I was on twitter one evening and I saw a picture of Tallington lakes so I retweeted the picture and like it. Not realising at the time I had just entered a competition for a place at the race. I week had passed and I receive a tweet saying congratulations you have won a place in the Olympic distance race. Was really chuffed with this as I never usually enter competitions on line.
This race was to be used to have a good race but not to break any records as I wanted to stay fresh and fit for the OUtlaw Triathlon. So I was using this race for some conditioning and to make sure that my transitions are quick with minimal disruption.
Arrive nice and early and bike was racked and kit all set up, Swim was a deep water swim and the swim course was straight forward. the horn goes and the race is off. I took it easy at the start as I didn't want to have too many people round me and barging in to me. I soon got up to pace and I soon realised I was quite near the front of the overall pack. From what I could see there was 7 or 8 people in front of me. I thought to myself that I was going too fast and I needed to slow but I thought I would continue at this pace and carry on. On the back straight on the swim I managed to sneak past two people and on the final two turns I could see a small group of swimmers in front of me but I knew I wasn't going to catch them. I managed to finish the swim in 5th position and I knew this would be short lived when I got out on the bike. Swim Time 25:40
T1 went as expected and I was looking forward to the bike course which had a last minute change to the course, but since I didn't know the course I wasn't too bothered about any changes as it was the same for everyone else. The bike course was well marshalled and it was good to see people of there houses on the side of the road cheering us on as we passed. You don't really get many people on the side of the road cheering us on local events so it was nice to see and added to the whole experience.
The bike course good and the roads were in good condition. as usual it wasn't long till the faster bikers were passing me and all the hard work on the swim was going to waste. My bike strength and power is something I need to work on over the colder months. Bike time 1:24:48.
I was in to T2 and just over 30 seconds later I'm out on the run. I have managed to master T2 with speed. the time and effort has paid off in doing brick sessions with transition set up in the garden at home. On to the run and the is very little wind and the course is pancake flat. I knew early on that I would be on for a good 10km time as I took it slightly easier on the bike. The course takes you 2.5km out round one of the lakes and back to a turn point and then repeat. I was really pleased with my time and of 40:20 seconds. Under a year ago this would have been a personal best time for on just a 10km road race. So over the months I have been really please how my running and swimming has improved and my cycling has got stronger but it is still my weakest discipline.
Overall time was 2:32:33
finishing 12th overall and 2nd in my age group. The first time I get a podium for my age group they are not giving out prizes.
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