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So got up, lenses in, brush teeth, start eating breakfast croissants. Then it tarted spitting rain, a little. This was not in the plan.
Left the campsite at 4am!!!, got to the race to be greeted by line of people bent double against the wind and rain, wheeling their tri bikes and disk/deep section wheels over to t1. I have never seen so much bling, or such crap weather in T1. oh well.
Got sorted in the rain, long chat to Hennie, then wee, wettie on and away we go.
Swim was busy. No one had a clue where they were going, felt a constant fight, I normally behind all this crap, but nonone told me about the side effect of swimming lessons
Spent an eternty in t1 - arm warmers, bike shirt etc. I am now a wuss! Eventually got out on the bike. It was a bit windie, but all I remember is feeling massively bloated the whole way around, 2 big wees and another in t2, and thefact my feet were numb the whole way. oh well. Love the fast bits hated being furthr up the field as I cant just pick people off the whole way.
T2 - remove all my kit, then off on the run. Just sort of cruised it, but also not sure I could have gone too much faster. Again just felt bloated and fat the whole way!
2011
swim 43.11, (43%), bike 02:26 (27%) run 01:51 (25%) - 05:01:34 (25%)
2010
swim 46:23 (57%) bike 2:26 (37%) run 1:45 (17%) -05:05 (28%)
Overall felt happy,but disappointed in the run split when I looked at it - oh well - onwards and upwards
On the plus side OC, you got a Burger King on the way home?! (if Shuffle Bunny was wondering who it was waving at her maniacly in the service station car park!)
I had to check there wasnt a KFC there, then went on to the next service station for my KFC Variety meal!
I only had one burger, unlike some around here...;-)
Sorry to hear about your toe Happy Chap. *Gyrates in get well dance sort of way*
Ended up with 4:51. Could improve this by going straight through transition and leaving the gloves, socks, base layer behind, and not having a lay in ditch on the bike (or a 50 sec wee break on the run). I also suffer badly from having an aerobic engine bigger than my bike legs. I listened to how hard folks further up the field from me are able to push on the bike. I need to spend more time on my bike (training for VLM doesnt help my biking). But I’m happy that a numpty tw@t on a grifter like me is “only” (cough !) about 20 ish minutes behind the rock star pirates !
Nice to meet folks again including some I havnt met before inc Rosey. Nice to chat to OC and SB, and nice to see that I had more clothes on than Artful Hen (who did try and strike a pose to flash her legs at me as I ran past, although I bet she claims she was stretching) !
Very impressed by meface's result, that's some improvement. And I'm not just saying that because of the 'arse on fire' comment. Although to be fair I did catch him on one of the downhill stretches, he wouldn't have said the same thing if he'd seen me going up hill.
Was flashing her thighs at TR the reason AH was accused of 'violating a helmet'?
sorry.
As you were.
Some great race reports being posted and some fantastic performances yesterday, dead chuffed for you all.
Go on then and spill the beans meface.......just how many burgers did you manage?
Getting up at 3.00am wasn't great. Had a quick cup of tea, into my clobber then outside into the dark, to find the wind blowing and rain starting... The forecast had said there would be overnight rain so it wasn't totally unexpected, but by the time we got to the venue car park, you could see the rain coming down as people assembled their bikes under head torchlight. The wind wasn't helping either. I saw a few disk wheels around, they must have been praying for it to drop a little.
Anyway, into T1 to get ready, found a place to rack and chatted to other competitors to help calm the nerves. As is the rule, I tried something new on race day and wore compression guards under my wetsuit to see if they would help with the cramp I experienced last year in the last few hundred metres of the swim. On with the wetsuit and a rush down to the final swim briefing. Why is it however much time you allow, it is never enough?
The briefing said that the tide looked more benign than last year, so that was a relief, and so into the water. The rain had stopped by now but the clouds were dark grey and it amused me to think I had just bought some new polarised goggles to help with sighting into the sunrise. No chance of that problem on this swim!
