stratford triathlon 9th may 2004

Categories: uncategorized

Date: 10 May 2004 19:56:51

stratford triathlon claims to be the largest pool based triathlon in the country, and i'm inclined to agree. sunday was another excellent event, well organised, well marshalled, chip timing with a wide-----w i d e range of abilities competing and enjoying the experience.

the second year of triathlon for me, and my second time at this event although the swim is just 400m compared to 500m last year.

i didn't really come with any great expectation of how well i'd do, i always dread the swim but find i've thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience by the end, and that was my only goal for the day enjoy myself and do as well as i could.

pre race
i turned up shortly after 7am and went to register where i had the unusually pleasurable experience of being written on. i put my bike together and gathered checked my transition box had everything i needed, talc'ing my shoes for extra comfort. fellow cov triathlete phil was a welcome sight and had a start time just a minute later than mine.

i can be obsessive at the best of times but arranging my transition area is very important to me. the bike hangs by the saddle off the bar with my crate and mat to one side, cycling shoes are laid out on the mat open and ready to go. helmet sits on the handlebars with my number belt carefully laid on top and with my cycling top on top of that, laid up with the head hole ready! runninc shoes sit on top of the crate and stop my cap blowing away.

having done that i mentally run through my transitions in detail and can sometimes be found stood in transition with my eyes closed for several minutes until i'm happy. i also go and stand at various points in transition checking out the route to and from my spot. no doubt i look weird wandering, standing, staring, but it works well to settle me.

and with that it was time to go back to the car and strip off, tip-toeing across the car park to the pool.

and once i'd tip-toed back to the car to get my goggles i was all set!

swim
no. 218 my start time was 8:24:15am and with people starting every 15seconds from 7:30am through till 1pm(ish) it was always going to be a hectic swim. i've now perfected the art of putting a swim hat on so that was one less worry, but with no. 217 missing i was off a bit earlier.

15second gaps meant not quite as much time to settle myself in the water as i'd have liked and as i pushed off the wall the right eye of my goggle filled with water. that distracted me for about the first 100m wondering if i should pause to empty it but i got used to it by then. no one passed me in the pool and i don't think i passed anyone either but it was reasonably comfortable other than a) wondering where the wall was after 25m (in a 33m pool) and b) the vertigo inducing way the floor dropped away every time you got to the deep end.

T1
out of the pool and down the steps into transition (T1) easily finding my bike it was all quite smooth. putting the top on over a wet body is always problematic but again i've got this pretty much sussed now, the only way to be quicker now is to consider an all in one tri-suit.
out and mounting the bike with a reassuring beep from the timing mat!

bike
it's always my principle to go easy for the first few miles on the bike take a drink and settle in. i know the bike route and its quite good & fast with a climb at about 8 miles. i caught plenty of people in the last half and only got overtaken by one guy at about 4 miles. i managed to keep him in sight up to the climb, he was pushing much bigger gear than i was and i hoped he would fade on the climb. unfortunately he pulled away even further but i made a mental note of the red top for the run section.

T2
another satisfying bleep back into transition, no qualms about this transition and quickly off onto the run. 2 laps of a wiggly three pointed star course wit the first leg being bumpy and grassy underfoot, with the rest mostly tarmac path by the river.

run
i settly into a good quick pace feeling reasonably comfortable. my confidence waivered a little toward the end of the first lap, can i keep this up for another whole lap? but that hasn't stopped me before and it wasn't going to this time either. daz was out on the course, having finished his race, with some much needed encouragement.
again only overtaken by a couple of people and overtook plenty, although with the staggered start times and two laps you couldn't really know where you are. but what's this in the distance? could it be a red top.... yes it is! that gave me added impetus for the last lap and as he went the other way after one of the turn points i could see he was flagging (that'll teach you to push such a big gear on the bike). it was a bit of an effort but i got him a short distance from the finish.

results & pointless analysis
final times from the magic chip:
swim 400m - 00:07:51
bike 23km - 00:43:48
run 5km - 00:21:41
(split times will include transition somewhere)
total - 01:13:19

some of my performance measures:
12th out of 60(ish) in age category (20%)
116th out of 547 male finishers (21%)
total time 123% of winning time.

full results here (main menu, results 2004)

like i say a very enjoyable time and placings better than i'd have imagined. well done everyone who took part including daz with 1:06 & phil with 1:18 (since i mentioned them above).

[that weeks totals: 0.4km swim 33.5miles bike 12miles run]