Three Spires (Lichfield) Sprint Triathlon 2014
April 27th 2014
The Three Spires Triathlon in Lichfield is hosted by Birmingham Running, Athletics and Triathlon Club (BRATs), which is my new local club. I was therefore hoping to see a couple of familiar faces on the day. This also meant it was quite local to me - I'd cycled a portion of the route before, so vaguely knew what to expect.
The swim was in a six lane pool, and the lanes had maybe one or two other people in them. I think this was due to the 4 minute start intervals (rather than the normal 2 minute intervals I've experienced before). I was allocated the outside lane (furthest from the Swim Out, but hey, you win some, you lose some). The whistle went and I swam off, expecting a flying first length, as per usual. Unfortunately this did not come and I actually felt pretty tired after just one length! Six lengths later and I was struggling, not helped by the latest entry to the lane, who failed to push off on the whistle, letting me turn instead in front of them. While this may sound polite, it actually just meant they pushed off and instantly wanted to overtake me, elbowing me in the head in the process and forcing me to stop momentarily to swallow water and gasp for air.. By the end of the swim they'd slowed enough for me to overtake them much more kindly on the penultimate length.
Exiting the pool was fine and after the fairly length uphill run to transition, I put on the relevant items (including socks - I'm yet to go sock-less, perhaps a target for the next race) and retrieved my bike without any issues. I even managed to run with the bike gripping it only on the saddle, a new skill taught to me by Sarah at The Pedal Station (http://www.thepedalstation.co.uk).
The hill to the start of the bike was soon climbed, and 180 degrees around the roundabout I went. Coming off the roundabout I was largely displeased to experience quite a brisk headwind. Not too bad for the first three miles which were slightly downhill, it really slowed me for the second three miles. Had I been a bit better prepared - i.e. not ill for the previous week and a half - I think I may have had more energy to use at this point, but I was struggling to keep 16 mph. Seeing the roundabout at the turn point of the very unimaginative out-and-back route was possibly the second best moment of the race. The tailwind kindly whipped me along for miles six to nine, at which point I was confronted with the gentle incline. A nice surprise perhaps was seeing the roundabout sign at the top of this, a bit sooner than I expected. Turning left and lucky enough to get a green light I cycled up the hill to the dismount line.
Here I discovered the bike had taken a lot more out of me than usual, and I could barely do more than stumble up the hill with my bike for T2. A slow T2, mainly due to tiredness, later and I was out on the run. Again, a very imaginative course - four laps of a two-tiered school field. Hurrah. Without scenery or music to motivate me, I made a very poor attempt at this - possibly my worst run time ever!
Overall, I think that my view of the Three Spires Triathlon is perhaps a little biased due to my poor preparation and hence performance on the day. However, the course really was not very interesting, particularly the run course. The bike course surface was actually ok, but the route could have been improved by a few mile markers or marshalls - the only marshall was at mile 1=12, and I saw many forlorn looking cyclists walking punctured/damaged bikes back to the start. A long way to walk on an out and back course! I will say that the swim was well managed, as was the transition area. The goody bag was the most useful I've ever had (a water bottle, thermal mug, mesh bag and whey protein) and if they ditched the transfers for arm numbers I reckon this would be the best organised sprint I've attended to date.
Times
Total time: 1:22:10
Swim: 09:13
T1: 01:03
Bike: 41:23
T2: 00:53
Run: 29:37
Standings
Age category: 17/36 47%
Gender category: 24/55 44%
Swim: 20/55 36%
T1: 05/55 09%
Bike: 16/55 29%
T2: 12/55 22%
Run: 35/55 64%
The Three Spires Triathlon in Lichfield is hosted by Birmingham Running, Athletics and Triathlon Club (BRATs), which is my new local club. I was therefore hoping to see a couple of familiar faces on the day. This also meant it was quite local to me - I'd cycled a portion of the route before, so vaguely knew what to expect.
The swim was in a six lane pool, and the lanes had maybe one or two other people in them. I think this was due to the 4 minute start intervals (rather than the normal 2 minute intervals I've experienced before). I was allocated the outside lane (furthest from the Swim Out, but hey, you win some, you lose some). The whistle went and I swam off, expecting a flying first length, as per usual. Unfortunately this did not come and I actually felt pretty tired after just one length! Six lengths later and I was struggling, not helped by the latest entry to the lane, who failed to push off on the whistle, letting me turn instead in front of them. While this may sound polite, it actually just meant they pushed off and instantly wanted to overtake me, elbowing me in the head in the process and forcing me to stop momentarily to swallow water and gasp for air.. By the end of the swim they'd slowed enough for me to overtake them much more kindly on the penultimate length.
Exiting the pool was fine and after the fairly length uphill run to transition, I put on the relevant items (including socks - I'm yet to go sock-less, perhaps a target for the next race) and retrieved my bike without any issues. I even managed to run with the bike gripping it only on the saddle, a new skill taught to me by Sarah at The Pedal Station (http://www.thepedalstation.co.uk).
The hill to the start of the bike was soon climbed, and 180 degrees around the roundabout I went. Coming off the roundabout I was largely displeased to experience quite a brisk headwind. Not too bad for the first three miles which were slightly downhill, it really slowed me for the second three miles. Had I been a bit better prepared - i.e. not ill for the previous week and a half - I think I may have had more energy to use at this point, but I was struggling to keep 16 mph. Seeing the roundabout at the turn point of the very unimaginative out-and-back route was possibly the second best moment of the race. The tailwind kindly whipped me along for miles six to nine, at which point I was confronted with the gentle incline. A nice surprise perhaps was seeing the roundabout sign at the top of this, a bit sooner than I expected. Turning left and lucky enough to get a green light I cycled up the hill to the dismount line.
Here I discovered the bike had taken a lot more out of me than usual, and I could barely do more than stumble up the hill with my bike for T2. A slow T2, mainly due to tiredness, later and I was out on the run. Again, a very imaginative course - four laps of a two-tiered school field. Hurrah. Without scenery or music to motivate me, I made a very poor attempt at this - possibly my worst run time ever!
Overall, I think that my view of the Three Spires Triathlon is perhaps a little biased due to my poor preparation and hence performance on the day. However, the course really was not very interesting, particularly the run course. The bike course surface was actually ok, but the route could have been improved by a few mile markers or marshalls - the only marshall was at mile 1=12, and I saw many forlorn looking cyclists walking punctured/damaged bikes back to the start. A long way to walk on an out and back course! I will say that the swim was well managed, as was the transition area. The goody bag was the most useful I've ever had (a water bottle, thermal mug, mesh bag and whey protein) and if they ditched the transfers for arm numbers I reckon this would be the best organised sprint I've attended to date.
Times
Total time: 1:22:10
Swim: 09:13
T1: 01:03
Bike: 41:23
T2: 00:53
Run: 29:37
Standings
Age category: 17/36 47%
Gender category: 24/55 44%
Swim: 20/55 36%
T1: 05/55 09%
Bike: 16/55 29%
T2: 12/55 22%
Run: 35/55 64%
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