Wet and windy Windsor
Race weekend 5 of 7.
The previous weekend at the Tour of Cambridgeshire had taken its toll. Two days of riding back to back had left me with little energy for training during the week, but I soldiered on managing to fit in a couple of swim sessions, Wednesday cycle reps and then a running session at the track on Thursday evening. The running session was my undoing. I have occasional issues with my hip flexures (the connecting section between hip bone and the top of my leg), partly I believe because of the length of my legs. Post track session I was in a bit of pain, the tightness was worse than normal and I really thought I had little chance of finishing let alone racing hard as I intended. Cue the manic recovery process to get me back on track. For anyone interested I used a mixture of precision massage with a tennis ball (yes this hurt to begin with, but it worked out the knots) and then applied BetterYou magnesium joint spray to speed up the muscle recovery – an added bonus was the amazing smell – wintergreen and menthol.
Race racking was done the day before the race and after a quick jaunt to a very wet Windsor I was racked, numbered, and loaded with freebies. My hips were still a little tender and I was getting a little nervous of doing long term damage with a qualifier for worlds on the horizon.
Race day came and under a light mist I finished my transition area prep, donned my wetsuit doing my best not to add further scrapes and holes and headed to the race briefing. This was the first point when I realised how far transition was from the race start. My hips felt weirdly fine as we walked over and I began to think about where I was going to position myself at the swim start. Race briefed and promptly in the water, I had little time to position myself and found the siren going almost instantly. I launched myself forward squeezing between the start buoy and the mass of swimmers. Dunking a few and getting my arms flailing through the melee, and I was through, and out with a handful of other good swimmers. A few minutes later and it was just me and one other guy out front. At this point I thought about trying to overtake but didn’t want to expend too much energy. I tried to sit in and draft but he was all over the place; one minute left then out to the right. This was also the point where we began coming across the wave of swimmers just in front. The drafting plan went out the window, it was just enough to keep momentum without running into a slower swimmer. Past the only turn point of the swim course and we came across another set of slow swimmers. Two lots of slow swimmers navigated and we were out of the water to begin the marathon to the bike. On leaving the swim I noticed I was second green hat out of the water, and not by much.
A long run and an uneventful transition, 4.19 for T1, the longest of the year and it was out onto the bike leg. Having cleared the windy small roads I began to feel strong. A good course with a mix of rolling climbs, straights held together with some dodgy tight turns. I held a good pace all the time worried of puncturing and fumbling in the rain to get the inner tube changed.
Having seen a few spills in innocuous places I was wary of taking corners too fast and backed off the pace into a few tight sections, but kept the hammer down on the straights. I was mindful that I needed to post a good bike split in the hope of holding off any chasing rival age group athletes.
Back into T2 and I was feeling surprisingly good. My lack of training time, due to the many weekends of competition, had left me worried my fitness would drop but it seemed to be holding. The run began with a burst out of transition and straight into a mess of other athletes. The waves had been starting all morning and now many were on the run. A steep climb up a slippery street surface towards Windsor castle before a tight U-turn and a slightly precarious descent began every run lap. Each time the climb hurting more and more as my hip flexures tightened and tiredness increased. As I weaved in and out of the slower runners, I had one thought in my mind: don’t get passed by anyone. I knew I was high up in my age category and I wanted to stay there.
The three run laps passed relatively slowly, perhaps the discomfort made every passing step seem to take an age. I remember gritting my teeth and digging deep as people shouted my name (I was wearing my personalised GB suit). I passed athlete after athlete all the time repeating in my head ‘the faster you go, the sooner it’ll be over’. I enjoy being out on courses with team mates and this time it was a pleasure to share it with Ellie, Ian and Ben from Tri-London, who all offered shouts of motivation as we passed on the run course.
The finishing chute was a pleasant relief, the run was finished, and another 2:06 finish. An amazing result given the problems with my hips and the long transitions, I was very happy. Another huge plus was placing second in my age group and 4th individual out of over 1000 starters. As I stood in the finishing area talking to my mum the other side of the barrier about the race, a young boy asked for a photo with me! I dutifully obliged, not having the energy or the heart to tell him I was not anyone of importance, perhaps he thought I was one to watch for the future, here’s hoping he’s correct.
Overall – 2:06:29
Swim – 19:41
T1 – 4:19
Bike – 1:03:38
T2 – 1.47
Run – 37.04
