Outlaw Half Holkham Triathlon 2016
July 3rd 2016
1900 m swim, 56 mile bike, 13.1 mile run
Having been reasonably impressed with the organisation and friendliness of Outlaw Triathlon in 2015, this year I decided I would take a punt on the inaugural Outlaw Half Holkham Hall as my "B" race. I was a little nervous about this as the last inaugural event I entered (Ironman Staffordshire 70.3) had been a logistical and organisational nightmare, but I thought that in any case, this race would give me the opportunity for a nice weekend away, and some scenic surroundings.
Indeed I spent a lovely Saturday walking the marshes, discovering beaches and eating at a fantastic pub. I also attended a race briefing, registered and racked. The briefing as usual stretched beyond an hour. I've no idea why these need to be so long as 90% of what is said is in the race pack. The other 10% of fairly key information could be condensed and more succinctly delivered. Saying that, the presenters were charismatic and entertaining and it was nice to be in a beautiful building being able to see the screens, rather than craning my next in a stuffy marquee. There was still no loo roll in any of the portaloos though!
Race day came around and again, I felt pretty relaxed. Having driven around a lot exploring I was fairly familiar with a large proportion of the bike course which was good, and I was staying in Dersingham, which formed a key turn point on the course too. Arriving in good time I set up my transition and was excited to don my wetsuit and get out in the inviting lake. Although the swim was North/South, I did decide to wear my polarized goggles as I breathe bilaterally and was bound to get an eyeful of sun! I've tried very hard to master unilateral breathing but I just can't - breathing every 2 makes me dizzy and every 4 leaves me breathless, not to mention the fact that I swim in a circle....
I was surprised at how bashed about I got in the swim. This was probably my worst swim start of the season, yet it was one of the smallest fields. I started quite far back after my Outlaw Nottingham experience, but I actually think this was worse. Somehow I *still* had people trying to swim through me and on top of this I now had a field of feet to thrash through too! I eventually got free coming towards the island, and once I'd rounded it found a lone swimmer to draft almost the rest of the way.
The run to transition was nicely short, but once in transition I had a lot of faff! After the last Outlaw I wasn't sure about bare arms especially as the first 30 miles was to be fairly headwindy, so I decided to put armwarmers on, something I regretted both in transition and about half an hour into the bike. I also put my long fingered mesh gloves on, which I didn't regret and hopped onto my bike.
The start of the bike was within the grounds of the estate, before a few left turns to follow the northern coast on a stunningly beautiful route. A detour to avoid the busy town of Burnham Market provided a little relief from the breeze, which itself wasn't as strong as I anticipated. Then back onto some fantastic B-roads towards Dersingham, where I knew there was a sharp left turn onto a busier A-road (with a likely tailwind). Somehow, the town of Dersingham never appeared (I was later to learn that it had been bypassed due to a water leak - bad news for the family staying in my B&B who stood there fruitlessly waiting for their son to come past) and I found myself onto the rather busy A-road. The surface was good but the tailwind not as strong as expected and the road was inundate with sirens (seven separate sets passed me!). I was very glad to turn off and make my way north back towards Wells-next-the-Sea, although the very last stretch of bike towards the estate was a surprising and painful climb back into the headwind!
Coming through the estate there was an awkward shared bike/run stretch, which made it difficult in either discipline to overtake. I used this time to both prepare for T2 - which went much more successfully than T1 - as well as get a little disheartened by the fact that women were already well into the run course, which started with a gentle hill. Each run lap had a theoretically "friendly" profile, with about a mile up, a mile across, a mile down and a mile of flat.
On my first lap I felt alright, especially as I was overtaking men on their second or third laps who had slowed significantly. I was starting to feel the heat however (the sun was fully out by now) and picked up some water at the second feed station. The course was a nice mix of trail and tarmac, but the flat section back towards transition on tarmac felt endless. By the time I came to the hill for the second time I was really struggling, being spurred on mainly by the concentrated number of spectators. I walked through the feed on the hill but found this altogether more tiring, so picked back up into a run fairly quickly.
The mile across the top had become very hot by this time, with no shade and a lot of very interested flies.I found running past as many slow, sweaty men as possible the best way to distract the swarm of flies around my head and was relieved to get into the downhill trail section for the second time. On what I call the "endless flat" at the bottom, I started to calculate my projected time. With 5 miles to go I had about 50 minutes if I wanted to make my sub 6-hour target. If I could just keep running, and not slow too much on the hill, I knew this should be well within my capabilities. However, I felt really uncomfortable by now - my skin was tingling as it had during my Monster Mojo disaster run. At the time I had put this down to too much caffeine, but I had not used any caffeine in today's race. For the spectators I kept on running through transition and back to the hill.
