11th September 2021 Dambuster Standard Distance

 1.5km Swim 42km Bike 10km Run - Temperature 18oC

Swim 25:51 - T1 02:02 - Bike 01:5:58 - T2 01:45 – Run 00:39:30 Total Time 2:15:07

Winner 55 - 59 Age Group, 11th overall

 

The Dambuster Olympic distance race is 5 miles from home and as a finale to my very short season, too good to miss. Over the last decade or so I must have done its middle distance big brother, The Vitruvian, more than half a dozen times but the last time I did the shorter race was 2005 when I only did the short stuff!

 

With my back injury still hanging over my training, the question I am asking myself if whether I can be truly competitive at the shorter distance in a deep international field. I know I am some way off right now but can the progress in my 10km running pace continue and if so, to what level? I know I need to be sub 38 minutes in an Olympic Distance triathlon to challenge the very best athletes in 2022.

 

With this in mind, my principal goal for this race was to maintain my dominant biking and continue to improve my running pace. At Woodburn it was 4:18 min/km, St Neots was 4:11 min/km so 4:05 or better was the target.

This would be the biggest field of the year with nearly 300 athletes on the start line. We are back to mass swim starts which is great, setting off in age group bands so its head to head all the way to the finish line. A deep water start was nice, and I found myself in the front half dozen after 200m and pretty much stayed there for the lap. 

 Out into T1 and a very tardy transition dropping nearly a full minute against my peers – not sure why but an opportunity to pick up some easy time in the future. Out into the bike and the very familiar roads around the water. By the end of the bike lap, I had put 10 minutes into the competition although I didn’t know that at the time.

 

Another tardy transition dropping another easy 30 seconds….more opportunity!

 

Out onto the run and a watch malfunction. If I couldn’t fix it then I wouldn’t be able the measure the km splits and really push for the improvement I was looking for. I had to reboot the watch as I ran but thank goodness, after a couple of kms, I managed to get to sorted. The first 5km were slightly ahead of target but after the turnaround I really struggled to keep the pace going, not sure if that was down to wind direction or the high humidity. I did finish up with under 4:05 min/km but it wasn’t an even pace all the way round. Anyway, I’ll take the improvement and continue the upward trajectory.

 

Nice to get another win at my new distance and pleased with 11^th overall. That’s a wrap for 2021 and a winter of work on the running and transitions. 

The swim is proportionately a more significant part of the overall event compared to middle and long distance racing so that will need some proper focus as well.

8th August 2021 St Neots Standard Distance

 1.5km Swim 45km Bike 10km Run - Temperature 18oC

Swim 27:42 - T1 01:36 - Bike 01:10:57 - T2 01:04 – Run 00:39:51 Total Time 2:21:11

Winner 50 - 59 Age Group, 8th overall

 After my first race in ages at Woodburn I was keen to get another race in to learn more about short distance racing but also to see if my run was improving. It was always going to be a low key race so I was keen for something local to keep the logistics simple. St Neots ticked the box.

 

Less than an hour’s drive from home and transition within 100m of the car park – perfect. The bike and run course was very similar to Woodburn, the swim was a river swim rather than in a lake. The good news was that the swim was a mass start, probably totalling 300 athletes as the sprint distance started at the same time. A nice bit of argy bargy at the start then things spread out with little chance of a draft. Judging by my speed I think there must have been a current in both directions. Luckily, I never looked at my watch, just tried to move quickly through T1 as transitions at this distance make a real difference to the overall time. Anyway, I was still 45s slower than the top guys so work to do but easy seconds to gain given a little practise.

 

Out on the bike I was determined to deliver on the numbers I had been nailing in training, perhaps a little too determined. It was a flattish two lap bike course and I faded on lap two as my lap one excitement took it’s toll. Next lesson was that it is a red lining effort but some holding back is required.

 

T2 was better with only 20s to knock off to get me at the right end of the times. 

 

Out onto the run and the first couple of km was still a calibration exercise as I was still only recently running 10km in training. I don’t yet know how a hard 10km should feel unlike 21km or 42km. I had in my mind to aim to get all the km splits under 4:15 to give me a solid improvement over the last 4 weeks of training. By 4km I was starting to tire but luckily someone came past me at the right sort of pace, so I sat on their heels. The next 3km were simply a case of keeping up and slowly the pace seemed to feel a little more comfortable/natural. I then went past them for the last 3km and for the first time in two years I started to feel like I wasn’t muscling each step out but it was starting to flow.

 

The overall pace of 4:11 per km doesn’t reflect how much easier it felt than Woodburn. The real take away wasn’t running 10s a km quicker, it was starting to feel like a runner again.

