Events Blog

July 16th 2017 750m swim, 20k bike, 5k run I'd done this event last year, and was keen to compete again as it was just so local! Setting-up went well, got myself a good spot near Bike Out (wondering why lots had people had already racked near Swim In). The free racking was a bit confusing, and there were definite advantages to be had. Before long, I was wetsuited up and heading into the water, which felt chillier than last year. I settled myself near the front as the men's field looked a bit slow - and we were off! My start felt surprisingly panicky, with my chest being constricted by the combination of HR monitor and wetsuit. Not being in a good place, I backed off a tad and gradually resumed the ability to breathe normally (or normally for swimming anyway). Around the first buoy I started to feel OK and pushed on along the second straight. On the third side of the rectangular swim, I managed to find someone to draft, which makes a change as I normally find myself in...

April 2nd 2017 400m swim, 20k bike, 5k run First tri of the season! I picked this one because it was cheap. And flat. Entering fairly early on a discount, my predicted swim time was not representative by the time I came to race. However, when I saw the start list I was a bit confused as to why I was starting almost four hours after people with similar swim times. Nevermind the inconvenience of a 1pm race, this seemed a little unfair as conditions can change dramatically throughout the day. I readjusted my swim time to make it representative (06:50 rather than 07:30) and was now starting at the beginning of the day. In fact, I was the second wave, which was weird as I had no chance to watch how T1 worked (I had missed the briefing due to it being 15 mins late and when I needed to be at poolside). When I queued for the swim I realised I had ended up in the 06:15 wave, which was a little worrying as I was nowhere near that fast. However, it turns out everyone in my lane had been ra...

September 11th 2016 400m swim, 24k bike, 5.3k run Last race of my 2016! And what a long but enjoyable course... Not scenic by any means, but well marshalled, nicely undulating and fantastic weather conditions (no wind, sun but plenty of shade on the run, cool). Times Total time:  01:27:54 Swim:          00:07:35 T1:              00:01:19 Bike:            00:52:19 T2:              00:00:57 Run:            00:25:46   (leg finally getting better!) Standings Age category:             2/17      12% Gender category:        3/44        7%  (Overall award! Ecstatic with this!) Overall category:      33/133    25% Swim                      ...

August 7th 2016 400m swim, 21k bike, 5k run After trying and failing to start this race in 2014 (thanks to being run-over by a van) I was determined to enter again this year. I hoped to be able to give it a really good go in order to measure my improvement from my very first triathlon back in 2013. However, this was not to be as my left leg/knee was still niggling a month on.... Swimming and cycling on said leg seemed fine, so I really made the most of the weekend with a hilly 35-mile cycle around the Peak District on the Saturday. This took in Ringinglow, Stanage Edge and Mam Tor (ouch!) and we were rewarded for our efforts by some stunning views. Once back in Hathersage a dip in the pool (which really was a dip rather than swimming thanks to the huge numbers of kids around) was had before returning to the stunning Eric Byn memorial campsite for the evening. The next morning was perhaps a little flustered as we were later than intended to Worksop. However, I made it to the st...

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 ...

April 24th 2016 400 m swim, 18k bike, 5k run The Lichfield Sprint Triathlon is hosted by Birmingham Running, Athletics and Triathlon Club (BRATs) and is hence nice and local to me. I competed in 2014 (when it was called the Three Spires Triathlon) and finished in a time of 1:22:10. I remember having a terrible swim, reasonable bike and less reasonable run. Two years on in my triathlon journey my aim for this race was to knock at least 5 minutes off this time. The swimming pool was reasonable empty (up to two people per lane when I was queuing for the start) but I was surprised when told to "choose a lane" as I am used to allocated lanes! I was first in the queue so got first choice, placing myself in lane 4 of 6. A quick mental assessment had taken place - there was one empty lane but this was where I had a terrible swim last year and was furthest from swim out (nearest lane 1) so karma and common sense didn't let me choose this one. Lanes 2 and 3 both had two swim...