The third time up the hill, somehow, wasn't as bad as the second. Three lap courses are my least favorite way of completing a half marathon, as each lap is significantly long yet during the middle one I don't feel I'm making headway through the race. The top of the hill gave me just over 3.5 miles to go, and once across the top I was once again greeted by inviting shade and trail surface (my left leg was niggling a bit by now too). By the time I got to the "endless" section I was just wanting the experience to end. Two things at this point sped me up though: firstly, a rare cloud had covered the sun, secondly, I spotted a girl in my age category some 10 m ahead. She had been about this distance ahead of me for over a lap, and I decided that if I was going to go up a place I need to focus on her and go at the right time. I gradually (and painfully) covered the gap and sat right on her shoulder for half mile or so, noting her speed up. With my watch reading 13.05 miles, I put on a bit of a burst to get by. A sneaky glance back alerted me to the fact that she hadn't responded, but I had underestimated the length of the course! Rather than having just 0.05 miles left, to finish I needed to continue this pace for another quarter of a mile. This was unanticipated and hence very painful - with the worst moment being when I turned around after the finish to find that the girl in my age category still had another lap to go!! So my overtaking attempt was pointless anyway...
Nevertheless, I was done, and well under 6 hours too! I am pleased with this result and it probably marks the end of my serious triathlon season. I think the winner was well under ten hours and my age category was competitive, but for me triathlons of this distance are about racing myself. This one in particular was about enjoyment. Yes I could have aimed for a sub-3hr bike, but this was not my "A" race - every time I realised I was not enjoying my bike leg, I readjusted my pace until I was so I'll make my peace with placing at around the first quartile.
Times
Total time: 05:55:20
Swim: 00:38:50
T1: 00:04:07
Bike: 03:11:12
T2: 00:01:40
Run: 01:59:31
Standings
Age category: 9/15 60%
Gender category: 53/206 26%
Overall category: 416/942 44%
Swim: 63/206 31%
T1: 137/206 67%
Bike: 64/206 31%
T2: 27/206 13%
Run: 51/206 25%
1900 m swim, 56 mile bike, 13.1 mile run
Having been reasonably impressed with the organisation and friendliness of Outlaw Triathlon in 2015, this year I decided I would take a punt on the inaugural Outlaw Half Holkham Hall as my "B" race. I was a little nervous about this as the last inaugural event I entered (Ironman Staffordshire 70.3) had been a logistical and organisational nightmare, but I thought that in any case, this race would give me the opportunity for a nice weekend away, and some scenic surroundings.
Indeed I spent a lovely Saturday walking the marshes, discovering beaches and eating at a fantastic pub. I also attended a race briefing, registered and racked. The briefing as usual stretched beyond an hour. I've no idea why these need to be so long as 90% of what is said is in the race pack. The other 10% of fairly key information could be condensed and more succinctly delivered. Saying that, the presenters were charismatic and entertaining and it was nice to be in a beautiful building being able to see the screens, rather than craning my next in a stuffy marquee. There was still no loo roll in any of the portaloos though!
Race day came around and again, I felt pretty relaxed. Having driven around a lot exploring I was fairly familiar with a large proportion of the bike course which was good, and I was staying in Dersingham, which formed a key turn point on the course too. Arriving in good time I set up my transition and was excited to don my wetsuit and get out in the inviting lake. Although the swim was North/South, I did decide to wear my polarized goggles as I breathe bilaterally and was bound to get an eyeful of sun! I've tried very hard to master unilateral breathing but I just can't - breathing every 2 makes me dizzy and every 4 leaves me breathless, not to mention the fact that I swim in a circle....
I was surprised at how bashed about I got in the swim. This was probably my worst swim start of the season, yet it was one of the smallest fields. I started quite far back after my Outlaw Nottingham experience, but I actually think this was worse. Somehow I *still* had people trying to swim through me and on top of this I now had a field of feet to thrash through too! I eventually got free coming towards the island, and once I'd rounded it found a lone swimmer to draft almost the rest of the way.
The run to transition was nicely short, but once in transition I had a lot of faff! After the last Outlaw I wasn't sure about bare arms especially as the first 30 miles was to be fairly headwindy, so I decided to put armwarmers on, something I regretted both in transition and about half an hour into the bike. I also put my long fingered mesh gloves on, which I didn't regret and hopped onto my bike.
