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Outlaw 2015
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Bike
I was into and out of T1 in record time for me as I knew I had a good bike time in me and I wanted to get the bike done before the rain if I could. Mounting the bike with so many others in a small space was a bit of a nightmare and I was lucky not to hit a bloke in front of me who couldn’t clip his shoes in. I was soon out onto the road and set about doing the best I could. One guy on a road bike was absolutely flying and there was no way I could keep up with him even doing the 22.5mph I was averagingat that point. However, I was getting past so many cyclists there was no way I was ever going to be accused of drafting. I was soon motoring along and went through the Pirate feedstation giving my “arghhhhh’s” but not taking anything. My mission was to break 5 hours so I had to push on. I looked at my Garmin at 56 miles – 2h28 so I knew it would be a push to keep the pace going and it was. The wind was picking up in the second loop and it felt like we were going into a headwind for about 10 miles as we went back to the third loop with my average speed gradually dropping towards 21mph. I was still overtaking other cyclists though but I was seeing fewer and fewer so knew I must be getting up towards the business end of the race which was a bit of a shock. I was soon heading towards the Pirate feed station again and grabbed a much needed banana.
The rain eventually arrived about 95 miles in and it was soon causing the roads to become treacherous on the bends so speed was again reduced. I now had a few other cyclists behind me trying to keep up. They might have been drafting me but I wasn’t going to turn and lose concentration. As we approached HPP the good roads were replaced by a crappy bit of track for a couple of miles which was horrid as I was so fearful that a puncture would lose me a good bike split. Once that was safely negotiated I quickly downed a Clif Bar ready for the run.
Bike 5h19.47 Position 69th
Run
I again made up places in transition and was off onto the run. There was no way I was going to do my usual triathlon fast first mile as I needed to flush out my legs and the rain was now hammering down. However, I was glad to be running and not still out on the bike. The run at The Outlaw isn’t very exciting. A loop of the lake followed by a long loop out past the football stadium into the city and then back around the lake before another long loop and 2 more laps of the lake. I was slowing down with every mile but knew I just had to keep plodding on to beat my target. In hindsight now I wish I had kept a better pace but I probably couldn’t have run much faster.
By the time I had reached half way I knew I was on for a good time but 13 miles is a bloody long way to run when your tanks are running on empty. I was taking on coke and High5 as much as I could to get the quick energy boosts but now needed proper energy so was getting desperate for each feed station. About 19 miles in I knew I was bonking so stopped at the feed station and ate a banana and some Jaffa cakes and walked for a bit. This worked and within 5 minutes I was running again back towards the final two loops of the lake.
If you have ever run around HPP lake you’d know what a soul destroying place it can be. However as I began the first loop I heard a shout “Come on Hutch.” It was a well known book writer Pirate and a few other friends who had come to see Sid finish. This gave me a much needed push so I kept my mincing run pace all the way around the last two laps of the lake. I had about 30 mins to do the last lap and it was absolute agony but knew that if I pushed on I’d be below 11 hours and finally as I went onto the red carpet I knew I had it crossing the line in 10 hours 57 minutes, 14 seconds an Iron distance PB by 3 hours 24 minutes and a finishing position of 124th!!!
Bleedin' Nora - when you break a PB you don't do it by halves do you!
Great report and huge congrats on a super time and finish position
Part 1 :
Pre Race
This was to be my first iron distance tri, and only my second ever tri, with my first being a local half late last year, and given I only learnt to swim front crawl in Feb it was already set to be an interesting exercise.
Originally booked camping for the weekend, as it was in July, so what was there to worry about there ... however, come the Friday before looking at the weather forecast for the next two days a total wimping out took place and we hastily booked a hotel.
Arrived early enough on Sat morning and headed straight over to HPP, quick chat with Ghost and Sherpa Dave during registration, and then headed over to the race briefing, where had a quick chat with Posh Twat that thankfully calmed my ever increasing nerves.
In race briefing it was mentioned about getting there early in the morning, and I'd already had a plan to leave hotel shortly after 4:15 which even allowing for traffic would see me there for 5 giving plenty of time to sort out nutrition on bike and last minute transition bag adjustments. Reality hit big time on the morning as the traffic crawled, and finally go to the lake closer to 5:30, so only enough time to dive in to transition and get wetsuit on.
Swim
Got in to back of Pen 2 just as they were calling 5 minutes till start, found my mate Rich and had a quick chat whilst making last minute wetsuit and goggle adjustments. Then we were off.
Thankfully, because we'd opted to start from the back of Pen 2 managed to miss the worst of the full on washing machine, it was more of an eco hand wash, with only some mild hand-to-hand combat, until that is I got blindsided by some sneaky git who landed a cracking punch on my right arm, result was instant dead arm. However, this turned out to be a blessing in disguise, as because I only breathe to my right this is my dominant side, so its now reduced ability actually corrected my usual wonky alignment and the next few hundred metres required very little sighting as my course remained pretty straight.