Soon all the guys were ready at the start line (girls were off 6 minutes after us) and I was nicely positioned at the back… until the marshals moved everyone back 5 metres, so it all got a bit more crowded that I would have liked. Anyway, gun went off and the washing machine started. We had the current in our favour on the out legs so I tried to keep in the middle of the river. Not being able to bilaterally breathe however, and an inability to sight well, meant in the end I just followed everyone else at the back, who probably also had the same directional issues as me. Made the first turn quickly enough, without too much contact, and though I tried on occasions to draft I wasn't very successful. Return leg wasn't too bad I thought as I kept to the bank side for slower moving water, and I made the turn feeling pretty happy with how things were going. Final leg was a bit tougher as the tide strengthened, and I weakened, and the last few hundred yards took an age. I remember thinking “this is the point at which I got cramp last year” which was tempting fate… sure enough 5 strokes later my right calf started tightening, but fortunately it did not materialise into anything proper, and I made it out of the water in 45 minutes, some 7 minutes better than last year. Happy with that, and to have got the swim done. At least I wouldn’t now drown, and I had avoided hitting the far bank this time as well!
T1 was a little slow, mainly because it was cold so fingers weren’t working well and I wanted to put on arm warmers and a gilet. Out onto the ride, and trying to unroll arm warmers up wet arms is not easy! Managed that and then set about putting my gloves on. First one was a struggle, until I realised I had put it on upside down… so took it off, and sorted it all out eventually! The ride itself was great. Managed to spend a fair amount of time aero which was an improvement on last year, and I kept a decent cadence up all round. I found the winter turbo training very helpful on this course, and there was little time to rest your legs, it was just a matter of keeping them turning and keeping the speed up. Overall I managed to go 11 minutes quicker with av. HR 5bpm lower, kept overtaking people regularly, and being overtaken a few times, (probably mainly by some of the people who had punctures, of which there were loads for some reason!)
On the run I was reasonably tired at first, and decided to stick to a rigid 4 min run 1 min walk, which worked well for me, playing leapfrog with about 5/6 people over the 14 miles, some of whom beat me, one or two of whom I beat, but overall I overtook more than overtook me, for sure. I did the run at an average of 9 min miling. Running was about 8.30 speed, with the walking taking it down (and of course some slowing down as the race evolved). Either way, I was 17 minutes quicker than last year apparently, but some of that time must have been saved in T2, not sure I RAN 17 minutes quicker, even though last year was damned hot and I suffered on the run. Lessons from the run? Arm warmers chafe your arm pits, should have just rolled them down. I need a buff or something to stop sweat stinging my eyes.
Overall a great day, really enjoyed it. My swimming needs work, my placings for my swim are way below that of the bike and run. 349th for the swim, 237th for the bike and 234th for the run.
For Regensburg I think I need to work on my swimming, make sure I don’t go off too hard on the bike, and work on oeverall endurance fitness to stave off the inevitable walking on the run. Still, I think yesterday was a good workout, gives me confidence for my IM and some more focus to the next few months of training.
Overall 5.40 compared to 6.13 last year, so well pleased.
Think that's about it!
Well I failed again, though this time it was not entirely unexpected.
Waking up at really silly o'clock, to increasingly heavy rain and strong wind didn't put me in the best frame of mind to start with. I totally refute Happychap's allegation that I threw my bike at her, I was sat in my car at the time trying to get my head together.
Swim felt much better than last year but you'd not guess that from the results. Of the official 1:06ish swim plus T1 time, 52:09 was actually swimming, about 4mins getting out of wetsuit and up the hill and a massive 10mins doing I'm not sure what in T1.
Fortunately remembered that I hadn't re-engaged the front brake before reaching the downhill approach to the first, compulsory foot down, junction. Onward again, struggling to get cold legs to work properly. On the whole though, the bike was generally ok though I definitely could've done with out the permanent headwind. That's what comes of being a fair weather cyclist.
Finally reached transition, reckoning I was well outside the cut off only to be told that I could run if I wanted. Had already mentally accepted that I wouldn't be running and, given that my knee had been twinging a bit on the bike, I decided to call it a day.
