Nokia Windsor Triathlon 2009

While it's all fresh in my mind, a race report.

Summary: I had a great day and finished with a time of 2:41:32, beating my PB from three years ago (which was 2:47:55) by over six minutes.

Detail:
My training regime this past year has involved a cycle commute to work. I normally set off at 6:55am, so my 6:50am start was no problem. I woke up before the alarm clock, and easily navigated the 5 minute drive down to the car park. Having said that, I didn't appreciate the time I needed to get ready; getting the wetsuit on, taping gels to the bike, cracking open a new pair of Zogs Predator goggles, pumping the tyres. I ended up slightly rushed and almost forgot to take my swimming hat to the start. I had to run to get there in time as my bike was positioned as far from the swim start as it's possible to get almost.



Swim:
The water wasn't cold, and the current in the Thames was hardly noticable, unlike last years torrent. I started off slow as usual at the back of the pack, breaststroking until I got some space. I really enjoyed the swim up the river, in the bright sunshine. The people in the waves behind didn't seem to be catching me as fast as last year, though I had no real idea of my time. At one point early on, I thought I was doing really well, and had a quick glance behind to see that there were only two green hats behind me. This was a bit of a disappointment, so I tried to swim a bit faster. Turned around at the buoy, and swam back, and oddly this shorter section seemed to take ages. I never felt particularly tired - always my aim in the swim section. This is good as in three weeks I have to do a 3.8Km swim. Worried that I'd miss the hidden exit, I kept looking up, which was a bit silly. Nevertheless I was really pleased when I got out and looked at my watch:

Swim 37:12

Long run down to my bike, managed to get the wetsuit half off as I went, and did a fairly standard time for T1. Could do better with the wetsuit

T1 2:17



Bike:
Hoping for big things from new Planet-X Stealth carbon bike, but interestingly the technology doesn't seem to have made any significant difference to my time from three years ago. However, it was a lot of fun out there, and I passed a lot of people. Too many people passed my though - I can do better with some specific speed training. I'm training for an Ironman race, so have been more interested in endurance. Slightly annoying was a car that got in the way and appeared to be tracking cyclists rather than trying to overtake. I actually had to pass it myself. As usual, one cyclist seemed to be doing my exact pace, so we leapfrogged each other the whole course. Non-drafting makes this complicated and annoying. I was happy to keep the pace brisk, but not kill myself anywhere - ~34km/h on the flat, and ended with an average 33.4km/h

Bike 1:11:55

I don't think there is really anything I need to work on for T2. Perhaps taking my feet out of my shoes before dismounting would shave a few seconds, but I don't like the extra risk of this, and the loss of speed whilst I'm freewheeling.

T2 1:33


Run:
The run is always harder then I expect it will be. I've done quite a few brick sessions so I didn't suffer from wobbly leg syndrome and felt happy running right from the start. I did feel tired, though not too bad, but didn't feel fresh obviously. I had to put a new elasticated lace on my left shoe and it wasn't correctly tightened. During the second lap, my foot didn't feel right, so I had to stop and tighted the lace. I was fine after that but that lap time is a bit slower and I blame worrying about the foot and stopping to fix it for that. But I was consistent at approximately 16 minutes a lap, with a slight negative split, which is nice. I had enough left for a strong finish - maybe I should have pushed sooner (really got going at the second water stop by Eton College)

Run 48:35

Total Time 2:41:32

Conclusion:
All my times were faster than three years ago (I'm going to try and forget last year's race ever happened :-) ) My overall position was 725th - but considering my swim position was 1444th, I know where I have to improve. I've always known this though. For the record, bike position was 336th which is very pleasing, but run was 601st. I need to keep cycling as I am, and get swim coaching, and do some speedwork for running, before i do this triathlon again.

Nutrition:

For the record.

Pasta dinner the night before, obviously :)
Small banana for breakfast, a few sips of PSP22
SIS caffeine gel as I made my way to the swim start.

2 SIS gels on the bike, and ~400ml of Go electrolyte drink. This was too much - I felt a bit bloated. I usually cycle for an hour before even touching any liquids.

Grabbed a banana in T2, forced down two big bites as I ran. This made me feel worse in fact, but maybe the energy kicked in later. Should have had a gel instead perhaps. Had one sip of water on lap 2.