It was about that time too, that I managed to catch a glimpse of what appeared to a co-ordinated and pre-planned goose bombing run, as what seemed like a 20-30 geese flew over, swooped down and tried to land in amongst the swimmers, which kept me amused for a while wondering how you'd explain a DNF due to 'Goose Attack'. In fact it kept me a little too amused, and I actually laughed ... rookie error ... the gobful of fetid green water, and subsequent coughing fit, soon focused my mind back on the task at hand.
Rounded buoys with no further problems and swim went well until about 500m to go, when I became aware of increasingly panicked cries from canoeist to "Go Left .. GO LEFT!" .. it appeared I was about to head over to other side of lake for another lap, thanked canoeist for his kind advice, sighted exit, and made it in with no problems ... swim 1:27 ... was looking for 1:30 so job done.
Part 2:
T1
We shall NEVER speak of this again ... I don't know what the feck I did, I have no excuses, it was just faffing, a LOT of faffing, endless faffing, faffing on a scale never seen before. Oh God ... I am so so sorry. T1 = 18 mins (yes, that is unfortunately NOT a typo ... eighteen fecking minutes!).
Bike
Finally, got out to my bike and secured nutrition and drinks, and set off. Still in mild panic, hit the lap button too many times on my Garmin, and managed to fast track through to the run, so had to reset that whilst going up the first side of the lake. With Garmin now tracking in bike mode, and bento box eventually secured, I managed to settle down to the task at hand on the bike. Things started off well, and I soon passed a few people, but realised I was falling in to the usual trap of going off too fast and not remembering the distance to be covered so managed to reign myself back a little. At this time I became aware of being distinctly 'uncomfortable' in the 'cycling short' area. It really did feel like I'd got my shorts on the wrong way round, which given my aberration of the transition that will never be mentioned was a distinct possibility. Got through and saw the signs for the pirate aid station ahead and decided I really did need to check, so a quick pitstop with the lovely pirates who seemed to take the sight of another pirate dismounting, pulling out his shorts and staring intently at his groin all in their stride as if it were an everyday occurrence. One kind lady pirate even offered 'adjustmental assistance' but it seemed that just getting off the bike and the inspection had righted whatever was wrong and all felt good again.
Rest of loop 1 went fine, and I was feeling good going up to the 2nd loop, got to Oxton bank, and again pre-race talk got the better of me and I granny ringed it (I'm sorry) in anticipation of 'the hill', which never really materialised to the extent I expected, so in all reality I could have got up there in the big ring without any problems. Then the lovely descent down in to Southwell, only punctuated by some hasty braking on the little roundabout by the pub courtesy of an impatient motorist pulling out to try and get in front of me, only to immediately then go and slam on her brakes at a pedestrian crossing that was being manned by marshals!! ... What is that saying? .. never trust a fart on an ironman ... well thankfully luck was on my side at that point!!
It was just coming off the second loop that the heavens opened, so I pulled over and put my jacket on, more for a bit of warmth than for any potential waterproofing abilities, coming along the drag back to the second loop things got snarled up in slow moving traffic so had to form a bit of a line between cars, as with the weather any overtaking was completely ruled out. It was at this moment I vowed that if it is the last thing I do, I will get a ruling to ban outright ALL white lycra tri-suits when rain is forecast ... there are just some things that cannot be unseen ... 2 fecking miles I sat behind that .. 2 fecking miles ... with nowhere to look but straight at it. That was damn near a DNF due to psychological stress right there.
Finally traffic cleared enough and I could overtake Mr SeeThrough, and speed off (yes I expended more energy to do this than I probably should, but God was it worth it!). Round on to the second visit of the Southern loop, and the Pirate feed station again welcomingly loomed in to view. This time I took a planned stop to stretch my legs a little and some solid food in the form of a ham bap, and a quick chat. (This was something learned from long training rides that a short stop for actual proper solid food pays dividends in the long term). All fed, and legs slightly rested, set off again for the last stretch feeling fairl
oohh .. seems to have truncated ... the rest of Part 2
All fed, and legs slightly rested, set off again for the last stretch feeling fairly good. The low points hadn't really hit, which given the weather was really pretty dire by this point was quite suprising, and those that did come were fairly fleeting.
Soon, was winding way through the cross country section where the combination of my sunglasses (ha! how optimistic were they!) and the darkness combined to make it an interesting last couple of miles over the bumps, but then a right turn and was heading back in to the lake ... literally ... 3 hours of rain soaked brake blocks, add in downhill with v. sharp right turn and I damn near was heading in to the lake again, this time sans wetsuit. Thankfully though, my luck held with the ironman saying for the second time that day, and I got round the corner with cm's to spare. (My wife told me after she'd seen a number of people not be so lucky!).
So that was the bike, 6:57 ... good day in the office aim was under 7:30 so was made up at that point.
T2 - OK, so if it wasn't for the original 'transition that should never be spoken of again' this one would probably qualify as a transition to be truly embarrassed over, however given the events earlier in the day I absolutely smashed this one with the incredible time of 13 minutes ... yes I know impressive huh! (Oh god .. I am so so so sorry!)
