This week saw your faithful blogger compete twice - a triathlon on Bank Holiday Monday and a Mountain Bike race this afternoon. The triathlon went better than expected and the bike race didn't exactly go to plan...read on....
Monday's triathlon was the last round of the Thames Turbo series and took the form of a sprint - 438m swim, 21km bike and 5km run - at Hampton outdoor swimming pool and the surrounding roads.
I was expecting to do well in the swim, improve my bike time since May and hang on for the run! Because of my swim time, my start was in amongst the 'top dogs' including Dan Corner who grabbed a bronze medal in the 30-34 age group at this weekend's ITU World Championships in Hamburg. Whilst he was the man to beat, I wasn't planning on getting close. Back to my race - it was fantastic to be amongst such talented triathletes, and it inspired me to hit the pool leg hard and fast. I then realised that the cold I had been suffering was going to play a part in my race and the pace I had been acheiving in training simply wasn't there. However, I finished the 438m swim, got on my bike and was clear in 7mins43. I reckon the swim time would have been 6m 10secs or 5min 30secs for the 400m. Not bad at all, considering my PB is 5min 24secs.
After May's race I had decided to focus on getting my bike speed up, and have been training hard to improve my average speed by 3mph. Although I could feel the negative effects of the cold in my system, I pushed for an average of 20mph plus for the 21km course. I managed just over 21mph, which was fantastic. I quick dash through transition and it was run time.
Strangely, I kind of forgot to go fast on the run until it was too late. I was so elated about my bike time I dawdled. As a result my 5km time (inc. transition) was 24mins! Horrendous! I finished feeling quite fresh, which is not normal for me.
So, a total time of 1hr 11mins 16secs - 34/118 for my age group and 77/380 overall. I was pretty chuffed.
So it was with great anticipation that I headed over to Yateley to take part in the 4th Round of the Southern XC series. I was still feeling pretty rough, and had been off-work for two days, so decided to take it easy. This didn't happen!
The race was fast, very fast. I soon started to feel the effects of illness again, and my legs seemed to have no power in them whatsoever. A strange feeling, one that I have never felt before. I finished the 19 mile race in 1hr 39min, an average speed of almost 12mph which is quite slow for what was a fast course. For the first time ever, I was almost sick on the finish line after an up hill sprint finish - bleurgh. I'll put that one down to experience, but I did enjoy the race. Not sure where I came, but it wasn't as good as my placing in the triathlon - but, good fun all the same.
UPDATE: I came 33rd/45 entrants. If I had entered the less competitive 'Open' category I would have come in the top 20 quite easily! But that would be TOO easy.....
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