TTTC Race 1 - 4th - 57:54

My triathlon season for another year has now kicked off with with the now perennial trip to Hampton for the first of the Thames Turbo races. This is now the 5th year that I have done this race. I really did not know how this one would go as this is probably the first year where I have actually not been training specifically for anything that short. My main focus this year is to survive the Copenhagen IM race, and for me, that means just trying to be consistent and ensuring that I get the long bikes and runs in.

My biggest fear before this race was that my biking ability would simply not be up to scratch. In comparison to the last few years, the biggest difference this year has been that I have simply not done enough turbos for this stage of the season - not to prepare you for 30 minutes of hard riding anyway. I would imagine that a whole bunch of weeks have passed recently where I have not gone on the turbo, last year I was doing two a week. The main issue has been that work has been conspiring against my motivation when I get home...starting a turbo past 9pm when you are hungry is not really something which feels me with much enthusiasm for the turbo. All excuses I know..

For the first time in a long time I was in the first wave for this race with the best thing about this being that the traffic would be less of a problem on the bike. The swim for me was exactly the same as it has been for the last few years, it doesn't seem to matter how much swim training I do, I get out the pool in 6 minutes without fail. This year, I have mainly been doing long swims though, typically all in one block with a longer than normal breathing pattern - breathing on 3's rather than the normal 2's. Didn't make any difference though, 6 minutes and I was out.

The bike on this occasion was a mixed bag. For once, I had what could be described as a good run in terms of the lights, especially as there was an additional set on this race. I only had to slow down once, much better than the typical process of having to stop and wait for 30 seconds. The bad part was that I had a good cyclist in close company and with pretty much equal pacing, there was a lot of passing. Personally, I hate riding a TT like this - would much rather just work on applying a constant effort for the time. With the drafting regulations, you are forced to ease off and drop back to 7m on every occasion you're past. The upshot of this rest is that you feel that you are now capable of making the decisive pass to finally pull away. Going from 43kph to 46kph or so to get past means that you are really pushing and hence when you pass, the legs soon don't feel too great. All in all, very annoying.

The run on this occasion was the normal affair, start off feeling a bit rubbish, wondering why you bother with this triathlon business, telling myself I should stick to cycling, reminding myself that I should have lost some more weight blah blah blah - same for every race. Anyway, my main aim was damage limitation. I just wanted to see if I could pick the pace up a bit and then stick round about the 3:45/3:50km pace. I think I managed to achieve that aim and I got round in 19:28 which, although not a stellar performance for me, was not that bad for the first race.

The surprise of the day was that I had managed to record my second fastest time on the course. Largely down to having a good bike in terms of the lights on this occasion. There have certainly been times when I have felt more capable of riding a bit faster only to be scuppered by numerous lights etc. Still, 57:54 is a good time for...I was happy with that and 4th in what was a competitive field.