Outlaw Half 2018
May 20th 2018
1900 m swim, 56 mile bike, 13.1 mile run
As I ask myself before every race - did I feel prepared? No, not really! Having not been able to run since the marathon five weeks ago due to a hip flexor injury, I went into this race with an overarching sense of "unknown". Would I be able to run? Would I be able to finish? What is running? How do I do it?
Aside from training, prep was smooth. I registered on Friday after work, and turned up Sunday morning at 5am to the correct end of the lake (unlike last time's half). My racking spot was very decent (near bike-in and bike-out) and I felt I had all the kit I needed. Multiple loo trips meant zipping-up the wetsuit was as last minute as ever, and before I knew it I was in the water.
The start gun went and I set off on the far left (as I had successfully done for the full) into the blinding sunlight. My aim was to stay out of the melee (which I managed), then cut in. Somehow I had difficulty cutting in, so I just sighted a line straight for the turning buoys, which was clear and direct but meant I struggled to find anyone to draft. Rounding the buoys at the top I was right on the race line, but still - no one! The return straight had the added bonus of being able to see, but all I could find were some grey cap obstructions from the previous wave, and the long way it was to the end of the swim. It felt endless - and indeed my watch said I swam over 2000m...
Out of the swim I set off jogging to my bike. My hip was very painful. Not good I thought, but I pressed on to my racking spot. Here I suddenly found myself incredibly dizzy, more than ever before. I could barely stay upright and was shaking trying to put socks and shoes on. There were plenty of bikes still around, which was reassuring with regard to the race but made me struggle to find a bit of rack to hold myself steady. Still with the world swimming, I grabbed my bike and weaved my way to the mount line.
Thankfully after mounting I felt loads better, and settled straight onto my bars to lap the lake. I realised in my unsure state I had forgotten my sunglasses, very unfortunate on a cloudless day (and I correctly predicted the flies on the south loop would be beelining for my eyes. Oh well, there are worse things to forget, and at least my legs felt fairly fresh.
The first 25 miles flew by, I could barely keep up with eating a Cliff Blok every 3 miles as they were coming around so fast. Back on the link section and time began to slow. Traffic became busy, and I suddenly realised that despite my toes being cold, I was really quite hot. And a little dizzy again. Having been here before at the Monster Mojo, and knowing how that run ended, I made a concious effort to slow down, taking the middle third of the bike more gently. It was hard work, as this section had less support and a surprising lack of other riders to look at coming the other way. In fact, this really bothered me as it meant I was within an hour of the back of the field, which I didn't expect to be (it turns out they paused the race for 30 minutes, hence the gap - but I wasn't to know).
I pushed on again in the last 10, with the end of the bike in sight and nothing to lose. I was pleased I'd generally stayed in TT position for the bike, feeling fairly comfy despite some last minute adjustments which I would normally advise against making, but needed due to recent weight gain. As ever I was glad to get off (who isn't?), and made a less dizzy T2 ready for the run. I didn't think this was particularly efficient as my bike got run over three times by some belligerent men, some of whom I stopped to have a bit of an argument with regarding their ignorance that women would be making a U-turn here, despite that being clearly stated in the briefing. With all this faff somehow I was still 10th fastest T2, so no idea what everyone else was up to! I even remembered my visor *thank god*.
Setting off on the run was predictably painful. The motion was so unfamiliar and I found myself mainly running on one leg due to the pain. I had dosed-up on paracetamol on the bike but I wasn't sure that was having much effect. After about a mile however, the pain subsided a little into a constant ache rather than sharp pains and I tried to replicate normal running form, which is difficult when you have an injury it turns out. Pace-wise I was extremely conservative, staying well within Z2 for the first half marathon as I knew that my HR would creep up due to the heat, let alone exertion. The third quarter was particularly hard, with my HR rising and pace dropping, but I just tried to remain steady, keen to get back to the lake. The lake itself forms the last 2.5 miles and just never seems to get any smaller. I was desperately trying to push the pace for this last bit as I knew some of my age group were just 0.5 miles behind at 9 miles, and running faster than me. Unfortunately I had nothing left, and one of them pipped me on the line (argh!), although I had held off a number of others.
Overall, given the circumstances, this race probably went as OK as it could have. It was clean in terms of kit behaving, no mechanicals and me being in the right place at the right time. I wasn't at the bottom of my age-group and had actually managed a 7-min PB on my effort from two years ago, when I'd felt particularly well prepared. Had I had my normal run on my I should have sneaked under 5:30, but that target will have to wait for another time I think!
Post blog note: I was actually 2 months pregnant when doing this race, which I'm sure contributed to some of the dizziness experienced. It also made me conservative in the run with regards to HR, and stopped me being able to dose up on ibruprofen which from experience would have been far more effective than paracetamol for my hip flexor injury. This would turn out to be my last attempt at a triathlon for a long time!
Times
Total time: 05:43:54
Swim: 00:36:36
T1: 00:02:55
Bike: 03:00:51
T2: 00:01:39
Run: 02:01:53
Standings
Age category: 7/28 25%
Gender category: 51/331 15%
Overall category: 510/1293 39%
Swim: 41/331 12%
T1: 41/331 12%
Bike: 73/331 22%
T2: 10/331 3%
Run: 64/331 19%
1900 m swim, 56 mile bike, 13.1 mile run
As I ask myself before every race - did I feel prepared? No, not really! Having not been able to run since the marathon five weeks ago due to a hip flexor injury, I went into this race with an overarching sense of "unknown". Would I be able to run? Would I be able to finish? What is running? How do I do it?