 

Getting back to the race, winner of 50 – 59 was nice but the field was less than 30 athletes, the overall race less than 100. Still, nice to get a win at my new distance lol!

 

Let’s see where my running is in 6 weeks’ time at the Dambuster

10th July 2021 English Standard Distance Championships, Woodhorn, UK

1.2km Swim 46km Bike 10km Run - Temperature 20oC

Swim 22:10 - T1 01:19 - Bike 01:11:44 - T2 00:46 – Run 00:41:34 Total Time 2:17:35

2nd 55 - 59 Age Group, 29th overall

This is the first triathlon I have taken part in since the Challenge Championship in June 2019 and the first 10km run since then. I ended the season in June 2019 not knowing what my plan would be to deal with my back problem. I opted in the end for key hole surgery at the end of August and resolved not to run until I felt confident my back was ready for it. Lots of biking in the meantime but not much swimming due to Covid lockdown. I eventually started my run rehab programme at the end of March this year, starting with five 3km walks per week. Each week I added in some light jogging until May when I started to jog for 3 minutes and walk for 1 minute with a maximum of 17km per week total distance. I set myself the target of being able to run 10km by July but if it all went south back wise, I would be comfortable with permanently canning the notion of running again. Some set backs with tendonopathy, minor muscles tears etc as the body conditioned to running again but I managed a 10km 6/1 run/walk by the start of July, with a weekly volume of 30km. The running did make my back sore so olympic distance is probably as much as I can cope with so I set a target of qualifying for the Olympic distance world champs in 2022. 

I had missed the first qualifier but the next one was 10th July so I thought I would give it a shot. My swimming was at best average but my biking was stronger than it had ever been, just need to blag an average run. The race was north of Newcastle so there was a chance of an easier field but that was counter balanced by the fact that it was the English Championships.

Oddly the start time was 1630 so we set off in the morning to race later that day. I felt pretty nervous as it was the first triathlon in nearly two years and the first Olympic distance in over 15 years - I was a long distance athlete so had no idea how I would stack up against the short distance specialists. I still hadn't done a continuous 10km hard so there was a big question mark around how my back would hold up as well.

I have got to say, the build up to the start was all very relaxed which really helped. Three athletes were set off every 15 seconds and they were by age groups. This meant all of my age group would be set off within 5 minutes of each other although I would be one of the first to go. If no one passed me in the swim then I could perhaps create a gap on the bike and just hold on in the run.

The swim was 2 laps and I thin no no one companioned at it ended up being 1200m! Probably 500m to T1 then a good deal of faff before I was pushing the bike out of transition and over the mount line.

The bike leg was the part that I was most looking forward to and where I needed to create a buffer against my competitors. As as I jumped on and started pedalling I knew there was a problem, one I had thought the bike shop had solved the day before the race. The bike had been serviced on the Monday and when I got it home the Di2 wasn't working. I fiddled and it seemed to be ok so thought nothing of it. On the final test ride Friday it failed again so I frantically took it in to be sorted and they reassured me it was sorted. Well, it wasn't and I was in the position of riding the entire 46km in just one gear.  I had racked the bike with the gearing set in a biggish gear just in case there was an issue, and whilst it was a gently rolling course, I still was out of the saddle at times and spinning out of gears at others. I was gutted but if you get lemons then blah blah.

I ended the bike course with legs like concrete and a performance that was three or four minutes slower than I should have been. It was a still a good ride but not the killer ride I had trained for.  

Onto the run and into the unknown.No idea where was I in the field (I hate rolling starts, it's not a head to head race, just a time trial) and no idea if I could complete the 10km run and at the required speed. Clearly a little over excited, the first km was pretty quick and indeed the next two as well were faster than I had planned and probably capable of for the full 10km. It was three laps so that always makes it easier to just tick the distance off. I figured a low 40s time would put me in a competitive place for a qualification slot. By the start of the third last lap I was starting to get twinges in my hamstrings and hip flexors as the lack of conditioning really started to tell. I figured the priority was just to complete the lap still running and that would probably be good enough so I slowed the pace and just relaxed a little.

I crossed the line and met a couple of guys in my age group. I had seen them both on the bike course, basically taking it in turns to draft one another. All rather embarrassing when I confronted them with this and of course they said I must have passed them at a time when they were on a down hill or something. 

Anyway, they cheated their was to first and third and I spoilt their pact by coming second. 

I didn't bother to hang around to stand on the same podium as them, the golden arches were much more of a priority to celebrate a national silver and qualification for the world champs.