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 11th 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.
