I did the Andover Triathlon today and came third in my age group! Only 5 seconds down on the second placed person.
Not sure of the overall time yet, I think that they said 1:41 when I went to pick up my prize (a free swim at the local lake, which is actually useful to me).
In overview:
- I swam hard but not all out. My left goggle leaked after a bit. I didn’t get any sense of speed because of my hat but I think I slowed a little in the middle bit.
- T1: fine – if only I could get the shoes-on-the-bike business sorted.
- Bike: very windy, with what felt like a headwind for most of the first half of the course. I over took one person at T1 and two people overtook me just before half way. I stayed in sight of them all of the way around, and gained on them in the last 5k (up a steep hill). I think I took it a bit “less hard” (not “too easy”) in a few places. I was also scared sometimes with the wind and having deep rims – I got pushed around quite a lot.
- T2: fine
- Run: very hard, overtook someone in the first 200m. Then a long drag up a hill where I overtook someone else. I felt like I was going to be sick at this stage. Then the next 3k were pretty flat and I think I eased up a fraction because I felt sick again. Then a right turn up a long hill and I saw two people way in the distance. I overtook one who started walking after a bit and gained on the other. A quick downhill, another uphill, turn right and then another hill. I overtook the person I’d been chasing and then another two people. Then it was a sprint to the finish.
I’ve no idea of the splits – hopefully the results will be out tomorrow.
As I was one of the last ones to go, I waited for the prize giving, having never ever been to one before. I wasn’t expecting anything (I’d been talking to someone who did 1:31 and I thought I was closer to 1:50) and I didn’t know what age group I was in. So it was incredible to hear that I got third place in “Veterans 1″.
Even better was for someone to tell me that it looked “effortless” when I ran past her. She obviously didn’t see the pain etched on my face!
… for the start of the Andover Tri. I’ve got a late start, 9:40 and I got here with 1:10 to spare so I have been walking around looking at the pool and stuff.
I woke up aching in lots of unusual places because of yesterday’s wakeboarding. I also felt like I was a bit warmer than usual and that feeling’s not gone away.
Anyway, I guess I’d better get my transition stuff together and get changed.
… so I thought I’d better pay attention to it as I’ve been ignoring it for a while. I had to look up the Andover Tri Club’s website to find out what distance it is. Turns out it is a 440m pool swim, a 30k bike and an 8k run. Hmmmm, I thought the run was shorter when I entered!
So the plan is to get there early-ish, ride around the run course to see what it is like and then get myself ready. The plan then is to swim hard, bike hard and run hard. Pretty simple really. I am not sure how hilly it is – there is a elevation profile on the map but it isn’t hugely helpful for me. I get the impression that it is rolling, with the hilliest stuff coming in at 14k, 21k and 24k.
The run seems to have a bit of a hill after the 1st km, then pretty much downhill/flat until the 4th km before being pretty much uphill after. Who knows though!
So far today I did a 67 min cross-country run with the dogs. They enjoyed it a lot. Oh, I also went wakeboarding. I did a lovely face plant!
Lost: One tri bike.
Reward available for finding it!
I have not gone on my tri bike since Windsor. I have done lots of running, especially with my dogs. But I have done soooo little on my bike or in the pool. I probably ought to sweep the cobwebs off the bike and have a go on it.
I asked myself this question a while ago and came up with the answer of 40s per 400m. But this was based on a pool swim where there are push off and glides every 25m. So what’s the difference in open water?
Well I went to the lake yesterday and, after a little persuasion, decided to swim without my wetsuit. I decided to push one length, which is around 400m, quite hard. In fact, it probably was “hard”. Definitely not “all out” but I guess I might have been able to go a fraction quicker. My watch said 6:43 for the lap. So how does that compare?
Well last week I did a few lengths with my wetsuit on – very easy, easy and moderate. The very easy one was 7:30, reducing to 6:40-something for the moderate one. So the difference between with wetsuit and without is the difference between a “moderate” effort and a “hard” effort.
But I like numbers so what’s the time difference? Well, on 11 May I did some intervals in the lake which included 3 hard laps, done in: 5:55, 5:52 and 5:58. I’ve not done much swimming since Lanzarote so I may well have lost some swim fitness. But if I haven’t the difference is around 46s or so. Let’s say I have lost a bit of swim fitness and 6:43 was a little on the easy side of hard then that 46s ties in very well with 40s.
So, I am going to claim that I am 40s per 400m quicker with a wetsuit. Nice 
I’ve been running with the dogs this morning. In fact that seems to be pretty much the only exercise I have done recently. It’s also been tricky running with the dogs because of the heat. It is too warm during the day time so most of the runs have been very early in the morning or late at night.
- Sunday morning: 50 min run with both dogs
- Saturday evening: 40 min run with Tango – late in evening as a little warm before
- Saturday morning: 25 min run with both dogs – cut short as sun came out and so I turned it into a run and then walk
- Friday evening: 30 min run with Tango
- Thursday: 45 min lake swim, plus MTB ride to/from work, with car left at the lake.
Hopefully this afternoon will be a bike ride.
My cough is still there but it is less intense than before. I’ve had some tests to see what it might be but I don’t know what it is yet. Hopefully will find out more by the end of next week.