Part 3:
Run
At last back in familiar territory, but from a slightly different perspective in not knowing how things would hold up after the extensive swim and bike. So my plan was to go out at a steady pace, walk through the aid stations and see how far I got before the wheels came off and I had to resort to walking more. First lap round the lake and my right foot started going numb, until I lost all feeling in it ... this was worrisome ... and I began to panic that it could finish me there and then. However, I then remembered that I had turned my calf guard down a bit on the bike as it was causing me some pain just below my knee and was therefore very tight .. so I pulled it back up properly and almost immediately feeling started to return, so I set off again to complete my first lap of the lake.
First lap complete and I was still running, what was going on? I'd expected to be crawling by now, happily I picked up my first treasured wristband, and headed off out in to Nottingham. Decided my plan would be to try and run as much as possible between the aid stations and tehn walk these, taking on board a small amount of fuel at each, in the end it turned out to be a master plan, that I may well use again for future marathons.
It was going along the towpath on the way out that I managed to pick up a small stone in my shoe that I just couldn't seem to get rid of .. didn't want to stop and try and prise my trainer off, as I could already feel the first signs of my normal calf cramp starting to form, so decided to man up and get on with it. Doing the first part of the loop on the other side of the Trent I spotted my mate Rich coming back the other way and he was about half a mile ahead of me, which sort of firmed up my resolve to keep running. Carried on back towards HPP, and suddnely caught up with Rich, so slowed for a chat, turns out his back was spasming so he had to keep stopping to stretch it out, we ran together for a bit till I heard a pained cry from side and Rich again pulled up, he told me to go on and he'd meet me at the end. So being the kind considerate mate I am, I left him to it, and resumed my loop of the lake.
Wristband 2 gleefully collected, and headed for the second loop, the weather could now only be described as biblical, but I was still managing to run, so I just resolved that I only had to win more mental battles than I lost and I would finish. By this time both calves were almost permanently on the verge of cramping so I had a small walk break just to ease them back and it seemed to do the trick, the second out and back loop was completed. (An honorary mention here to the pirates out on the loop just after HPP, who spotted pirates from a mile off and gave marvelous encouragement for at least 200 yards either side of twhere they were stood, and to Cake too for his generous enticement with opened can of lager held just out of reach giving a timely reminder of what was waiting at the finish line.!)
Got back on to the lake, I was cold, wet, my nipples were screaming, my calves were tighter than piano strings, and it felt like the little stone had worn a hole through my toe, but I didn't care ... I was a 10K from finishing an ironman.
Penultimate lap complete (including a group hug with pirates at the far end of the lake, thanks guys, lifted me no end!!), and I nearly proposed to the lady who gave me my 3rd and final wristband .. oh yes .. looky everybody I got THREE wristbands ... so off I went proudly staring at my THREE wristbands for the final time round the lake, I walked a little at the 1.5KM to go sign, just to give my calves a break so I didn't disgrace myself going down the finish, then it was game on .. I was going to finish .. but hang on .. what the feck was this .. the clock was still showing with 13 hours .. must have broken, how poor is that, I'm going to f
Part 3.1 (another truncation)
I was going to finish .. but hang on .. what the feck was this .. the clock was still showing with 13 hours .. must have broken, how poor is that, I'm going to finish under a broken clock, a quick mental add up and I couldn't believe it .. it was right, I was going to go sub 14 .. this was dreamland .. no actually sub 15 was dreamland, sub 14 had never even entered my consiousness.
Got to the carpet, to massive cheers, from both the pirate massive, and the rest of the crowd, collected my daughter to run down with me, and off we set down the orange carpet. Youthfull exuberance overtook my daughter as she set off at a sprint holding my hand taking me with her, however my calves were quite up to a sprint finish and rebelled, however even that didn't stop me from 'sprinting' down over the line to the immortal words "You are an OUTLAW!!". and he was right .. I was ... I'd done it.
Aftermath
Hugged daughter, and sent her back up the stairs whilst I went off to collect my hard earned goodies. Picked up my transition bags then headed off up the stairs, slowly, oh so very slowly up the stairs, to the food tent. Just as I walked in I saw Ghost and Sherpa Dave sat at a table, and their first words were "Well done, but what the feck were you doing in transition!" .. it was only at this point did I find out the true extent of my faffing. Duly embarrassed had a quick bite to eat whilst we compared weather related horror stories, then it was back out to find my family and begin the long thaw out.
All in all the day could hardly have gone any better (remember I'm not ever going to talk about 'those bits again'), the weather sort of added to the sense of achievement, and the support from the other pirates both competing and supporting was truly immense.
So that's it, I'm now an Outlaw and a Pirate and overwhelmingly proud to be able to call myself both.
31 minutes spent in transition! did you have a power nap?
Great report
Really enjoying these race reports if anyone has time at the height of your training what did a week look like?
"decided I really did need to check, so a quick pitstop with the lovely pirates who seemed to take the sight of another pirate dismounting, pulling out his shorts and staring intently at his groin all in their stride as if it were an everyday occurrence."
Classic
as usual some great reports here, inspirational stuff for next year,,,, checking out the new 2016 thread for RELAY POTENTIAL
Race report - first iron distance (or should I say Outlaw distance) triathlon.
