City of Birmingham Triathlon 2016
July 24th 2016
750m swim, 20k bike, 5k run
Just a few minutes from home, this is definitely my most local triathon, and that is the reason I entered! I wasn't too impressed by UKTri's offering at Stratford-upon-Avon in 2013, but this was an open-water rather than pool sprint, and I just couldn't resist being on home turf.
I had entered the Olympic distance, to provide a nice step down from my season of halves to a few late season sprints. Unfortunately, after Outlaw Half Holkham, my left leg had started to hurt, and a couple of weeks later I was frustrated to still be plagued by terrible pains in both my knee and leg, making walking very difficult! With a week to go til the Birmingham triathlon, I requested that my distance be changed from Olympic to Sprint - possibly making this the most expensive sprint tri I have ever done, but UKTri were very accommodating.
By the time it came to the day, my walking had improved somewhat but I hadn't been able to run, so I was just hoping for the best! UKTri operate an open transition, without labelled racking. I found a position fairly close to Bike Out and racked my items, smug that I'd manage to slot into an obviously sought-after area. I then changed and made my way to the swim start, bang on time for the 15-minutes before briefing. Five minutes later most of us were in the water, and then to my surprise, just five minutes later the race started - a whole five minutes early! I felt a bit sorry for those last into the water, but for the very first time this season I had absolutely loads of space on the start, and swam very happily and uninterrupted to the first turn point. At this point everyone converged a little (I may have slapped the turn buoy too - totally my fault) and I managed to catch someone's draft for the next two straights.
Swim exit went fairly smoothly, as did transition (wow, I love sprints - no faff apart from dealing with grass cuttings...) and I was soon onto my bike and happily in an appropriate gear for the hill at the start. The bike course was four laps around the park, which has an absolutley terrible surface. I had practised this previously although I'd not dared bring my carbon race bike (Jem), preferring to put my steel framed winter bike (Roy) through his paces instead. Jem coped admirably, thankfully, and due to the small laps I will modestly say that I overtook loads of people. To start with these were mainly relics from the Olympic distance race which had set off two hours earlier. However, by the end of the bike I was overtaking people in the sprint, even lapping a few. I had my eyes out for the faster riders, overtaking three but otherwise not coming across anyone. I was pleased to not be overtaken by any women albeit I know UKTri races don't draw a strong field.
Once off the bike, I was quickly reminded of my left leg, which almost gave way in transition! I coaxed it back into action on a nice, grassy uphill, but running downhill in the middle of the lap wasn't pleasant. By the time I was back on the nice uphill for the second and final time I was really struggling - the downhill didn't give me any increase in pace (only pain) and I was thankful that the last half mile was on flat grass. I pushed a little here, mainly to end the pain, but also because I spotted a fast and young looking BRAT catching me up! Crossing the line ahead of her, my leg completely seized up and refused to bear weight. Looks like it's not so much better after all!
Leg aside, I really enjoyed the race. Knowing I would have a very week run/walk I absolutely beasted the bike. I probably could have gone harder on the swim but I'm so unused to swiming short distances that sprinting doesn't come naturally. I was fairly impressed by UKTri too. They still seem to be unable to produce transition time for results, but there was a great atmosphere surrounding the race and they had obviously liaised with the local park users (my own regular Sunday "Bullets" run had relocated themselves due to the clash!).
I can't complain with 9th out of 110 with a very dodgy leg. Now to visit the dreaded physio and find out what's really wrong :(
Times
Total time: 01:22:17
Swim: 00:15:23
T1: 00:02:19
Bike: 00:37:51
T2: 00:01:01
Run: 00:25:43
Standings
Age category: 4/15 27%
Gender category: 9/110 8%
Overall category: 51/265 19%
Swim + T1: 13/110 12%
Bike + T2: 7/110 6%
Run: 13/110 12%
750m swim, 20k bike, 5k run
Just a few minutes from home, this is definitely my most local triathon, and that is the reason I entered! I wasn't too impressed by UKTri's offering at Stratford-upon-Avon in 2013, but this was an open-water rather than pool sprint, and I just couldn't resist being on home turf.
I had entered the Olympic distance, to provide a nice step down from my season of halves to a few late season sprints. Unfortunately, after Outlaw Half Holkham, my left leg had started to hurt, and a couple of weeks later I was frustrated to still be plagued by terrible pains in both my knee and leg, making walking very difficult! With a week to go til the Birmingham triathlon, I requested that my distance be changed from Olympic to Sprint - possibly making this the most expensive sprint tri I have ever done, but UKTri were very accommodating.
By the time it came to the day, my walking had improved somewhat but I hadn't been able to run, so I was just hoping for the best! UKTri operate an open transition, without labelled racking. I found a position fairly close to Bike Out and racked my items, smug that I'd manage to slot into an obviously sought-after area. I then changed and made my way to the swim start, bang on time for the 15-minutes before briefing. Five minutes later most of us were in the water, and then to my surprise, just five minutes later the race started - a whole five minutes early! I felt a bit sorry for those last into the water, but for the very first time this season I had absolutely loads of space on the start, and swam very happily and uninterrupted to the first turn point. At this point everyone converged a little (I may have slapped the turn buoy too - totally my fault) and I managed to catch someone's draft for the next two straights.
Swim exit went fairly smoothly, as did transition (wow, I love sprints - no faff apart from dealing with grass cuttings...) and I was soon onto my bike and happily in an appropriate gear for the hill at the start. The bike course was four laps around the park, which has an absolutley terrible surface. I had practised this previously although I'd not dared bring my carbon race bike (Jem), preferring to put my steel framed winter bike (Roy) through his paces instead. Jem coped admirably, thankfully, and due to the small laps I will modestly say that I overtook loads of people. To start with these were mainly relics from the Olympic distance race which had set off two hours earlier. However, by the end of the bike I was overtaking people in the sprint, even lapping a few. I had my eyes out for the faster riders, overtaking three but otherwise not coming across anyone. I was pleased to not be overtaken by any women albeit I know UKTri races don't draw a strong field.
Once off the bike, I was quickly reminded of my left leg, which almost gave way in transition! I coaxed it back into action on a nice, grassy uphill, but running downhill in the middle of the lap wasn't pleasant. By the time I was back on the nice uphill for the second and final time I was really struggling - the downhill didn't give me any increase in pace (only pain) and I was thankful that the last half mile was on flat grass. I pushed a little here, mainly to end the pain, but also because I spotted a fast and young looking BRAT catching me up! Crossing the line ahead of her, my leg completely seized up and refused to bear weight. Looks like it's not so much better after all!Leg aside, I really enjoyed the race. Knowing I would have a very week run/walk I absolutely beasted the bike. I probably could have gone harder on the swim but I'm so unused to swiming short distances that sprinting doesn't come naturally. I was fairly impressed by UKTri too. They still seem to be unable to produce transition time for results, but there was a great atmosphere surrounding the race and they had obviously liaised with the local park users (my own regular Sunday "Bullets" run had relocated themselves due to the clash!).
I can't complain with 9th out of 110 with a very dodgy leg. Now to visit the dreaded physio and find out what's really wrong :(
Times
Total time: 01:22:17
Swim: 00:15:23
T1: 00:02:19
Bike: 00:37:51
T2: 00:01:01
Run: 00:25:43
Standings
Age category: 4/15 27%
Gender category: 9/110 8%
Overall category: 51/265 19%
Swim + T1: 13/110 12%
Bike + T2: 7/110 6%
Run: 13/110 12%
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