but catching up with a few cyclists spurred me on. A left turn brought a welcome downhill section that was unfortunately spoiled by a necessary foot-down for safety reasons. I then went on to tackle a rather large and long hill. Again glad to be distracted by another rider, I was soon bearing down on a lady who'd decide to ride on a mountain bike, with what seemed about 3 bottles of water and a full saddle bag. Feeling a combination of sorry and smug I inched to her back wheel and began to overtake - at which point a very loud hissing noise alerted me to the fact that one of us had punctured. Thankfully for me, it was the poor lady on the mountain bike, so I carried on up, pondering the lack of nearby marshals, and whether taking a saddle bag would actually be a good call in the future...
Glad to be off the bike, I made my way to Run Out and onto the run route. This route has to be one of my favourite runs. It was a single-lap route in a park by a reservoir - off road and almost dead flat. Having to struggle up and down hills on my training runs at home this suited me well, I was amazed at how much more speed I could gain on the flat and in the welcome shade of the trees. The last up hill to the centre was a killer, but overall this was my most enjoyed run of the season so far.
My results showed some improvements on Bassetlaw, noticeably my swim time and run time. My transitions remain blisteringly fast:
Times
Total time: 1:22:17
Swim: 09:44
T1: 01:39
Bike: 43:54
T2: 00:40
Run: 26:19
Standings
Age category: 04/05 80%
Gender category: 23/92 25%
Swim: 47/92 51%
T1: 01/92 1%
Bike: 10/92 11%
T2: 03/92 03%
Run: 47/92 51%
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