Like everyone else, I was getting more and more worried by the weather as the day approached - I ended up waking up the wife three time on Friday night by getting up and switching the light on so that I could add more items to my bag. Which, of course, just moved the problem of exactly what to wear to survive the weather to the Saturday.
Up early on Saturday to get our son there for the Future Outlaw - which was a great race. Particularly good for him, because although he's a strong triathlete in his age group, his only previous open water tri had resulted in a DNF due to cold - he made it out of the water, but just couldn't get going fast enough on the bike to warm up. Saturday was no problem, and he nailed his way round it. Good start to the weekend!
Rest of Saturday was spent in the sun trying to work out what to wear in the rain the following day - the only pirate kit I have is a monaco, whch left me no way of carrying a jacket if I needed one - which it looked as if I was going to. In the end, I strapped a light one round the saddlepost, which looked rough but worked. The expo was useful in two ways - the BlueSeventy guy had a look at the mended rip in my wetsuit and reckoned it would be fine, but offered to shove another load of BlackWitch on for me, and didn't even try and sell me a replacement, and I also picked up a pair of Outlaw bike gloves, which I was very grateful for the following day.
Out with the pirates at the Pint and Poppy on the Saturday night was great - we met loads of people, some of whose names I can still remember, and Mr. Stoat ensured that whatever level of triathlete my son will be in a few years time he'll be a champion beermat-flipper. Which probably gets you more cred in the average student bar, anyway!
Back to the campsite, I did actually manage to get some sleep, to my surprise - despite what sounded like a music festival going on in the background.
Part 2 - the actual race
I knew before I started that the only target for the swim was to make the 2-hour cutoff, so I picked the slow pen (pen 4) but eased towards the front of it. When the siren went, I took a fairly wide line almost down the centre of the lake, which seemed to keep me well clear of most of the melee. For a while, I was pacing a couple of breaststrokers who seemed to be swimming together, and that helped my sighting a bit. It obviously felt a long way (I'd only done the distance once before) but I was feeling fairly OK as I turned at the bottom of the lake. Sighting went badly wrong on the way back, though, and I got guided off the edge by a canoe a couple of times when I was heading for the jetty outside the main building. I still thought I'd done fairly well, though, and it was a big shock when I made it out and looked at my Garmin to see 1:55. It least it was 5 minutes the right way, and I found a couple of other pirates in T1 who must have had similar times. Changed as planned - my bum doesn't do that distance on a bike without bike shorts, so that meant a complete change - and went out to find my bike, which wasn't difficult to spot!
Bike ride to start with was great. I was riding against a cadence meter, which had worked well for me during the year, and passed quite a few people. My main plan was to try and take advantage of the dry period on the bike and get well ahead of the clock so that I would be able to slow down if required when it cam down. I got a great buzz hitting the pirate feedstation for the first time - loved the signs - and was managing to feed and drink well on the bike. Car Colston was great as well. Loop one done, headed north and it was still dry. I caught up Sid the BMX lunatic at feedstation 3, and pushed on past. It was somewhere after feedstation four, on my way back from the northern loop, that the rain landed. Jacket went on immediately, so at least that much of the planning worked - but it was still cold. Was seriously glad of my gloves - I passed one guy on a TT bike who had stopped and had his hands under his armpits trying to warm them up. The busy road back south wasn't a lot of fun in the rain, and even holding a bottle was difficult, so my drinking and eating went downhill.
Pirate feedstation was a rare cheerup in those few hours - I passed the sign saying "bike sale 3pm" and managed a laugh. After that, though, it was just plain slog - still trying to thank supporters and marshals, but more concentrating on just keeping going and not chilling off completely. My jelly babies in my bike box had drowned, and I didn't have fingers working enough to do anything but eat gels, so I hammered through a few of those gripped in a fist. The little cog was coming out for even the most minor hills by then, but at last I was passed Car Colston for the fourth time (with a couple of nutters still out there in the rain supporting, for which they did get thanked!) and on the last stretch to home. No mechanicals (unlike my final training ride, where I had three) and home in 7:08, which I was happy enough with.
Part 3 - the run
Well, probably more the shuffle. I've done a bit of running in rain, but not when I was already that tired and wasn't able to put the work in to stay warm. I'd also never done anything longer than a half marathon before, so I'd already decided to walk the feedstations - particularly since I'd lost the nutrition plot on the bike, and needed to get some more food into me. So that became the plan - shuffle between the stations, walk through them, and get shuffling again before I got too cold. That was working fairly well for the first 18 miles or so, aarghing pirates and thanking marshals, round the lake and the first big loop, and then back to the lake. My son, who had been told to be ready for running down the finish chute with me, asked "is that the last lap?". I wish. I tried to smile when the other person in my running club who had entered shouted "keep going" from the car park having long since finished as I came round, but was really thinking "you lucky b*********"!