September 20th 2015 400 m pool swim, 18 km bike, 4.5 km run Goodbye 2015 season! And with the best weather conditions so far. Low winds, a little bit of sun and around 15 degrees. The swim was a rather busy affair - with six people in my lane when I got in. This made for a terrible swim as I was significantly faster than a few in my lane and therefore got held up. Someone also managed to punch my wrist at one point, knocking my watch right up my arm which was incredibly painful and necessitated a stop at an end to put it right. My lane also happened to be almost the furthest from the swim exit... A grassy transition later, I was onto the bike. The course profile looked mostly downhill on the way out and fairly uphill on the way back. I was therefore surprised to find myself really struggling on the way out. The downhills there were did not create much free speed and were followed by uphills. Once onto the flat it was hard going - watching people speed past the other way wasn...

April 26th 2015 400 m pool swim, 19 km bike, 5 km run Hello 2015 race season and a lower leg injury! The aim of today's triathlon was to practice nutrition, transition and planing skills. Unfortunately, I didn't plan to get injured, and certainly didn't plan for "Feels like 1 degrees" temperatures. So the lingering memories from this race are: "On demand" swim schedule - ie no swim sorting by predicted times. Disastrous! Faff in transition - learned that putting full-finger gloves onto wet hands *cannot* be rushed Freezing arms - bike in "Feels like 1 degrees" Faff in transition - learned that taking full-finger gloves off chilly hands *cannot* be rushed Freezing hands - the above was a mistake! As I could not run at capacity due to injury I could not warm up. Not the best organised race; plenty of lost runners, cars driving across run-out in an uncontrolled manner and an irritating set of traffic lights at the base of a huge hil...

August 31st 2014 400m pool swim, 20km bike, 5km run Not such an early start as last year! However, I was much earlier than I wanted to be due to the compulsory briefings. My race was at 09:41 and I had to be poolside by 09:31. The briefings were at 07:30, 08:15 and 09:30 meaning I had to attend the one at 08:15 - stupidly early! Once I'd been briefed I went to rack. I suppose I was very lucky last year but certainly not this year. My rack position was in the second row back and beyond the bike out which made it quite difficult to get to and would give me long transition times. However, I racked and went to prep for the race. Again, where I was luck last time and got an end-lane on the swim this time I was right in the middle. Not normally an issue but the pool sides at Daventry were still 500 mm above water level. However, I somehow managed to have the lane to myself for the swim (despite there being four people in each lane either side for the duration) so I took my lot a...

August 23rd 2014 500m open water swim, 15km bike, 5 km run Club Relays! - representing BRAT (Birmingham Running Athletics and Triathlon Club) So different from a normal race. And my first dabble at proper training since my accident a month before. The club relays involve teams of four competing in a swim-swim-swim-swim-bike-bike-bike-bike-run-run-run-run format. There are mixed, women's and men's categories, and I was competing in a mixed team. We decided to order our team so that I was second, and the two women were sandwiched by the men. The start of my race would therefore involve receiving the rubber band (baton) from Andy, our first competitor. Not being familiar with my number one and three team mates, transitions could have proved a challenge, not helped by the face that everyone is wearing a black wetsuit... However, Andy found me fairly smoothly and I dashed to the water with the wristband on and ran in. COLD! Ok, so I found out afterwards that the lake wa...

June 29th 2014 400m pool swim, 22km bike, 4.5 km run The end of a run of a few races for me! Oakham triathlon takes place at Catmose College in Oakham, Leicestershire. The college itself is a collection of lovely new buildings on a great site. Unfortunately the swimming pool itself is an old building, resembling perhaps a greenhouse which has lived out it's design life. Having found no changing facilities at all, I put on my trisuit and headed for the swim. The pool itself wasn't so bad, quite bright due to the window arrangement and only four lanes. The lanes them self were pretty busy and I found myself at points with four others, but somehow managed a fairly decent swim. Out and down the steps to transition I enjoyed the short swim to bike distance. However, once I had my bike it was a good 100 m run to the mount line! Mounted and going, I completed the sneak extra half kilometre that had been added the day before the race (with no maps!) and set off onto the route....

June 15th 2014 500m swim, 18.5 km bike, 5k run My second open water triathlon! And what a weedy one too! I was very grateful that we had been let into the water to warm up as the weeds were a great shock. Well rooted and growing from the bed of the lake upwards they tickled my face, arms and ankles. I got well acquainted with some of them in the 5 minute warm up, enabling me to be aware of the potential of entanglement in the race, but was still surprised to find them there. Naive perhaps, but the water at Cliff Lakes so far had been weed-free, and from rowing I knew that it normally took until late August, early September for the weeds to get prohibitive. Anyway, weeds aside, I found the swim very challenging. My first experience of racing in a swim pack on unfamiliar water. I decided to take some advice I'd been given and wait a couple of seconds to let the initial pack swim off. However, there were so many people of varying abilities that this didn't really happen s...

