The Outlaw Triathlon 2015
July 26th 2015
3800 m open water swim, 112 mile bike, 26.2 mile run
This was it. The big one. The one we'd all (well, myself and Hannah) been waiting for! Seven months of hard training had us standing at 6am on the side of Nottingham rowing lake. Shaking. A quick good luck, shuffle into the water and we were off!
What a start. Over a thousand wetsuit-clad people going off at once - from the bank it looked like a flock of geese were fighting over a single morsel. From the water it was, well, messy. Having started at the back I actually didn't get too upset by the melee, and after about 10 minutes had a suitable (probably too much) amount of space. About 25 minutes later I reached the turn point and was relieved of the direct sunlight. On my way back down I amazingly came across Hannah, and we near enough stayed together for the rest of the swim, meaning our spectators could have a nice leisurely walk together.
Upon exiting the swim, the motion of moving from horizontal to upright made me desperately need the loo, so I ran over towards the transition entrance and the portaloos. Just before I reached the loos however, I looked down to find some hands around my chest and before I could process this I had been completely stripped of my wetsuit. Standing there in just a bra and bikini bottoms I did feel rather exposed, but not as much as the man next to me, who clearly didn't see the need for anything under the wetsuit! Turning away from him and his embarrassment, I grabbed the door of the nearest available portaloo and nope, another naked man in there! (lock the door!) Eventually I found one that was not occupied, risking leaving my wetsuit outside for the duration, before making my way into T1.
The day had not been warm so far, and the forecast hadn't been very promising, so I took a bit of a risk and decided to put on full overshoes, even though I'd never ridden this distance before in them. Shoes, socks, a top and cycling shorts also went on before I exited and unhooked my bike. The first part of the bike course is a lap around the lake (there were a lot of these to come!) and I took the opportunity to settle myself, make sure my shoes were done up and have a gel. I was immediately disappointed to find that a) the gel was not greeted amiably by my stomach and b) the biking felt really difficult. Hoping this was just the brick sensation wearing off, I made it out onto the roads and onto the first of three laps.
This was the "flat" lap yet 20 or so miles in it was still very tough. By this point it had started to spit too, but I pushed on and finished the lap, heading across the river towards Lowdham to start the middle "hilly" lap. This stretch of road was familiar to me, but the effort it was taking was not! Why was it so tough? It was spitting by this point too, and I was beginning to get chilly. knowing the Oxton Bank climb wasn't far off however, I rode on, relieved to get off the main road and onto smaller roads.
The climb was much as I remembered, requiring my easiest gear but otherwise not too taxing and actually a relief to get out of aero for a bit as my stomach was incredibly painful. At the top of the bank there was a feed and I allowed myself a few seconds to get off my bike and stand up straight to try to shift the discomfort. Whilst doing this I noticed that my back brakes looked rather wonky, and on closer inspection I discovered the left pad was in contact with the rim, and probably had been for a long while. No wonder! I changed the alignment and hopped back on my bike, not making use of the feed station as my stomach was still angry.
The combination of releasing my brake, and having a fairly long descent made me feel a little better, and somehow the final lap felt better than the first, even though by now it was raining torrentially and the wind had picked up too. Glad I had carried a jacket and appreciating the fact that my overshoes had kept out the first two hours of heavy rain, I started on the stretch back to the water sports centre. The terrain at the end was terrible. Apparently it's to afford us great views of Pierrepont Hall, but 8.5 hours into a race in the torrential rain, I am sure that most competitors' buttocks (and sanity) would prefer the flat tarmac of Adboulton road to a gravelly track...
Thankful to get back in one piece after my shoddy bike (saying that, <7 hours for 112 miles isn't bad for me) I made a very slow T2 in order to get fully changed and shake talc at anything it would stick to. This talc was then commandeered by a couple of other ladies, so I left it for them to enjoy. I put my waterproof jacked back on (yep, like the overshoes, despite never having run in it before) and suddenly was struck by the feeling that I really really did not want to leave the T2 tent. However, it had to be, so I went back out into the pouring rain and onto the run.
Wow. The "run". Definitely an entity in itself, and for me, one of two halves. Starting with a lap around the lake, I soon shook the bike legs and was running fairly steadily at about 2:10 half marathon pace. I was not familiar with the river stretch, so was sort of enjoying the scenery along the river, and then on towards the stadium. This provided the only dry hundred metres of the run, and once past I could see the bridge where I thought the turn point was. What I hadn't realised, was at this bridge you then cross the river and do what feels like an endless stretch up and down the opposing bank before returning to the water sports centre. By the return, the path had gotten really sodden, and I found myself ankle deep in water in places.
