London Triathlon 2008

I am not going to deny that the London Triathlon was one of the big races on calendar for this year, I had done the best training that I could manage in the time after my crash and I was kind of fit. I was not kidding myself though, I knew that I was not as fit as I could have been. The four weeks off from running had really taken their toll and getting back into the running had been slow and painful. The swimming and cycling were still going well at least, I just hoped that I would be able to blag the run I think.

Anyway, come race day and things got off to a good start. I had decided to move further across the dock at the start to avoid the melee as some 240 people headed off in the sub-230 race and this seemed to pay dividends. There was nowhere near as big commotion as the race kicked off and I quickly settled into my race plan of not starting off too hard, preferring rather to concentrate on quickly getting into a good efficient stroke. This all worked well and on the home straight of the swim I was taking positions back all the way in as the others tired. It actually felt quite good to come up behind swimmers and then just move past as they were not swimming as fast as me. I got out in just under 23 (I think it was a bit long) and was informed by my mum that I was currently in 11th - not bad going for me.

Anyway, a slightly slower transition that I wanted saw me lose a place or two before getting out on the bike, but I was now confident that I would be able to quickly make my way back through the field. This is where the problems started though. As I tried to do up the strap on my shoe, whilst pedalling away, I pulled the strap through it's hole and I was now in a position where I could not do it up. whatever I tried. At this point, I even thought about stopping but in the end decided to make do. Cycling with only one shoe done up is not to be recommended though, it really saps your ability to use the up stroke on the rotation. So, I battled on like this for the rest of the course and ended up in a tussle with someone I I would not normally expect to be with. In the end, we cycled a lot of the course in close contact, but, after last time, I ensured that I could never be construed to be in a drafting position....this does involve using the brakes and freewheeling at times.







You can see the offending strap here....just flapping in the wind!


Still, in from the bike and I was in a decent place to start out on the run. However, for some reason, after the problems on the bike and then, and I still don't know why, as soon as I started the run, I just lost interest in the race altogether. I was not bothered who came past me and decided to pretty much just jog round the rest of the course. I tried occasionally to lift the pace, but the reality was that that I just couldn't be bothered. I am not sure if this was simply a case of not having the run fitness, or what it was really. Anyway, in the end I coasted around the run in a pretty dismal time, some two and a half minutes slower than last year, eventually coming home in just under 2:05 and finishing up 11th.







So, bad day in the office for the London Triathlon. I only have two races left for this season now. One of those is the Thames Turbo Sprint race on the Bank Holiday and then I have the Vitruvian on the first weekend of September. The Vitruvian will be my first visit to the world of middle distance with a 1900m swim, 85k bike and 1/2 mara to round things off. I am planning on just trying to enjoy it as much as possible.