June 7th 2014 750m open water swim, 20k bike, 5km run My first open water triathlon! Stressed is the word of the day.... This being the nearest triathlon to my home, and at my local swim view, I cut it slightly fine with setting off. However, traffic at 7am on a Sunday was pretty much non-existent, and finding myself 10 minutes early I decided to have a quick drive around the bike route, following signs set up the night before. Error! I realised the importance of marshals - I missed a single sign and ended up 20 miles away from the start, with just 40 minutes to go. Some fast and paniced driving later, I arrived with just 20 minutes spare. Parking (and also it turns out, transition) was on some boggy grass, so I sprinted across this and quickly set up my transition area. As the forecast was for torrential rain (Met weather warning) and thunderstorms I decided to put plastic bags (the only waterproof resource I had with me...) over my helmet and shoes. The guy next to me laughe...

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. ...

March 30th 2014 So the day before this triathlon, I realise that I have not a clue where East Leake is! Thankfully, upon looking it up, it turns out to be a small village near Nottingham, and less than an hour from my home. I also realise that yes, it is still March, and absolutely freezing to be out in less than a coat. Hmmm. Waking up and leaving for the race in the dark, turning to mist, turning to....well, more mist didn't help either. However, I made it through the less than scenic drive to East Leake, parked up and wondered whether I'd forgotten how to do a race, and what I'd forgotten to bring. I've spent the winter learning how to swim, and so came to the start of this event nervous about having been a little optimisitc about my estimated swim time, and nervous about the prospect of swimming 400 m of front crawl for the first time in a race situation. However, I was placated by the friendly looking 4-lane pool (no high sides and only 2-3 people per lane, ...

September 29th 2013 To give you an overview of my state of mind going into my third triathlon, I suggest referring to my post from two weeks previously, about the London Bikeathon. After this 100-miler I spent Monday feeling fine, and headed for a relaxing swim in the evening. Unfortunately this was not to be so and after the swim I felt absolutely awful. Cycling to work the next day was a huge struggle and by lunch time I'd been sent home as too ill to work. By the time I'd cycled back, packed, cycled to the train station, caught my train, changed and Sheffield, caught another train, cycled through Derby and then been driven home, I was only good for bed. And so began my first ever four day stint off work. Two weeks later and I'd not really recovered. I'd been back at work but unable to train or eat sensibly so was decidedly dubious about the triathlon. In fact, had I not already paid for entry and encouraged a close friend, Hannah, to enter as her first event, I ...

September 1st 2013 Daventry was a nice early start, most of my journey being made in the dark. Definitely not a fan of short days and long nights! I'd entered this triathlon as a fall-back, most of my first choices, such as the Black Country Triathlon, were full by the time I'd realised I wanted to enter. However, arriving at the centre I was greeted by a lot of friendly people. The pack we were given was great too - another performance t-shirt to add to my Bassetlaw one (this time small enough to be worn as a t-shirt and not some sort of dress, note to self, free t-shirt sizing is unisex(!)) plus some energy stuff. I laid out my belongings in transition, which was numbered, pleased again that by chance I'd secured a great position, fairly near Bike Out and along the main rail rather than the numerous rails behind, which would have been a minor detour. Again nervous, I made my way to the centre to observe a few swim waves before the start. Probably a good idea, but...

August 4th 2013 In March 2013 I was sent to Worksop to work at a precast concrete factory there. I was extremely disappointed to find there was no rowing club in the vicinity, and after some brief research into the (limited) sports clubs, I decided to join Bassetlaw Triathlon Club. This turned out to be a brilliant decision. Not only did they introduce me to triathlon as a social and competitive sport, I also became familiar with a great group of people and the surroundings of Clumber Park. Possibly the oasis that got me through my time in Worksop, Clumber Park is a beautiful mix of lake, forest and open land. It is also a creative mix of the kept and unkept and boasts both surfaced and unsurfaced trails, which are great for road and mountain biking respectively. Anyway, getting back to the triathlon, Bassetlaw was my first triathlon (as well as being an inaugural triathlon itself). I woke up on the day understandably nervous as although I'd attempted each of the three secti...