East Leake Sprint Triathlon 2014
March 30th 2014
So the day before this triathlon, I realise that I have not a clue where East Leake is! Thankfully, upon looking it up, it turns out to be a small village near Nottingham, and less than an hour from my home.
I also realise that yes, it is still March, and absolutely freezing to be out in less than a coat. Hmmm. Waking up and leaving for the race in the dark, turning to mist, turning to....well, more mist didn't help either. However, I made it through the less than scenic drive to East Leake, parked up and wondered whether I'd forgotten how to do a race, and what I'd forgotten to bring.
I've spent the winter learning how to swim, and so came to the start of this event nervous about having been a little optimisitc about my estimated swim time, and nervous about the prospect of swimming 400 m of front crawl for the first time in a race situation. However, I was placated by the friendly looking 4-lane pool (no high sides and only 2-3 people per lane, and by someone I'll only ever really know as 149 (I was 152) who told me to pull it together.
Turns out he was right, the swim felt good. Overtaking is a lot easier using crawl as you are a lot narrower, and I exited the swim feeling surprisingly OK. T1 was a fair distance away and the timing mat was at the entrance to T1, so the swim time below does not reflect my actual 400 m time. Once in T1 and unable to feel the soles of my feet due to cold, I put on my helmet, belt, socks and shoes and made the snap decision to go without any extra layers. I then came to attempt to get my bike, and failed. At this point I remembered that to get it in I'd had to lean it sideways so the saddle would go under the bar - a lot more tricky when there are bikes either side. Finally managing it and irritatingly having to re-attach my timing chip, I set off on the ride.
The bike course was fairly flat and pleasant. I left 149 in transition and set off at a good pace. He managed to overtake me around 1/3 of the way in but pleasingly I re-caught up at halfway and then we found we struggled to get away from each other. I'd catch up going up the hills but his momentum (and better bike gearing) meant he gained on the downhills. In the end we gave up and spent the rest of the ride trying not to draught each other - harder than it sounds when you're very similar speeds!
Once off the bike, we made a total mess of T2 - the bike issue mentioned previously was still prevalent, and it took three goes of putting the bikes in and then having them fall down to get them racked. This is something that has never been a problem for me before so I couldn't really prepare for it. Lesson learned however.
The run, described as 'flat' was not flat. It was a gentle slope up, along flat to a 180 turn, back down and around the leisure centre. The first lap of this three lap course was therefore a nasty surprise. I did feel significantly better for lap two - a rare thing - and managed to overtake 149 and even speed up for lap three - an even rarer occurrence. This gave me my best ever triathlon run time below.
Combining all the elements also gave me a race PB, which, so early in the season, I was very pleased with. Competition was strong however - I suppose novices don't think it's sensible to be cycling in a trisuit in March, so I didn't do particularly well in the rankings.
Overall I'd definitely do this one again. I'll wear my lovely pink t-shirt with pride and wonder if this event is the most exciting event to happen upon East Leake.
Times
Total time: 1:20:34
Swim: 10:00
T1: 01:09
Bike: 42:16
T2: 00:58
Run: 26:09
Standings
Age category: 14/26 54%
Gender category: 38/116 33%
Swim: 51/108 36%
T1: 30/108 28%
Bike: 17/107 16%
T2: 49/114 13%
Run: 62/115 54%
So the day before this triathlon, I realise that I have not a clue where East Leake is! Thankfully, upon looking it up, it turns out to be a small village near Nottingham, and less than an hour from my home.
I also realise that yes, it is still March, and absolutely freezing to be out in less than a coat. Hmmm. Waking up and leaving for the race in the dark, turning to mist, turning to....well, more mist didn't help either. However, I made it through the less than scenic drive to East Leake, parked up and wondered whether I'd forgotten how to do a race, and what I'd forgotten to bring.
I've spent the winter learning how to swim, and so came to the start of this event nervous about having been a little optimisitc about my estimated swim time, and nervous about the prospect of swimming 400 m of front crawl for the first time in a race situation. However, I was placated by the friendly looking 4-lane pool (no high sides and only 2-3 people per lane, and by someone I'll only ever really know as 149 (I was 152) who told me to pull it together.
Turns out he was right, the swim felt good. Overtaking is a lot easier using crawl as you are a lot narrower, and I exited the swim feeling surprisingly OK. T1 was a fair distance away and the timing mat was at the entrance to T1, so the swim time below does not reflect my actual 400 m time. Once in T1 and unable to feel the soles of my feet due to cold, I put on my helmet, belt, socks and shoes and made the snap decision to go without any extra layers. I then came to attempt to get my bike, and failed. At this point I remembered that to get it in I'd had to lean it sideways so the saddle would go under the bar - a lot more tricky when there are bikes either side. Finally managing it and irritatingly having to re-attach my timing chip, I set off on the ride.
The bike course was fairly flat and pleasant. I left 149 in transition and set off at a good pace. He managed to overtake me around 1/3 of the way in but pleasingly I re-caught up at halfway and then we found we struggled to get away from each other. I'd catch up going up the hills but his momentum (and better bike gearing) meant he gained on the downhills. In the end we gave up and spent the rest of the ride trying not to draught each other - harder than it sounds when you're very similar speeds!
Once off the bike, we made a total mess of T2 - the bike issue mentioned previously was still prevalent, and it took three goes of putting the bikes in and then having them fall down to get them racked. This is something that has never been a problem for me before so I couldn't really prepare for it. Lesson learned however.
The run, described as 'flat' was not flat. It was a gentle slope up, along flat to a 180 turn, back down and around the leisure centre. The first lap of this three lap course was therefore a nasty surprise. I did feel significantly better for lap two - a rare thing - and managed to overtake 149 and even speed up for lap three - an even rarer occurrence. This gave me my best ever triathlon run time below.
Combining all the elements also gave me a race PB, which, so early in the season, I was very pleased with. Competition was strong however - I suppose novices don't think it's sensible to be cycling in a trisuit in March, so I didn't do particularly well in the rankings.
Overall I'd definitely do this one again. I'll wear my lovely pink t-shirt with pride and wonder if this event is the most exciting event to happen upon East Leake.
Times
Total time: 1:20:34
Swim: 10:00
T1: 01:09
Bike: 42:16
T2: 00:58
Run: 26:09
Standings
Age category: 14/26 54%
Gender category: 38/116 33%
Swim: 51/108 36%
T1: 30/108 28%
Bike: 17/107 16%
T2: 49/114 13%
Run: 62/115 54%
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