Back at the lake I clocked myself around the half at 2:11, the same as my standalone marathon. I started to wonder where Hannah was (I knew she was ahead) and asked our spectators what the gap was. "She's just a couple of minutes ahead, you'll catch her in no time" they said. Half an hour later and right out on the opposing side of the river I caught up with her. We had a brief chat about the general horrendousness of the race, and the fact that every part of our bodies seemed to be rejecting us, before I realised that walking was not meshing well with my ITB and I left Hannah to her devices to return down the river.
A quick word on nutrition. Something went seriously wrong during this race. Having managed no more than a single gel at the start of the bike, the first few miles of the run had me on a serious energy-low. I tried a few things and found the only thing I could digest were Jaffa cakes. So, as odd as it sounds, I survived my marathon on a Jaffa cake every 1.5 miles and the occasional sip of water. The conditions were wet and cold (I was too cold to remove the jacket) which meant I wasn't overly thirsty but probably was seriously dehydrated.
I did actually plan to take my jacket off for the last 5k around the lake, but my body (back, legs, toes, ITB, everything...) just wouldn't let my aerobic system come into play so I remained too chilly to do so. My finishers picture has me in a vest but note the jacket in hand, which had only departed from my shoulders fifty or so metres previously....
Despite the weather and the lack of support around the course (except for our spectators, who were fantastic and can't have been enjoying the cold, pouring rain either), I was *ecstatic* to finish. So much time, stress and planning had gone into this race, to finish was the icing on a very very big cake. Then to find out I'd come third in my age group (which, incidentally, included the overall winner) seemed to make it all worthwhile. I'd even like to have another go at some point in life, albeit some drier weather would be welcome!
Times
Total time: 13:08:36
Swim: 01:15:01
T1: 00:11:55
Bike: 06:58:36
T2: 00:09:05
Run: 04:33:33
Standings
Age category: 003/0006 50%
Gender category: 048/0123 39%
Overall: 624/1012 62%
Female
Swim: 36/136 26%
Bike: 70/127 55%
Run: 40/123 33%
3800 m open water swim, 112 mile bike, 26.2 mile runThis was it. The big one. The one we'd all (well, myself and Hannah) been waiting for! Seven months of hard training had us standing at 6am on the side of Nottingham rowing lake. Shaking. A quick good luck, shuffle into the water and we were off!
What a start. Over a thousand wetsuit-clad people going off at once - from the bank it looked like a flock of geese were fighting over a single morsel. From the water it was, well, messy. Having started at the back I actually didn't get too upset by the melee, and after about 10 minutes had a suitable (probably too much) amount of space. About 25 minutes later I reached the turn point and was relieved of the direct sunlight. On my way back down I amazingly came across Hannah, and we near enough stayed together for the rest of the swim, meaning our spectators could have a nice leisurely walk together.
Upon exiting the swim, the motion of moving from horizontal to upright made me desperately need the loo, so I ran over towards the transition entrance and the portaloos. Just before I reached the loos however, I looked down to find some hands around my chest and before I could process this I had been completely stripped of my wetsuit. Standing there in just a bra and bikini bottoms I did feel rather exposed, but not as much as the man next to me, who clearly didn't see the need for anything under the wetsuit! Turning away from him and his embarrassment, I grabbed the door of the nearest available portaloo and nope, another naked man in there! (lock the door!) Eventually I found one that was not occupied, risking leaving my wetsuit outside for the duration, before making my way into T1.The day had not been warm so far, and the forecast hadn't been very promising, so I took a bit of a risk and decided to put on full overshoes, even though I'd never ridden this distance before in them. Shoes, socks, a top and cycling shorts also went on before I exited and unhooked my bike. The first part of the bike course is a lap around the lake (there were a lot of these to come!) and I took the opportunity to settle myself, make sure my shoes were done up and have a gel. I was immediately disappointed to find that a) the gel was not greeted amiably by my stomach and b) the biking felt really difficult. Hoping this was just the brick sensation wearing off, I made it out onto the roads and onto the first of three laps.This was the "flat" lap yet 20 or so miles in it was still very tough. By this point it had started to spit too, but I pushed on and finished the lap, heading across the river towards Lowdham to start the middle "hilly" lap. This stretch of road was familiar to me, but the effort it was taking was not! Why was it so tough? It was spitting by this point too, and I was beginning to get chilly. knowing the Oxton Bank climb wasn't far off however, I rode on, relieved to get off the main road and onto smaller roads.