Aside from training, prep was smooth. I registered on Friday after work, and turned up Sunday morning at 5am to the correct end of the lake (unlike last time's half). My racking spot was very decent (near bike-in and bike-out) and I felt I had all the kit I needed. Multiple loo trips meant zipping-up the wetsuit was as last minute as ever, and before I knew it I was in the water.
The start gun went and I set off on the far left (as I had successfully done for the full) into the blinding sunlight. My aim was to stay out of the melee (which I managed), then cut in. Somehow I had difficulty cutting in, so I just sighted a line straight for the turning buoys, which was clear and direct but meant I struggled to find anyone to draft. Rounding the buoys at the top I was right on the race line, but still - no one! The return straight had the added bonus of being able to see, but all I could find were some grey cap obstructions from the previous wave, and the long way it was to the end of the swim. It felt endless - and indeed my watch said I swam over 2000m...
Out of the swim I set off jogging to my bike. My hip was very painful. Not good I thought, but I pressed on to my racking spot. Here I suddenly found myself incredibly dizzy, more than ever before. I could barely stay upright and was shaking trying to put socks and shoes on. There were plenty of bikes still around, which was reassuring with regard to the race but made me struggle to find a bit of rack to hold myself steady. Still with the world swimming, I grabbed my bike and weaved my way to the mount line.Thankfully after mounting I felt loads better, and settled straight onto my bars to lap the lake. I realised in my unsure state I had forgotten my sunglasses, very unfortunate on a cloudless day (and I correctly predicted the flies on the south loop would be beelining for my eyes. Oh well, there are worse things to forget, and at least my legs felt fairly fresh.
The first 25 miles flew by, I could barely keep up with eating a Cliff Blok every 3 miles as they were coming around so fast. Back on the link section and time began to slow. Traffic became busy, and I suddenly realised that despite my toes being cold, I was really quite hot. And a little dizzy again. Having been here before at the Monster Mojo, and knowing how that run ended, I made a concious effort to slow down, taking the middle third of the bike more gently. It was hard work, as this section had less support and a surprising lack of other riders to look at coming the other way. In fact, this really bothered me as it meant I was within an hour of the back of the field, which I didn't expect to be (it turns out they paused the race for 30 minutes, hence the gap - but I wasn't to know).
I pushed on again in the last 10, with the end of the bike in sight and nothing to lose. I was pleased I'd generally stayed in TT position for the bike, feeling fairly comfy despite some last minute adjustments which I would normally advise against making, but needed due to recent weight gain. As ever I was glad to get off (who isn't?), and made a less dizzy T2 ready for the run. I didn't think this was particularly efficient as my bike got run over three times by some belligerent men, some of whom I stopped to have a bit of an argument with regarding their ignorance that women would be making a U-turn here, despite that being clearly stated in the briefing. With all this faff somehow I was still 10th fastest T2, so no idea what everyone else was up to! I even remembered my visor *thank god*.
Setting off on the run was predictably painful. The motion was so unfamiliar and I found myself mainly running on one leg due to the pain. I had dosed-up on paracetamol on the bike but I wasn't sure that was having much effect. After about a mile however, the pain subsided a little into a constant ache rather than sharp pains and I tried to replicate normal running form, which is difficult when you have an injury it turns out. Pace-wise I was extremely conservative, staying well within Z2 for the first half marathon as I knew that my HR would creep up due to the heat, let alone exertion. The third quarter was particularly hard, with my HR rising and pace dropping, but I just tried to remain steady, keen to get back to the lake. The lake itself forms the last 2.5 miles and just never seems to get any smaller. I was desperately trying to push the pace for this last bit as I knew some of my age group were just 0.5 miles behind at 9 miles, and running faster than me. Unfortunately I had nothing left, and one of them pipped me on the line (argh!), although I had held off a number of others.
Overall, given the circumstances, this race probably went as OK as it could have. It was clean in terms of kit behaving, no mechanicals and me being in the right place at the right time. I wasn't at the bottom of my age-group and had actually managed a 7-min PB on my effort from two years ago, when I'd felt particularly well prepared. Had I had my normal run on my I should have sneaked under 5:30, but that target will have to wait for another time I think!
Post blog note: I was actually 2 months pregnant when doing this race, which I'm sure contributed to some of the dizziness experienced. It also made me conservative in the run with regards to HR, and stopped me being able to dose up on ibruprofen which from experience would have been far more effective than paracetamol for my hip flexor injury. This would turn out to be my last attempt at a triathlon for a long time!
Times
Total time: 05:43:54
Swim: 00:36:36
T1: 00:02:55
Bike: 03:00:51
T2: 00:01:39
Run: 02:01:53
Standings
Age category: 7/28 25%
Gender category: 51/331 15%
Overall category: 510/1293 39%
Swim: 41/331 12%
T1: 41/331 12%
Bike: 73/331 22%
T2: 10/331 3%
Run: 64/331 19%
Comments
Post a Comment