Second long lap was harder - we'd had a bit of a rain break on the first long lap, but it was back stronger than ever, or it felt like it. Every time I stopped to walk, I was shivering, which left me wondering whether I dared stop even for the feedstations - except that if I didn't, I wouldn't have the sugar to get to the end. I'm afraid at that point I was pretty unresponsive to anyone, pirate or anyone else - tunnel vision was in and it was just a case of one foot in front of the other. I made it to the turn and back over the bridge, and had to switch to walking for a bit - which at least gave me slightly more chance of avoiding the deeper puddles on the path, which was now a small river.
Somewhere on the way back from the second long lap I realised that it had actually stopped raining, and slowly started to dry out a bit. About the point I hit the lake, I started thinking this was going to be possible after all, and got round to checking my Garmin for the first time in about 3 hours - just past 14 hours. OK, this was going to happen. I still walked a chunk of the last lap, but I made myself run the last kilometre from the sign, and my son joined me down the finish chute. Made it. 14:52, which was better than I'd expected and which I was perfectly happy with.
I got very confused after that. I was expecting the med tent, but then someone asked me "do you want to get your bags now" and I wasn't thinking straight enough to realise I didn't have to. So I missed the climb up the steps and the Erdinger pint, which I could seriously have done with, and before I really knew what I was doing I was pushing a bike with three bags over my shoulders round to try and meet up with my family, which was about the last thing I needed. Once I'd finally found them, I'm afraid I just wanted to get home, so I apologise for not joining everyone afterwards - the cold had finished me and I shivered most of the way home, even in the car.
Many congratulations to everyone who competed despite the conditions, finishers or not. And thanks once again to the pirate support team - you may have got me into this mess, but you certainly helped me through it and out the other side!
Oh, and I still owe someone about 12 quid for 4 High 5 bottles...
Thanks, Pirates, the feed station was fantastic and always gave me a big boost. Great race in really trying conditions. Chuffed with a 12:23.
Lots of Pirates sailed out at Outlaw so they’ll be lots of race reports. What I’ve read so far have been excellent so I thought I’d better drag the overall standard down by waffling on about my day.
I did Outlaw last year and loved it. There was never really any doubt about me doing it again this year and I was looking forward to a warm, dry day. It being England at the end of July I realised we may not get sun and was okay with that. About a fortnight before the race I started looking at weather forecasts and it seemed promising but things gradually deteriorated and in the run up to the event I was checking various apps to try to find one that got the forecast “right”. None did, they all said rain, with the expected amount of rain seeming to increase every time I looked. Since the end of May I’ve done 3 events, at each one it has hammered down - if this is divine retribution for something I’ve done then I apologise to everyone else!
We have the luxury of a motorhome and, in heavy rain, we arrived at HPP last Friday and went to register and said hello to a few pirates that were milling about.
Saturday saw me buying some neoprene toe covers for Sunday’s cycling (something that turned out to be an inspired purchase), racking, doing the briefing (where I noted they said that after the race you couldn’t just visit the medical tent - you had to be “selected”), faffing and watching my son take part in the Big Swim.
Sunday was a lovely morning and, along with everyone else, at 5.55am I was in the water, peeing in a wetsuit. I’d expected the water to feel warm but was surprised by how cold it felt. My swimming has improved a little over the past year and, more by not really thinking about it than anything else, I started in front of the jetty between bay 2 and bay 3. Last time at Outlaw I had a great swim with no biffing about; this time I seemed to end up in a washing machine, certainly not one on a fast swim but probably a medium one. (If I’ve got the terminology wrong then sorry, I genuinely don’t know how to use our washing machine - probably not something to be proud of!) The swim went ok, I had odd patches of quiet water and then some busy bits but got out the water in 70mins. A 4 min PB for a 3.8km swim so happy with that. Came out with chilly feet though.
From memory, T1 took about 6 minutes. In view of the forecast rain I made sure I got everything on properly and had all I was likely to want on me.
Out on the bike all was good, with the toe covers soon getting my toes all toasty! I wanted to get as much of the bike done before the rain came and the rain being later than forecast (the BBC had said 10am for the rain) helped. I cruised along quite happily, overtaking people and doing my best to not draft and ensure any litter I had was properly stowed in a pocket. Everything went well and it rained for about the final 30 miles. I deliberately don’t look at how far I’ve covered as I do the bike but I knew that the timing mat after the second Pirate feed station was 80 miles. Once I went over that I realised that sub 11 hours was going to be realistic and also that at 11.30am I was half way through the event.
Some other bits that stick in my mind were the first feed station - a human tunnel of vocal black and yellow - which was fantastic, going through Southwell and seeing nobody else from the race for miles then being followed by a motorbike for a couple of miles - so I behaved impeccably and then when it did pass finding it was the camera crew - maybe I was filmed! Finally having two people fall off pretty well in front of me (they were both ok) on the horrid last bit. Got back in 5hrs 31 mins - 7 mins quicker than last year so again, happy with that.
T2, another 6 mins. Wet stuff off and dry (soon to be wet) stuff on. Away we go!