The climb was much as I remembered, requiring my easiest gear but otherwise not too taxing and actually a relief to get out of aero for a bit as my stomach was incredibly painful. At the top of the bank there was a feed and I allowed myself a few seconds to get off my bike and stand up straight to try to shift the discomfort. Whilst doing this I noticed that my back brakes looked rather wonky, and on closer inspection I discovered the left pad was in contact with the rim, and probably had been for a long while. No wonder! I changed the alignment and hopped back on my bike, not making use of the feed station as my stomach was still angry.
The combination of releasing my brake, and having a fairly long descent made me feel a little better, and somehow the final lap felt better than the first, even though by now it was raining torrentially and the wind had picked up too. Glad I had carried a jacket and appreciating the fact that my overshoes had kept out the first two hours of heavy rain, I started on the stretch back to the water sports centre. The terrain at the end was terrible. Apparently it's to afford us great views of Pierrepont Hall, but 8.5 hours into a race in the torrential rain, I am sure that most competitors' buttocks (and sanity) would prefer the flat tarmac of Adboulton road to a gravelly track...
Thankful to get back in one piece after my shoddy bike (saying that, <7 hours for 112 miles isn't bad for me) I made a very slow T2 in order to get fully changed and shake talc at anything it would stick to. This talc was then commandeered by a couple of other ladies, so I left it for them to enjoy. I put my waterproof jacked back on (yep, like the overshoes, despite never having run in it before) and suddenly was struck by the feeling that I really really did not want to leave the T2 tent. However, it had to be, so I went back out into the pouring rain and onto the run.Wow. The "run". Definitely an entity in itself, and for me, one of two halves. Starting with a lap around the lake, I soon shook the bike legs and was running fairly steadily at about 2:10 half marathon pace. I was not familiar with the river stretch, so was sort of enjoying the scenery along the river, and then on towards the stadium. This provided the only dry hundred metres of the run, and once past I could see the bridge where I thought the turn point was. What I hadn't realised, was at this bridge you then cross the river and do what feels like an endless stretch up and down the opposing bank before returning to the water sports centre. By the return, the path had gotten really sodden, and I found myself ankle deep in water in places.
Back at the lake I clocked myself around the half at 2:11, the same as my standalone marathon. I started to wonder where Hannah was (I knew she was ahead) and asked our spectators what the gap was. "She's just a couple of minutes ahead, you'll catch her in no time" they said. Half an hour later and right out on the opposing side of the river I caught up with her. We had a brief chat about the general horrendousness of the race, and the fact that every part of our bodies seemed to be rejecting us, before I realised that walking was not meshing well with my ITB and I left Hannah to her devices to return down the river.A quick word on nutrition. Something went seriously wrong during this race. Having managed no more than a single gel at the start of the bike, the first few miles of the run had me on a serious energy-low. I tried a few things and found the only thing I could digest were Jaffa cakes. So, as odd as it sounds, I survived my marathon on a Jaffa cake every 1.5 miles and the occasional sip of water. The conditions were wet and cold (I was too cold to remove the jacket) which meant I wasn't overly thirsty but probably was seriously dehydrated.
I did actually plan to take my jacket off for the last 5k around the lake, but my body (back, legs, toes, ITB, everything...) just wouldn't let my aerobic system come into play so I remained too chilly to do so. My finishers picture has me in a vest but note the jacket in hand, which had only departed from my shoulders fifty or so metres previously....
Despite the weather and the lack of support around the course (except for our spectators, who were fantastic and can't have been enjoying the cold, pouring rain either), I was *ecstatic* to finish. So much time, stress and planning had gone into this race, to finish was the icing on a very very big cake. Then to find out I'd come third in my age group (which, incidentally, included the overall winner) seemed to make it all worthwhile. I'd even like to have another go at some point in life, albeit some drier weather would be welcome!
Times
Total time: 13:08:36
Swim: 01:15:01
T1: 00:11:55
Bike: 06:58:36
T2: 00:09:05
Run: 04:33:33
Standings
Age category: 003/0006 50%
Gender category: 048/0123 39%
Overall: 624/1012 62%
Female
Swim: 36/136 26%
Bike: 70/127 55%
Run: 40/123 33%
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