Lessons learned/remembered:
- the back seat of my car is quite comfortable to sleep on
- training makes things easier
Thanks for words of encouragement from those who sped past me at various points on the bike, even Shufflebunny who arrived from her campsite by bike, catching up with me shortly after the last junction to Bucklers then shooting past on the final approach to transition when I thought I was going quite quickly!
Well done everyone.
Same time next year?
OK recovered a bit, so happy to put my typing skills to use (us nice office boys)
Showed up for 3pm briefing on the Saturday and was pleased to be accosted by AH, listened to the life story of the race and it's organiser aka the briefing. Its called a briefing cos it is meant to be brief. Sat around in the sun with a few others and eventually headed out for dinner with HappyChap, Toucs ,Gladys and a few others. Car never left the car park. Got back about 21:30 and set-up tent in car park. Woke up at around 4am poked head out of tent to find car park full of cars. Got up put bike together and scrambled round to transition to get a good spot (near the run alley three bikes down from the top). Headed back to get breakfast, get the stove going for tea and sort other kit.
Into transition in the cold, wet, windy rain. Got in some speed merchants way in transition who asked where I was racked, next to her but it was quite tight. Pointed out that I wasn't that quick and it would be fine as when I got back from the swim all these quick bikes would be gone. She seemed happy with that. Faffed about some more and it was race time. Even fiddled with Garmin to get it set-up for auto-multi-sport including transitions.
Into water and though it was fine temperature wise but been OW every week since end of April, a bit salty but hey. Hooter went, hit start and off, hit a few other swimmers, they hit me, I hit them etc. Coming up on the first bouy felt a pull on my wrist and saw Garmin disappear to the bottom of the river with a broken strap. Couldn't grab it as it went back and down too quick. Spent the rest of the swim thinking about the cost of the watch. Came out of the water, didn't have a clue on the time and up to transition. All the quick bikes were gone, mine was the only one left in the section. Stripped and socks and shoes on & arm warmers over wrists and out on the bike.
Still cross about the watch so put the hammer down early taking it out on any aero bike and pointy helmet wearer I could find. I had no idea on the time or distance as hadn't bothered remembering the length of the laps or anything (why should I, I had a Garmin). There were a lot of early punctures for the bike bling boys and a number pushed home. I didn't find the bike that windy apart from the start of the third lap towards home. It did feel quick on the bike but I new I was working at it. I also assumed that I was there were a lot of decent bikes (Cervelo, Quintaneroo), carbon wheels and the odd disc around I must be doing OK.
Got back to transisiton and saw HappyChap standing supporting, bit of a double take but it was HC. Dumped bike, into a still empty rack, none of the quick tri-bikes were back (hee hee), trainers on, and out of transition. Asked HC the time and shouted something nasty about my Garmin. HC told me it was 08:30, mental aritmetic at the start of the run took a bit of time to realise that 'if' the race started on time I was at 3:15 for the swim and bike (turns out it started 1-minute early according to race organiser at awards ceremony). Pretty much figured 0:45 and 2:30 for the swim and bike and this was pretty much spot on. I had run last year in 2:20 post VLM and felt I was in better running shape then than now, struggling with 10-minute miles at the moment. Worked out that the same run would get me to 5:35, started dreaming that 05:30 was a possibility if I put it all into the run.
Feet were cold and a bit numb for the first couple of miles but ran the whole of the first lap except the finish straight. Didn't see it sensible to run this and burn legs out when I can walk quick. Hoped to see HC for a time check but no sign of anyone I knew. Went out onto second lap hoping I was OK on time. Legs were butchered and started walking before the 1st aid station and interspersed walk/run from there onwards. Mainly tried to run and walked the worst uphills. Pee break somewhere. The thought of breaking 5:30 kept me going as I knew I shouldn't be worse than 10min/mile average even with some walk run. It was getting hot and windy on the second lap. Swore at the wind. Overtook a few, got overtaken by more so going much quicker.
