This month Claire talks us through the trials and tribulations of the Leeds Xpress Triathlon and looks forward to starting a new phase of training next month.
Having admitted that during May and June my training had been a bit slack, I decided in July that I needed to get back into it and I found the perfect way to kick start my motivation – enter a triathlon! So having looked online for local events, I entered the Leeds Xpress Tri before I could think about it. One small problem was that I’d given myself only 12 days lead in so this led to a flurry of activity and increased training.
The swim distance was the same as the first tri I’d done in May, so I knew I could manage that but the cycle was longer and the run shorter. Given my knee problems, this was a much better balance but having not ridden my bike for a month I really felt my quads lacking in energy for the longer distance and there was not much time to improve things. So I did what I could and managed a couple of brick sessions doing a shorter run as I didn’t want to risk further knee problems with no time to recover.
A few days before the event, I drove across to Leeds with my daughter to check out the cycle route. That is when I decided to put my natural optimism firmly into a box for a while as the route was pretty undulating (or as I should actually say, quite hilly)! As we drove, not only did we both decide it seemed a long way but the hill climbs were very steep and long. For the experienced triathlete, I’m sure it was a lovely country ride and just enough to make it a reasonable training session. However, I came home feeling perhaps I’d been a touch premature with the entry for this one. Still, the optimistic side to me said that what goes up must come down and hence I resolved to cycle the downhill sections as hard as I could to try to give myself a cushioning on the time for the cycle section as the uphill parts were clearly going to take their toll.
So the day arrived and I set off in plenty of time, or so I thought. There were 2 other local events taking place nearby as it turned out and the main road junction just where I needed to turn off had several miles of tailbacks. Nightmare. So having sat for 10 minutes and made a panicked phone call to my family who were just about to set off to come and watch, I grabbed the road atlas and worked out a cross country route. We both arrived in the road leading to the event at exactly the same time thankfully as they then rushed to my aid and ran with my bike and box to registration. I had 20 minutes to get my transfers on, my bike racked and my heart rate down before I had to be on poolside. I know stress can increase adrenalin but I don’t recommend this approach! After hastily thanking my family for getting me to the start line, they took up their spectating position and were joined by friends from our village as one had just finished the tri.
Remembering in May that my swim tactics had proved wrong by putting in a couple of fast lengths at the beginning, for this pool swim I decided to go at my own pace from the start and if I had to let anyone pass I wasn’t bothered. It helped that there were only 3 people in each lane and I was first to set off. With my revised race tactics in mind and having had barely enough time to calm down from my stressful arrival, my main aim was to manage the whole distance doing front crawl, having spent so much effort teaching myself it. I did just that and got out of the pool in just under 10 minutes which I was really pleased with. The weather as I emerged from the pool was pleasantly sunny and breezy and thankfully not rain as had been predicted. I left my family and friends with a smile on my face and set off thinking of the Tour de France hill climbs I’d been watching on TV. I found a steady pace early on and with my head down, enjoyed the thrill of the long and fast downhill sections.
On the return leg I got stuck in up the hills but was pleased to arrive in transition. The run was always going to be hard as this is something I don’t do any training for because of my knee and it was every bit as hard as I imagined. I plodded rather than ran the course to be honest but I was running out of energy too by then. My knee held up until about 1km to go so that was helpful. I crossed the line in 1hr 41mins which I’d be able to improve on next year with a proper amount of training prior to the event. The most important thing though was that I’d enjoyed it.
So in August I’m attending the Brownlee Tri Open Water training session. This will be a fascinating day as I enter a new phase of my triathlon year. Note to self – get a wetsuit urgently!
Claire’s next blog will be available on Wednesday 2nd September. To read her previous blog, click here.