Running is my least favourite of the swim, bike, run stuff but as long as I was out running by 1pm all I had to do was a 4 hour marathon - something I was reasonably confident I could do. As it was I was out at 12.55pm which gave me an extra few minutes that later proved crucial. I know a lot of people don’t like the round the lake run - I’d happily run the entire 26.2 miles around the lake and not do the football stadium / river bit. We were parked next to fellow Pirate “Just Plod On”s tent and for a good chunk of the run I was running along using “just plod on” as my own little mantra. For a while I didn’t think I’d make the sub 11 hours but as long as I could knock out my 3 fastest miles as the last 3 it’d all come good. Despite seeing Ironholgs on the home straight - it was his fault I started playing this tri game - somehow I did and went over the line in 10 hrs 58mins. I’d really pushed it on the last bit and as I finished I grabbed a fence to hold myself upright - then I was “selected” for the medical tent but I persuaded them that I was okay and avoided it!
Afterwards I decided that after two goes I was done with Outlaw but within 24 hours I was thinking that it was such a good day, and that in 2016 it’d have to be warm and dry - if not sunny - so I reckon I’ll be back again. The marathon was ended up being just over 4 hours but 6 minutes quicker than last year - but there are gains to be made there, I just need to do a bit (or possibly a lot) of work.
Even with the weather getting it wrong it was still a great day. We’re away on holiday in the motorhome now. I’ve told myself I’ll have a break for the rest of July but the bike is with us and come August (Saturday!) I’ll be back on it.
Superb reports chaps
so so many excellent performances in. I'll conditions .. It's a good job we have Pingu to blame
Loving reading the reports
Keep them coming!!!
+1
Here's my little race report. http://www.runwalkcrawl.com/outlaw-2015/
Here comes mine, it's a bit long and delayed due to me suffering from the Outlaw DNF Blues.
Pre Race
Outlaw 2015. My first attempt at an iron distance triathlon. I had heard many tales of the atmosphere, how flat and fast it was, and how lovely the weather always is, and I was very much looking forward to embracing all 3 of these qualities.
Friday evening, I get home from work, quickly get changed, and jump into the already-loaded car for the drive from Durham to Nottingham. Mixed Grill (me wife) and her mum had already headed down earlier in the day to get a spot on the camp site. Roadworks with those horrible average speed check cameras, and muppets who can’t drive, resulted in a long drive watching the ETA on the sat nav steadily get later and later. Made it down to the campsite just after 9pm and immediately started carb loading by grabbing a 660ml bottle of San Miguel, specially formulated to give a triathlete everything their body needs in the build up to a race…
Later that night a car pulls up next to our pitch and it’s occupants disembark and start erecting their shelter. “Their goes our little bit of peace and quiet” I mumble, only to then realise it’s Razor and Horse. Always a pleasure seeing this pair of fine gentlemen and it’s always good to know your neighbour on a campsite! At least we knew our neighbours would be after an early night on the Saturday.
Next morning we managed to be a bit more sociable and met up with the other pirates camped not far away at all. It was great to see people again after the DIY Half, and meet some new faces. We headed over to register and get our first look at the lake. This was my biggest concern. My open water swimming history is not particularly good, infact my only decent swim, the only time I managed front crawl the whole time, was at Bamburgh last year, and I am still convinced that the only reason I swam well then was because a primal part of me realised that if I didn’t, I was going to die. The conditions were not good. So it was with some trepidation that I cast my eyes in the direction of the lake, and when I actually could see the end of it, a lot of the tension in me vanished. It didn’t look too bad at all. And it was calm. And so the rest of the Saturday passed without me feeling particularly stressed about it. We registered, got all our bags and things and headed back to camp for some food before going back to buy some essentials at the expo. Managed to avoid spending loads, although it would have been easy to manage. Spent the rest of the day slowly getting the bikes and bags sorted before taking them over to transition before going to the 2pm briefing. The lovely weather on the Saturday resulted in it being somewhat warm and unpleasant in the briefing tent, and it was obvious everyone was itching to get out of there, it was like being back in school with everyone trying to get up to leave before the bell rings. We then watched SA finish off his swim and saw Sid on his way to rack the infamous BMX, before heading to the Pint and Poppy for some food and then back to camp for an early bed (after another essential pre-race San Miguel or two…). It’s not often I’m in bed by 9pm on a Saturday, and it seemed the world was trying to make sure I got no sleep. Kids shouting, and just as they shut up, the disco started. I finally got to sleep, and before I knew it the alarm was going off and it was time to get up and take on the biggest challenge of my life.
We headed over to transition and made a few final checks of bags, I put my fig rolls into my top tube bag, some spare fig rolls in my jersey pocket along with a pork pie (which I would be thankful for later) and discovered that Mixed Grill’s tapering hypochondria had spread to her bike as she was convinced her tyres were too soft. Final checks done, wetsuits were donned, hats put on, goggles put in place, and then with a sense of dread I realised we’d all turned up in pretty much the same outfit. Saw Hofmeister on our way to the water and wished him well, and then it was time to get in the water. I had a quick mental chat with myself, with a reminder to stay back and take it easy early on. I told myself that I had this, take it easy at the start and all will be well. Then it was time.
