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race report - cricklade tri

risris Posts: 1,002
this was my first race of the season and my first olympic distance, so i was a bit nervous before the race. sorry if this is tediously long and that.



the race is quite a relaxed affair, quite suited to novices. the upsde of this is that is quite friendly and welcoming, the downside is that there was no chip timing and some of the arrangments were perhaps a bit odd. bearing in mind though, that i'd only done one sprint before this last year so i've not got a huge comparison to work from.



swim was in a slightly short of 15m pool, so 104 laps of what felt like mostly turns. at transition you had to run you (and bike in t1) around some marked pegs which added a bit of time to the transition times.



the pool had quite wide lanes and small waves, so it was two to a lane, side by side. i was expecting to swim somewhere around 30mins so i was chuffed when i heaved myself out of the pool in 26.40, much better than i'd anticipated. the other chap in my lane (swim-nemesis!) was out 4 laps earlier than me which a good early warning that i was close to the end.



t1 was fairly smooth, socks on, shoes on, belt on, lid on and sorted my gloves out as i ran round the markers. i came out of t1 third i think.



bike route is fairly flat with a small-ish hill at the edge of the village. the OD entrants do 2 loops of the course. bike was good, i'd been riding 1:15 for 24miles in training and once up and out of the village settled down and started hunting down the 2 in front of me, which took about 15mins. as i climbed the hill on the first loop the weather let go and unleashed a 5min hailstorm onto me. on top of being ruddy painful (i still have the marks on my arms) it also made me cautious and i dropped a bit of speed as i dropped in the village.



second loop was good, solid pace, although i nearly missed a turn at about half-way and shot past the turn back to the leisure centre (no marshall, no sign, i know i wasn't the only one ot do this!). bike clock said 1:10 for the bike, official timing was 1:13 i think (including t1).



t2 was a bit of a mangle. i already had my shoes off as i ran in but my socks were sodden so i thought i'd swap them only to find the same downpour had soaked my spare socks i'd put in the plastic bag for my bike shoes. my run shoes were dry in my box so i opted to run without socks which i've not done before.



run was 2 laps of a 3mile course which also took in the small hill, although somehow it didn't feel small by then! i felt rough as trousers on the run, my stomach was tight and i was developing a stitch. at the start of the first lap the heavens opened again and pelted me with hail. i never quite shook off the gripes enough to settle into a rhythm and felt very ragged most of the way. as i climbed the hill on the last lap my swim nemesis reappeared, in shoes, and when i tried to stick with him my stitch came back so i had to back off. i finished with a run of 50.40, which with transition became 52. something. i've been training 46-48 10k so this was a bit of a downer.



overall i finished in 2:33:43, which i'm delighted with. i set my goal to get under 2:45 so this is way beyond expectations. my run was a bit disappointing but gives me something to work on. i clearly need to work on my bricks.



there was a bit of a twist at the end. the swim-run nemesis took the novice prize (and well deserved, his run in particular was excellent), coming in 1min in front of me. i'd never for a second thought i'd have been in contention for anything at any event but 1min! bloody run... mutter mutter!



the weather was a bit of a stinker, heavy showers, hail, more showers, more hail. i'm sure it will be warm and wonderful tomorrow... [:@]



bit of a rest then some gentle run work i think - next race is marlborough sprint in 2 weeks. looking forward to it!

Comments

  • [toPh][toPh] Posts: 244
    Congrats Ris, top result for a first OD!
  • brizzichickbrizzichick Posts: 166
    i'll second that...great race report ris! now onto your next one eh?
  • risris Posts: 1,002
    thanks both, i can't wait for marlborough right now, although 2weeks doesn't seem enough to address my run and nutrition problems, whatever i did yesterday really did me in!



    one thing is for sure - i'm not running without socks again, i have a couple of nasty blisters today.



    i'd like to say how well the organisers at cricklade coped with the foul weather and the inevitable trickyness of sorting out times and splits when they don't run chip timing and rely on paper that is at the mercy of the rain and hail. it took them a few hours to sort out and they were very patient with athletes clearly keen to know their times.



    all the volunteers who helped out with the event deserve a lot of praise for what must have been a long and arduous day and i for one am grateful.



  • gdh250467gdh250467 Posts: 237
    Fantastic report, and well done. Looking to do my first OD later this month, so fingers crossed the weathers better.
  • BexHBexH Posts: 226
    wow, sounds like you did really well! Can't imagine swimming that many lengths in such a small pool was much fun though!
  • gavinrigg06gavinrigg06 Posts: 176
    Was there someone counting your lengths in the pool? Under race conditions I loose count after 20.
  • risris Posts: 1,002
    there were counters at the end of each lane and they popped a red float in the water to tell you there was 2 to go. i might have managed to keep count for 60 laps in a 25m pool but i didn't even consider counting with this one.



    for the first time swimming i was grateful i can't tumble-turn - i think i would have got very dizzy!
  • Cheryl6162Cheryl6162 Posts: 356
    Awesome report Ris and awesome race! Well done!
  • JessterJesster Posts: 482
    I'd love to get even a bit close to your OD time, ris



    Reckon i'll save that one for 'dream race' material!



    Well done!! [:D]
  • WannabetriWannabetri Posts: 219
    That is impressive stuff, particularly toughing out the weather condition. The first time you race in the wet it is an eye-opening experience, but to have it on the same day as your first Olympic Tri is a true testament to your durability.



    Definitely practice your nutrition stuff and particularly at race intensity. Pushing the pace and eating can have quite dramatic effects on the body, and none of them good!



    Your time is 8 mins quicker than my first ever Olympic, so you should be chopping that down to sub 2:30 in not much time at all. [image]http://forum.220magazine.com/micons/m6.gif[/image]
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