August 2017
Swim – 13 times
Swim – 13 times
Cycle – 13 times
Run – 10 times
Total time 39 hours
Total Distance 741km
At the start of August
I had entered another 10km run, this time @ Regents Park. I did this run purely
for the medal…. It was shaped like the London Underground logo. I also managed to drag a friends along for the event, she ended up smashing a 10km PB!!
I managed to also secure another PB for the 10km distance. However, it came at a cost: as soon as I stopped running my left knee was in pain. Unlike previous running pain this pain continued on for a few days and I very quickly become worried about my chances of completing a marathon in 5 weeks!!
I managed to also secure another PB for the 10km distance. However, it came at a cost: as soon as I stopped running my left knee was in pain. Unlike previous running pain this pain continued on for a few days and I very quickly become worried about my chances of completing a marathon in 5 weeks!!
For the next 7 days I
didn’t run at all and instead focused on cycling and preparing for the Eton
Dorney Olympic distance race. Now at this point I made a promise to myself, I’m
not going to chase a PB in this race and if I’m in pain at all on the run I
will either withdraw or walk to finish.
Instead this race proved to be a very
odd and humbling experience. I had a close friend of mine David
Bushrod along for support. I gave him two tasks, when I exit the swim tell me
in TIME how far I’m behind the leader and secondly take lots of pictures on your fancy
camera.
After setting up in
transition I realised that, although this wasn’t a serious event, with only approximately
240 triathletes, the dynamic was very different to London. There were no
newbies, everyone had a ‘good’ bike and just the general chat in the bull pen
was about setting PB’s etc.
That said I was feeling
confident that my swim and bike had improved and I was looking
forward to riding 8 laps of the lake and chasing people down.
The swim
The swim felt very
slow. It was 1.5 laps and I had no idea where I was in the pack etc. I exited
the water (my new favorite part to any race) and proceeded to strip off and get my bike.
As I left transition
and lapped my watch Dave shouted 13 at me. At this point I thought 13 mins!!!
OMG that was a slow swim!!
One of my favorite pictures to date!!!
The bike
Within 500m of the
bike leg the worst happened….. I completely misjudged how narrow the course got
and crashed my bike over a concrete barrier. Instincts and adrenaline
kicked in and I jumped back up, had a quick look at the damage I had caused to
my new Nike t-shirt and proceeded to crack on…
Within about 20m I had a problem, I had bent the gear mechanics on the bike and therefore was stuck in the little ring. I had to stop, get off, manually change the gear to the big ring and an appropriate gear on the rear cassette. Luckily this was a flat race so I didn’t need the little ring, but not being able to change gear at all wasn’t ideal.
Within about 20m I had a problem, I had bent the gear mechanics on the bike and therefore was stuck in the little ring. I had to stop, get off, manually change the gear to the big ring and an appropriate gear on the rear cassette. Luckily this was a flat race so I didn’t need the little ring, but not being able to change gear at all wasn’t ideal.
I set off at a pace I
thought was reasonable to complete the first lap and see how my skinless right
side was feeling, surprisingly OK!! As I completed my first lap I saw Dave
again and attempted a smile…
On the second lap I
told myself I had nothing to loose and if this was the IRONMAN race I would do
anything to finish. I re-made the promise to go steady on the run and went for
it for the next 7 laps.
The run
As I arrived into
transition after my 8 bike laps, I was met with fairly empty racks…. A very new
feeling. As I was hanging my bike and putting on my running shoes the marshal
said ‘I think you’re 8/9th and the next person is 1 minute up the
road'
I very quickly
realised that my swim wasn’t slow at all…in fact I was 13th out the
water and not 13 minutes back….. I had managed to climb up 4/5 places even with
spending 4/5 mins out of action while crashing my bike…. I thought to myself
maintain your promise but let’s see if I can catch at least 1 person on the
run.
So I went out like
Penguin the Whippet (a friends dog, here is her Insta) for the first 1-2km.
It’s worth noting here that in my opinion this was my first ever racing experience…
I thought if I go past
the next person fast and look strong I can maintain the place and back off
once clear….. that was the plan and it worked.
I then saw Dave, camera
in hand and I was able to crack a smile J
Dave gave me a split
on the guy in front which was around the 2-minute mark, now with a dodgy knee
and running not being my strength I decided not to chase this person down but
to instead get in a 4:00/4:10min/km pace and take 7th place to the
finish line.
On the last 1-2km Dave
gave me my last split and I was clear of anyone behind me, I really started to
relax at this point and started to think about the brunch I was going to pile
into my face in about an hour’s time.
I crossed the finish
line 7th in a time of 2hrs 7mins. I was fastest in my 25-29yr old
category and I was gob smacked to say the least….11 mins quicker than London,
with a crash and a knee I was ‘looking after’.
The best part was I
didn’t have any knee pain during or post race.
Big thanks to David
Bushrod for putting me up that weekend, coming to support and taking some
awesome pictures.
Some evidence of the damage I did to myself and the bike in the crash..... the worst crash is yet to come.......