The start of the bike was within the grounds of the estate, before a few left turns to follow the northern coast on a stunningly beautiful route. A detour to avoid the busy town of Burnham Market provided a little relief from the breeze, which itself wasn't as strong as I anticipated. Then back onto some fantastic B-roads towards Dersingham, where I knew there was a sharp left turn onto a busier A-road (with a likely tailwind). Somehow, the town of Dersingham never appeared (I was later to learn that it had been bypassed due to a water leak - bad news for the family staying in my B&B who stood there fruitlessly waiting for their son to come past) and I found myself onto the rather busy A-road. The surface was good but the tailwind not as strong as expected and the road was inundate with sirens (seven separate sets passed me!). I was very glad to turn off and make my way north back towards Wells-next-the-Sea, although the very last stretch of bike towards the estate was a surprising and painful climb back into the headwind!
Coming through the estate there was an awkward shared bike/run stretch, which made it difficult in either discipline to overtake. I used this time to both prepare for T2 - which went much more successfully than T1 - as well as get a little disheartened by the fact that women were already well into the run course, which started with a gentle hill. Each run lap had a theoretically "friendly" profile, with about a mile up, a mile across, a mile down and a mile of flat.
On my first lap I felt alright, especially as I was overtaking men on their second or third laps who had slowed significantly. I was starting to feel the heat however (the sun was fully out by now) and picked up some water at the second feed station. The course was a nice mix of trail and tarmac, but the flat section back towards transition on tarmac felt endless. By the time I came to the hill for the second time I was really struggling, being spurred on mainly by the concentrated number of spectators. I walked through the feed on the hill but found this altogether more tiring, so picked back up into a run fairly quickly.
The mile across the top had become very hot by this time, with no shade and a lot of very interested flies.I found running past as many slow, sweaty men as possible the best way to distract the swarm of flies around my head and was relieved to get into the downhill trail section for the second time. On what I call the "endless flat" at the bottom, I started to calculate my projected time. With 5 miles to go I had about 50 minutes if I wanted to make my sub 6-hour target. If I could just keep running, and not slow too much on the hill, I knew this should be well within my capabilities. However, I felt really uncomfortable by now - my skin was tingling as it had during my Monster Mojo disaster run. At the time I had put this down to too much caffeine, but I had not used any caffeine in today's race. For the spectators I kept on running through transition and back to the hill.
The third time up the hill, somehow, wasn't as bad as the second. Three lap courses are my least favorite way of completing a half marathon, as each lap is significantly long yet during the middle one I don't feel I'm making headway through the race. The top of the hill gave me just over 3.5 miles to go, and once across the top I was once again greeted by inviting shade and trail surface (my left leg was niggling a bit by now too). By the time I got to the "endless" section I was just wanting the experience to end. Two things at this point sped me up though: firstly, a rare cloud had covered the sun, secondly, I spotted a girl in my age category some 10 m ahead. She had been about this distance ahead of me for over a lap, and I decided that if I was going to go up a place I need to focus on her and go at the right time. I gradually (and painfully) covered the gap and sat right on her shoulder for half mile or so, noting her speed up. With my watch reading 13.05 miles, I put on a bit of a burst to get by. A sneaky glance back alerted me to the fact that she hadn't responded, but I had underestimated the length of the course! Rather than having just 0.05 miles left, to finish I needed to continue this pace for another quarter of a mile. This was unanticipated and hence very painful - with the worst moment being when I turned around after the finish to find that the girl in my age category still had another lap to go!! So my overtaking attempt was pointless anyway...
Nevertheless, I was done, and well under 6 hours too! I am pleased with this result and it probably marks the end of my serious triathlon season. I think the winner was well under ten hours and my age category was competitive, but for me triathlons of this distance are about racing myself. This one in particular was about enjoyment. Yes I could have aimed for a sub-3hr bike, but this was not my "A" race - every time I realised I was not enjoying my bike leg, I readjusted my pace until I was so I'll make my peace with placing at around the first quartile.
Times
Total time: 05:55:20
Swim: 00:38:50
T1: 00:04:07
Bike: 03:11:12
T2: 00:01:40
Run: 01:59:31
Standings
Age category: 9/15 60%
Gender category: 53/206 26%
Overall category: 416/942 44%
Swim: 63/206 31%
T1: 137/206 67%
Bike: 64/206 31%
T2: 27/206 13%
Run: 51/206 25%
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