Sunday, May 8, 2011

Back in the saddle (just about)

'08 06-07 171

My first sprint tri for two and a half years (!). The training I'd done was somewhat undone by a week and a half away from home immediately before the race, and it was a bit of a struggle at times - as reflected in my slow times for the bike and run, leading to a PW for the race. All of the newbies I brought along beat me fairly comprehensively, but I don't care. It was fun :)

The forecast heavy rain stayed away and instead it was pretty warm with a strong breeze. Nothing untoward apart from a minor gears issue while setting up, which was fixed with a bit of help from Alice's Andy. I did have to stop for a few seconds to be overtaken at the end of length 14 of the swim, only to then find myself stuck behind the guy. I've never had to let someone past before and it was kind of annoying especially to be then on his toes, but at least it was only for 2 lengths.

Alice and I started in the same wave - she was mere seconds behind me out of the swim as she had to wait twice to be passed, but caught me about 1/3 of the way into the bike and then gradually pulled away, even on the main road where I thought I might make up a bit. However, a bit of faffing in T2 let me catch up with her again and we started the run together. Not that we were together for very long - I had totally leaden legs for the first mile, which in a 2-mile run is not great. It definitely added a certain something to have someone else so close though.

Barney and Rom also did brilliantly, with Barney only just over the hour and Rom around 1:03.

Now to get fitter and bounce back at Waveney 2... hopefully a good summer will see me improve on the bike. Or maybe even a new bike would help :D

Results: W1'11 {W2'08} (W1'08) [W2'07]

Swim: 7:57 {7:28} (8:01) [8:46]
T1 + bike: 41:43* {39:50} (40:02*) [40:47] *includes T2 as well
T2 + run: 19:15* {18:05} (18:12*) [17:57] *does not include T2
Total: 1:08:55 {1:05:23} (1:06:15) [1:07:30]

Overall position: 97/150 {61/114} (88/130) [72/115]
Women's race position: 19/48 {9/29} (10/31) [15/36]
Age group position: 3/9 {2/5} (2/7) [5/10]

Photo: '08 06-07 171 by JeepFleeb, on Flickr - of course I look like this when I do a tri...

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