It's all gone horribly wrong

I'm surprised it taken me so long to make a post with this title. I shuld have been training hard for the last month and beginning a tapering period in preparation for the New Forest Middle Distance Triathlon. In reality what I am doing is, no training.

All the time I was planning on riding to the beach or running to the beach has past and we hardly went to the beach. Last time I holiday in Cornwall.

I have managed a few runs with the dog. It's interesting to run with a dog, you would think they are fit young things that keep going all day. But in reality they get tired just like you do. In fact I think humans have more stamina than a dog (for dog read jack russell with long legs and scruffy hair!) So thats my training. Not good and can only leave one conclusion for the upcoming triathlon, and that is ouch, it's going to hurt.

Saturday, today I went for a bike ride, the first in about a month. I headed out and soon hit the hills. On my way down from Ranmore I saw Phil, so doubled back and tagged along with him for a while, then off headed for Leith hill, and then the 'flat lands' the other side of the A24. 42 miles later and I was going back up Pebblecombe Hill. Don't usually go this way, but thought I would give it a go. Pebblecombe Hill is a 16% hill and it was hard going after 42 miles. Still I made it and got home.

Not the 56 miles of a middle distance triathlon which is a bit worrying, but what can you do? 2 more weeks to cram as much in as I can, then taper and hope for the best.

Cross Training? .... Nahhh, just fun

Not alot of training going on around here! Cornish weather is the pits. Still it was booked so we went for a PGL weekend. A PGL weekend is a bit like being on a school trip, you sleep in bunk beds, it's basic, you eat in a refectory and your weekend is structured. So we did loads of new things including, dry ski slope skiing, trapeze, zip wire, kayaks, raft building, abseiling. It was brilliant. And you do it with your kids, so theres no wimping out! That means I was 30ft up a telegraph pole leaping for a trapeze on Sunday morning. It's a first for me.

Need (as Phil would say) 'get my mojo back together'.

Summer ... wheres the sun?

Right now I thought I would be running or cycling to the beach everyday. But I have not been doing this because the sun has disappeared from Cornwall. No sun, no beach. No sun but plenty of wind and rain. It's the worse I have ever known it to be in Cornwall. What a full on washout of a summer.

Moan whinge, whinge, moan .......

The Statistics

Taken from the superb Black Sheep Results Website:

 

Hayle Sprint Triathlon - 2008

This is August, apparently.  I thought August was sunny and hot, but not today, overcast is the best you could say about the weather this morning.  Still I got to the pool in good time and set up my transition.  Bike racked, fiddle with box of stuff, check stuff.  Ohhhh, ohhh dear, stuff missing.  No timing chip.  Aghhhhhhh, what, no!  Quick run back to the car, check car, no chip.  Jump in car and start to drive out of car park.  Blocked in.  Ohhhh no.  Ohhh well, have to do it without timings, bum.  Walked back to the registration desk and asked them if they had a spare timing chip, but no they didn't.  They did let me use their mobile to phone home though, so I phoned Sarah and had the house and shed searched, still no joy.  So at 7:50 I jumped in the water with everyone else, except I did not have a timing chip. 

Me before the start, see, calm, not bugged by no timing chip!

 

 

Oliver got this picture of me going off to the start.

 

 

 

 

At the start, a water start, I got in behind the bouy about 3 people back from the start line, lay in the water, as I remembered Rick Kiddle telling me to do.  

The horn went and we were off.  Unlike last year, when I lurked at the back, today I was in the middle of it all.  I was too far forward really, people were swimming past me left and right, but not over the top.  The start was like a sprint, and soon my body was complaining, 'too fast, not enough oxygen, can't carry on', I thought I was going to pull up and start breast-stroking!  A look up for the racing buoy, it's nowhere in site, all I can see is white water.  Ahhh well, no choice now, keep going.  I saw a lot of white water, but I was on course, very good course actually and got around the first buoy, a bit of bunching, so I was strong and kept going, don't get pushed around!

The second buoy and I did a 'Rick Kiddle racing turn', ohhhhh, get me! Then back along the edge of the pool.  I saw Sarah and the boys taking pictures, even managed a wave at them. 

 

 

 

 

 

Here I am sighting on the last leg, I'm sure it shows terrible technique! But I was still going and felt stronger at this point than earlier on when I was going too fast.

 

 

 

 

 

 

More pictures of me, on the return leg

 

 

 

 

 

Out from the swim and into T1, (no timing), then putting on my bike shoes I found the timing chip.  So T1 took a tad longer as I struggled with the timing chip and my shoes.  I only have proper 'roadie' cycle shoes, so have to crank them up, not just velcro them.  This takes a little longer but is OK.  Maybe I should put talc in them to help me slip them on.  Slipping them on is also a problem when your toe joint does not bend and quite painful.

Note nbr 44 in the background.  His chip timing for the swim was 13:30 so I must have been something around that time for the swim, which would be about 7 minutes better than last year.

 

The bike was good, seemed like a lot of hills and seemed like I was being overtaken by a lot of people, but they all seemed to be 'guns', so I should not feel too bad about that.  I had a bit of a battle with Nbr 83, who I passed and he passed back several times.  He eventually got ahead on the bike.  Then into T2.  Not a bad T2, except I forgot the gel I was going to have at the start of the run.  Out of T2 and I caught Nbr 83 again, but he got away again, he slowly drew out the distance between us. 

In the final straight of the run, I had my mind on a big finish.  The final straight is about 1km long and as some chap came past I fell in behind him, right on his heals, drafting from the slight wind.  I started to match his stride and as we came to about 300m I came out from behind him and started to come forward, he sped up and I thought about all the racing tactics I had read about.  'You have to pass someone commandingly, so they don't feel they can stick to your heals', so I sped up again and saw him drop off.  Next in my sight was the guy in front and to my right, he looked over his shoulder, saw me coming and sped up, I was still drawing him in, and as I past him I kicked again to leave him behind.  He dropped off behind me and I stormed on.  Had I gone too soon? Could I last the final 100 metres?  I did not slow and pushed on with everything I had left, dreading him catching me before the line.  He did not and I crossed the line well ahead.  Chuffed and pleased!

I think I had a final time of 1:20ish, thats 10mins better than last year.  Need to go get the results and check them over.  When I can I will get more pictures off Sarah's camera.

Timings are in.  I ranked 80th overall, (161 in total), 11th in my category (15 in category) and my time was 1:20:07 the only time I can see is the run at 24:47