Swim
In the water I was quite happy. The last time I was in British open water was Derwentwater during the Keswick Mountain Festival. It was so cold then that they were including the decimal in the temperature reading as, to quote a certain supermarket, “every little helps”. The lake I was currently in was tropical in comparison. I remembered to duck my head under to get my face used to the temperature, and let water into my suit to get it warming up. The nerves were starting to build but that was soon out of my mind as the swim was underway. Initially the people around me were moving so slowly breast stroke was the only option, but soon it was time for front crawl and my first real experience of getting battered in a swim. Despite a few knocks to the head and several people swimming diagonally across me I managed to get into a steady, sustainable rhythm and settled in for the duration. I gave up on trying to look for buoys and tried to gauge my straightness by keeping an eye on the bank, which worked quite well until I started swimming into the lane marker buoys. After what seemed an age my mind started to dare to think that maybe the end of the lake was getting close. I had no idea of the time as I hadn’t bothered to look at my watch and didn’t want to lose my steady stroke to do so. And then I took a breath on my left side and saw the sign. The 1000m sign. Bugger. Ah well there’s only one way of getting to the end so I settled back in for the rest of the swim. The rest of the length of the lake didn’t seem to take as long and I was enjoying myself. Catching sight of the orange buoys gave me a real boost, that feeling of “I’m on my way back” was fantastic for the first leg of my first iron distance tri. The swim back down was even better, apart from the patch that seemed to be full of weeds which started to feel a bit claustrophobic. Ended up desperate for a wee and discovered it’s extremely difficult to get your body to go against years of conditioning to not piss yourself. Quite a liberating feeling, just hope it doesn’t become a habit out of the water…
Had a couple of instances where my legs started to cramp up, but I stayed calm, switched to breast stroke and stretched them out and managed to carry on without any assistance. Before I knew it the finish was in sight and I started to prepare myself for the falling over drunk feeling. The helpers though were fantastic, I could do with a team of them to get me home from the pub at the weekend. Out of the water, looked at my watch and I was over the moon with a time over just over 1:31. Very little swim training done, and no open water to speak of. I then had a man in a cowboy hat and Iron Maiden shorts strip my wetsuit off for me. There’s not many other men I would allow to undress me, but if it’s going to happen, it’s going to be a man in a cowboy hat and Iron Maiden shorts…
Just over 11 minutes in transition, including the first of several horrible visits to portaloos. Whoever had used that one before me needs help.
Bike
I was out onto the bike at the same time as Sid. That man is a legend. The TV crew were all over him, and it seemed like he just wanted to be allowed to get on his bike and get on with the mammoth task in front of him. Off out round the lake, being mindful to spin easy and ease into it, it’s a long day ahead. Getting onto the opposite bank it was a real boost to be riding past people still swimming. I’m used to being amongst the last out, and I recalled in the swim calling the fast guys various names as they rode past me splashing about. The first few bits of support got me going, and I was enjoying myself. A feeling that would last up until the end of the first loop.
Managed to pass a few people early on, yo-yo’d a bit with another Pirate who’s name I unfortunately can’t remember and worked on getting out to the first loop. Ate some fig rolls and drained my first bottle ready to plunder what I could from the Pirate feed station. When I came around the corner and saw those signs I almost wet myself for the second time that day. Sadly I didn’t have 3 quid on me, so I opted for water instead of High 5, took in all the cheering when everyone realised I was a Pirate (had my Cancer Research jersey on) and got a high five off SA. Part way round the first loop I checked my average speed and realised it was 17.5mph and I was feeling comfortable, I’m used to riding fairly hard to hit 16mph round Durham. And then around two thirds of the way round I started to realise that flat courses are not ideal if you’re used to hilly rides. It dawned on me that I’m accustomed to having the option to free wheel at decent speeds after slogging up a climb. This was like a very long session on a turbo trainer, it was relentless. Constantly turning the big ring was giving reasonable speeds, but it was hard work. Lesson learnt for the future, flat and fast is not the same as easy.
After finishing the first loop I caught sight of another Pirate ahead and it was clear I was gaining on them. Turned out it was Horse, so I wished him well and left him eating my dust, but it would turn out I would see him again in less favourable circumstances…
I found the link section to be a bit of a drag, and was actually really looking forward to hitting Oxton Bank, partly for the downhill but also to have a climb to deal with rather than the undulations from the first loop. It was about then I started to feel the first hints of discomfort in my back, which would start to cause me further problems. At about 60 miles I just couldn’t get my back comfortable, and had to stop and dismount for the first time. This would become a regular occurrence. As I got to the end of the northern loop the heavens opened, and once again my back was giving me grief. I had left my jacket in T1 so I just had my jersey and bare arms. I had no gloves and I was getting cold, wet and miserable. So I found a bit of shelter under a tree for another bit of respite for my back. Horse caught up, realised it was me and pulled in to check on me which I massively appreciated. Gestures like that would become a bit of a theme for the rest of the day. I managed to ride a bit further on, but riding back on the link section in pain in those conditions, feeling that cold was making my mood darker and darker. I got to the point where I had simply had enough. My sense of humour had already thumbed a lift back to Holme Pierrepont and I was ready to head back there myself. I had stopped at the worst possible place, the traffic was heavy and with a steady stream of triathletes I was stood for ages waiting for a gap to start cycling back to the start. Whilst I was waiting Hofmeister passed, followed shortly afterwards by Sid. I mustered the biggest cheer that I could for that crazy man and immediately gave myself a kick up my stupid fat arse. “If Sid can keep going on that BMX, what’s your excuse? Get back on that bike, get yourself to the southern loop, and get it done” I told myself.
