HalfX
I didn't want to write this report.
Perhaps I have repressed earlier memories, but as far as I remember I have never failed to finish a race, until now.
Excuses are plentiful, mostly around tiredness and lack of training from moving house and poor weather.
Race day is a Sunday, so we arrived near Ambleside late on Friday night after the long drive. I relaxed on Saturday, and Anna had a swim nearby. It was sunny and warm. I registered, had a nice dinner, and got to bed on time for the early start. Big thanks to Lars here for arranging accommodation, it was great.
At the transition at 7am, it started pouring with rain. I put my wetsuit on and stood there miserably with everyone else. The forecast had been right - more downpours were expected.
I waded into the lake (Windermere) for the deep water start. It wasn't as cold as last year. I have done a lot of lake training so I had no real expectations of trouble. But a couple of minutes after the start I suddenly found I couldn't breathe. I stopped and tried again. And again. And again. Nothing was working, I couldn't even breast stroke. The other swimmers were quickly pulling away as I'd seeded myself at the back as usual. There was only one thing to do. Give up. With a heavy heart I turned around.
One of the canoe marshals saw me and came over. I told him my intention. He was calm and helpful, said to hold onto the canoe for a short time and relax. I did this and worked out what I'd done wrong. Despite 15 years of triathlons, I'd made the rookie mistake of going off too fast - my lungs literally didn't have enough oxygen. Once my heart had stopped racing, I decided to have another try, I'd come a long way and trained very hard. This time I kept my stroke rate slow and measured, remembering my training. This time, it worked.
I think I was in last position, but only by a little. I aimed for the swimmer in front, and churned out the meters. By the turnaround point I'd caught my target. I pulled away and I didn't see him again - I'm not sure he finished. Now I was alone, and the swimmers in front were distant splashes in the dim rain. I found it very difficult to stay on course, and sighted often. This slowed my pace even more than usual. I knew my stamina would get me to the finish, but it took a long, long time.
When I eventually exited the water, I'd been in for around 1 hour, about 11 minutes longer than last year.
I took my single contact lens out, got changed into clothes that were already wet from the rain, and headed out on the bike, in more rain. I was fine for short time, but once the climbing started, my eyes started to sting. It was difficult going up the steep hill with one hand on the bars, the other rubbing my eyes. My sunglasses were steamed up, and also far too dark for these conditions. They are prescription, so I need them to actually see where I am going, but I had to take them off and cycle without for a while. This wasn't very safe.
Eventually I reached the top, where some friends were waiting to cheer. Rachel got water and poured it into my red eyes to see if it would clean whatever was causing the irritation. I started the descent. This was a little better, but I still could not see well. Near the bottom I went into some dense trees and it was as if it was midnight for me in my dark glasses With car headlights approaching me, and big puddles in front, this wasn't good.
After one hour the route had taken me back to transition, and I thought about cycling for another 4-5 hours like this. And then a half marathon. I was tired and my eyes were still stinging. I pulled in. I stood around for a few minutes, washed my face again, then told the desk I was out.
I went back to the hotel and had a shower, a lie down on the sofa, and some pasta for lunch.
Feeling better, I got myself dressed and Anna took me back to Ambleside. The heavy rain had stopped, but the transition area had flooded and all my food, and rucksack had been submerged. Putting the rucksack on and having the cold water drip down my back wasn't nice; it dripped for the next 3 hours. Kevin had made the same decision as me and pulled out of the bike, but came back for the run. We waited a little while for some friends to get back from the bike leg, and went out for the half marathon. I knew it wouldn't count, except for myself.
It was great seeing everyone around the course. Disappointingly, the weather was too poor at the very top of the hill, so rather than running there and back for one lap, we were doing half the distance, but two laps. Annoyingly, this meant the steepest climb and descent twice too. Not getting to the very top made it less of an experience.
I was more run fit than last year, and had not cycled the full course, so I felt pretty good all the way around. The climb was still very hard, but I had enough to eat, and drink this year. I have a new running rucksack from Decathlon, and water bladders, both worked well. My second lap was slower than the first, the rain had started again, it was starting to get dark and the rocks were slippery. But I got to the finish with no incident and my Inov-8 running shoes were great.
I'm very disappointed not to have finished. It's now 2020, and I still have not been on my bike again which says a lot. I have entered again, as this year it is in July, but I'm only about 50% sure I'll go.
Result
163 DNF ROBERT SHIELS EVI TRI CLUB MALE V50 01:00:17 07:43
TriathlonX
Swim Time - 1:00:17 - I didn't time it to save battery on my Garmin watch.
T1 Time7:43
Strava - Bike Section - Time not important, but 53:14 with The Struggle as the climb.
Strava - Run Section - Time 2:52:30
I didn't want to write this report.