Crossed the line and asked if anyone had a time and was told around 5:17- awesome, final time was 5:18:37.
Hung around ,faffed and chatted and headed up the M3, BK beckoned and bumped into SB and OC in the services (missed Gladys) got a double big steaky thing meal and a chicken burger! So two is the answer. to the question above. Tea was the XL pizza.
Just to keep Gladys happy:
Swim: 208th in 00:45
Bike: 136th in 2:28:58 - Cuumulative 153rd in 3:13:58
Run: 211th in 02:04 - Cuumulative 170th in 5:18:38
Lessons learned - a net gain of 55 places on the bike is a lot of fun, more than taking them on the swim.
Very happy with the time and a great weekend. Mailed Garmin this morning, heres hoping. Windsor in 3-weeks and then the Cowman.
Looking forward to training but not today.
Meface
some fantastic race reports - congratulations for all
You did good Meface
Sorry I wasn't around for your second lap but I got a better offer (AKA a cup of tea)
Congrats on some fab results and commiserations for injuries and lost watches.
Meface - if you want another watch asap, it may be worth trying to get through to Garmin on the phone. Email can take a few days in my experience... They do sometimes have reconditioned watches too.
Gosh, if you are on here now, I will have to watch what I say! I wouldn't bother looking back through this thread! Or the Regensburg one!
Harsh treatment for you on Sunday, well done for sticking at what sounds like a tough swim for you? On the plus side, this was probably the first race you started where you didn't cramp?!
Sorry - chaps - my right shift key's not working so half my capitals won't be capitals. this sort of thing annoys me but the chances are you won't care!
meface - so sorry to hear your garmin's now fish food. that's really crap.
yesterday was interesting, but all in all i left feeling a bit fed up really. i suppose that with a year's extra experience and some good bike work this spring i thought i'd have knocked more off my time than four mins, even though it was a bit hard going on some of the bike.
splits: 2010 51:21 2:58 2:21
2011 52:xx 2:53 2:19
so actually, pretty similar to last year, despite all the work.
Swim - well, it was fine, but jolly hard work on the last return lap which went on for ever. am i the only person to have gone slower this year?
bike - i pushed hardish just to see what would happen. My garmin had me coming in a good 9 mins earlier than last year, although i know i forgot to start it straight away.... i assume they put the helmet violation 2 mins on the bike split (officially they gave me 2.55) rather than the run but i don't know.
i thought my run was much slower than last year but actually it was pretty similar and i felt a lot stronger on the run this time - so perhaps run walk isn't such a bad idea after all if i can go a bit faster and feel better doing it. i'll def adopt a run between all the aid stations strategy at IMRE.
i know i spent ages in both transitions - normally i'm quite good at transitions but in T1 i was a bit disorientated from the swim and in T2, reeling from the stupidity of taking my helmet oFF (not just undoing the strap) right in front of all the marshalls! never done that before. felt really told off like a naughty school girl, standing there with her watching me put it on and do it up
. still. them's the rules.
the bike split could come down if my chain hadn't come off 3x and i hadn't done the world's longest pee - at least a minute! Bike's in today for a new front mech.
my legs were mullered last night. might be the new shoes for the run (new for race day!) or the proof that i worked on the bike.
the best bit about yesterday was the awesome piratey support at the finish. that was so fabulous and i felt like i was winning the Olympics! thanks everyone.
always great to see other pirates on the way round, arrrghing away, too. BadTri are good for piratey support, aren't they? and i got my bum pinched on the run! it's absolutely true that you have to be careful when you're a girl on your own in the woods.
and wasn't that Irish marshal great near the end of the woods? she was top notch in her loudness and enthusiasm.
and great to see shuffle bunny - you will be back, i have no doubt - and, bless her, she brought the brioche with her and somehow there was still some left by the time i finished. xx
Yes the Swim was a disaster but I hear there is no tides in Germany .. strange country
so hopefully I will be good
Yes Gladys I have seen some of the things you have written about me ... remember I am watching you sonny !!