I managed to keep going to the Pirate feed station, took the opportunity to use the loo, ditched the stuff out of my jersey pockets to try to take some pressure off my back, and had some pork pie. The combination of those things had me feeling much better, and with some words of encouragement from the Pirate crew I set off. The next 10 miles were enjoyable again, I caught up with some people and managed to pass Sid. And just as I thought I was back on for getting it done, my right knee decided to throw a spanner in the works. It didn’t want any kind of power going through it at all. I couldn’t pedal, and couldn’t freewheel, so I had to stop. I spent 10 miles pedalling for 5 minutes, then getting off for a rest, repeated again and again. My average speed was dropping faster than a prostitute’s knickers at the docks. The cut off was getting closer, and I worked out that although the average I needed to maintain to make it wasn’t high, it was higher than I was currently managing with my knee. I then managed to somehow pass someone else, and realised there were a few others close enough to catch as well, and so focused on that to get my speed up. My new goal for the day wasn’t crossing the finish line, it was simply to get into T2 under my own power before 4pm. And I made it, by 20 minutes and 16 seconds. Early in the ride I felt great, the speed was sustainable, my energy levels never dropped and my legs never got too tired to keep going. I should have done well under 7 hours for the bike, but it ended up taking me 7:56:01. But I made it. I got off my bike, handed it to a volunteer, and found that my knee issue wasn’t limited to the bike, even walking was painful and awkward.
Sid came in right behind me, and in T2 I caught up with a few other people too. I got changed, deciding I’d at least start the run.
Run
But running isn’t what happened. Walking was bad enough. I made an attempt at a little jog and my knee made it clear that it wasn’t down with that at all. Got loads of support thanks to the yeller and black so did my best to respond to it in a good natured way, which was tough considering how I felt, and knowing I wasn’t going to cross the line. I just wanted to see how far I could get. After some more walking I managed a bit more gentle jogging, but 30 seconds and my knee was screaming again. As I approached the car parking area and the crowds got thicker, more and more support came my way and the truly awesome power of that skull and crossbones became apparent. Everyone got loads of support, but the amount that came my way blew me away completely. All the kids wanted a high five from me because I was a Pirate. I might have been a hobbling, broken fat lad, but they were behind me and some of those faces when they saw I was going to high five them were just golden. More people started to cheer for me as I approached the grandstand, so I jokingly said they were only cheering to make me run and suffer, at which point even more people started. I laughingly told them they were horrible people and got jogging. It hurt but I realised being so close to the grandstand I couldn’t actually stop now or the abuse from the Pirate support would be unbearable. As I left T2 I’d already had enough grief off Matt for walking, and I could see his smug southern face near the finish so I had to keep going. It felt like everyone was behind me then and despite the pain it was great. Plenty of high fives, I felt like a winner at that point. I decided then to at least head out along the river. That was a grim, slow walk out, although I did manage to jog a bit when I saw Cake walking towards me with a can of lager in his hand. He held it out but even though I wasn’t going to finish I decided to dodge the outside assistance DQ anyway. He also pointed out that he saw I only started running when I saw him, can’t get away with owt round you lot. And as I approached the furthest point from Holme Pierrepont, the heavens opened. I was cold, I was wet, and I was going slowly. The wetter I got, the colder I got, and the slower I got. The only word I can use to describe how I felt at this point is miserable. Crossing the bridge over the river was hard work, as the slop up and down made my knee worse. As I got back towards the lake, there were a few brighter moments. BluePeter was there cheering me on, which lifted my spirits a bit, and a marshal a bit further on got me laughing when he shouted “Come on Smiler!”. I called him a sarcastic git and got a high five off him. Decided to go back round the lake rather than go straight for the DNF, and then tried to get my brain in gear and worked out I’d walked a half marathon. I’d planned to start the run for the sake of it and then quit, so I was actually quite pleased with getting that far.
Once on the other side of the lake Mixed Grill and her mam found me and started walking towards the grandstand with me. More support came my way, and then one of the highlights of the whole day happened. A couple of lads on the path started shouting encouragement at me, and I told them I was done. One of them stood in my way and the other took hold of my arm. They offered me a cuppa and a chat, told me to spend a couple of minutes taking it easy and thinking about it. I said my mind had been made up long before, and it had, but if that had just been a brief bad spell those two guys would have saved my day. I know plenty of other people had told me to keep going when they saw me, and I appreciate it all now, even if I didn’t particularly at the time. Every Pirate out there tried to keep me going and for that I’m forever thankful to you all. So I jogged past the crowds one last time, mumbled something to Red Stripe and Cake about being finished and ran off before they could object. Told the girls handing out the wristbands that I was done and then I was very kindly and helpfully led off to get my stuff.