Perhaps I have repressed earlier memories, but as far as I remember I have never failed to finish a race, until now.
Excuses are plentiful, mostly around tiredness and lack of training from moving house and poor weather.
Race day is a Sunday, so we arrived near Ambleside late on Friday night after the long drive. I relaxed on Saturday, and Anna had a swim nearby. It was sunny and warm. I registered, had a nice dinner, and got to bed on time for the early start. Big thanks to Lars here for arranging accommodation, it was great.
At the transition at 7am, it started pouring with rain. I put my wetsuit on and stood there miserably with everyone else. The forecast had been right - more downpours were expected.
I waded into the lake (Windermere) for the deep water start. It wasn't as cold as last year. I have done a lot of lake training so I had no real expectations of trouble. But a couple of minutes after the start I suddenly found I couldn't breathe. I stopped and tried again. And again. And again. Nothing was working, I couldn't even breast stroke. The other swimmers were quickly pulling away as I'd seeded myself at the back as usual. There was only one thing to do. Give up. With a heavy heart I turned around.
One of the canoe marshals saw me and came over. I told him my intention. He was calm and helpful, said to hold onto the canoe for a short time and relax. I did this and worked out what I'd done wrong. Despite 15 years of triathlons, I'd made the rookie mistake of going off too fast - my lungs literally didn't have enough oxygen. Once my heart had stopped racing, I decided to have another try, I'd come a long way and trained very hard. This time I kept my stroke rate slow and measured, remembering my training. This time, it worked.
I think I was in last position, but only by a little. I aimed for the swimmer in front, and churned out the meters. By the turnaround point I'd caught my target. I pulled away and I didn't see him again - I'm not sure he finished. Now I was alone, and the swimmers in front were distant splashes in the dim rain. I found it very difficult to stay on course, and sighted often. This slowed my pace even more than usual. I knew my stamina would get me to the finish, but it took a long, long time.
When I eventually exited the water, I'd been in for around 1 hour, about 11 minutes longer than last year.
I took my single contact lens out, got changed into clothes that were already wet from the rain, and headed out on the bike, in more rain. I was fine for short time, but once the climbing started, my eyes started to sting. It was difficult going up the steep hill with one hand on the bars, the other rubbing my eyes. My sunglasses were steamed up, and also far too dark for these conditions. They are prescription, so I need them to actually see where I am going, but I had to take them off and cycle without for a while. This wasn't very safe.
Eventually I reached the top, where some friends were waiting to cheer. Rachel got water and poured it into my red eyes to see if it would clean whatever was causing the irritation. I started the descent. This was a little better, but I still could not see well. Near the bottom I went into some dense trees and it was as if it was midnight for me in my dark glasses With car headlights approaching me, and big puddles in front, this wasn't good.
After one hour the route had taken me back to transition, and I thought about cycling for another 4-5 hours like this. And then a half marathon. I was tired and my eyes were still stinging. I pulled in. I stood around for a few minutes, washed my face again, then told the desk I was out.
I went back to the hotel and had a shower, a lie down on the sofa, and some pasta for lunch.
Feeling better, I got myself dressed and Anna took me back to Ambleside. The heavy rain had stopped, but the transition area had flooded and all my food, and rucksack had been submerged. Putting the rucksack on and having the cold water drip down my back wasn't nice; it dripped for the next 3 hours. Kevin had made the same decision as me and pulled out of the bike, but came back for the run. We waited a little while for some friends to get back from the bike leg, and went out for the half marathon. I knew it wouldn't count, except for myself.
It was great seeing everyone around the course. Disappointingly, the weather was too poor at the very top of the hill, so rather than running there and back for one lap, we were doing half the distance, but two laps. Annoyingly, this meant the steepest climb and descent twice too. Not getting to the very top made it less of an experience.
I was more run fit than last year, and had not cycled the full course, so I felt pretty good all the way around. The climb was still very hard, but I had enough to eat, and drink this year. I have a new running rucksack from Decathlon, and water bladders, both worked well. My second lap was slower than the first, the rain had started again, it was starting to get dark and the rocks were slippery. But I got to the finish with no incident and my Inov-8 running shoes were great.
 |
| Me and Kevin at the finish. |
I'm very disappointed not to have finished. It's now 2020, and I still have not been on my bike again which says a lot. I have entered again, as this year it is in July, but I'm only about 50% sure I'll go.
Result
163 DNF ROBERT SHIELS EVI TRI CLUB MALE V50 01:00:17 07:43
TriathlonX
Swim Time - 1:00:17 - I didn't time it to save battery on my Garmin watch.
T1 Time7:43
Strava - Bike Section - Time not important, but 53:14 with The Struggle as the climb.
Strava - Run Section - Time 2:52:30
