For the first time in the last few years, I had entered to race the BananaMan on my own to see how I could get on and to get some useful triathlon practice in before Antwerp in a couple of weeks time. Secretly, I had set myself the target of seeing how close I could get to the previous Team Time Trial times I had set over the past three years. The wind on Sunday made me think it was going to be tough, but as always with Eton, if it is hard one way, it will be great the other.
The swim went about as well as could be expected really - I would like to think the course is a bit long as I would hope i was not swimming 1:30/100m pace, but I managed to stay with and pretty much lead out a pack of two other guys for the whole 800m eventually getting out just under 12 minutes. Still, the swim felt comfortable and it hadn't take much out of me for the rest of the race.
On to the bike now and I had been playing around with my position of recent, mainly to make it a bit more comfortable for the half Ironman, but in doing this, I had realised that it was not set up very well in the first place. For a start, the saddle was way too high I think and I had not moved it as far forward as it will go either. Things felt good now and as I pulled out of T1 in the lead, I decided to get my HR where I wanted it (~160BPM) and then just keep it steady for the rest of the ride. Going away from the transition area was tough on the day with the wind, but coming back was awesome...knocking out 30mph on a TT bike is a nice feeling really, especially on perfectly smooth roads. Finished the bike and felt quite sure I was quite a way ahead of the next placed guy in my wave. I would only find out though as I headed back on the first run lap as to where he actually was.
Out on the run and the plan started off being to just see how I felt and see if I was going to be able to up the pace at all after hopefully not starting off that quick. The first leg was in to the wind but a quick look at the pace meant that I was running quite well, and more importantly, I did not feel that bad. So I kept it steady for the second lap and then opened it up a bit on the last lap. All in all, was not a bad run for me with an average speed of just under 16kph. It was also nice to see on lap 1 that there was no chance that the second place chap was going to catch me.
In the end, I recorded my second fastest time on the course meaning that I beat the previous couple of year's TTT times. Om the day, I managed to win overall (all age groups)I also managed to beat the relay and the TTT teams time. So, all in all, a nice little warm up race before Antwerp at the end of the month.
A couple of weekends back, I raced the Regent's Park 10k as a brick session, had done a very hard 90 mins on the bike and then ran the 10k after to get some brick experience. Not too bad, finishing with 38:43 so only 40 seconds slower than the month before when I ran it fresh. Still, not back to my best, but getting there, Regent's Park is by no means a fast 10k anyway.
My plan for Windsor this year was quite simple, I wanted to win it. I had looked at the start sheet and seemed quietly confident that things might go okay for me. I had to obviously put in some good splits but I felt sort of fit, so hoped it would go to plan.
On the day of the race, I looked at the river and it appeared to me that there was little to no current whatsoever. To me, this meant the best option was going to be swimming the shortest course rather than trying to hug the banks etc and stay out the current which can often plague a good swim time. However, after sticking to that plan quite well, a quick glance of the watch on the way to T! proved it had not been the best plan - 23:30 - that was part 1 of the plan in tatters as i kind of knew I needed a good swim to give me a chance.
Out on the bike, thing felt okay and with all the passing that I was doing, I felt confident that I was putting in a good split. Towards the end, I certainly noticed that I was starting to tire though, this was certainly not a good sign when I knew I still had the 10k run to go. In the end, I came back in to T2 as the only person on the day to break the hour for the 42k course....good cycling, yes, but what followed was not good running.
Pretty much as soon as I got out on the course, I realised that I had gone a bit too hard on the bike to be able to run at the speed I wanted to. I think in hindsight this is just something I fail to learn every season. You can not ride the bike like it is a TT and then hope to run well off the back of it. Thankfully, I have started to spend some more time since this focusing on my effort and how easy it should feel to be able to run well. Anyway, I digress, the run just got worse and worse really and I eventually came across the line with a 41:30 split which was way off what I needed.
After looking at the results at the end of the day, there would have been little hope of me winning with some young South African chap there who stormed the course faster than my best case scenario. Still, I got 3rd in my age group and it was the catalyst I needed to better manage the last bit of my training before Antwerp.
As much as I wanted to get excited about this race, I just never really got in to the right frame of mind. Having been away for a week beforehand and doing no training, I kind of felt that I had still not back in the groove before I set off on what would be a massive 2 day journey. Driving up after work meant we only arrived at the hotel at about 10 in the evening. Luckily, the race was not until later in the afternoon the next day.
On the Saturday, we got up and decided that we would ride the course. In hindsight, I am not so sure that this is a good idea. For one, 25 miles when you are not going super fast is still a ride and it took quite a while. In the end, it probably took more out of me than I wanted, even though it was good to have some knowledge of the course.
Start time eventually rolled round on another hot day...two hot races back to back, have not seen that for a while. After setting off, I had a quick look at the Garmin after about 5 minutes. My HR was reading about 178 which is simply way too high. I did not feel that I was riding at that kind of pace, so I decided to just carry on and see what happened - I was in unchartered waters now. I suppose at the back of my mind I had some idea that the end result was not going to be good, but on the day you just put your head down and hope for the best.
I got to the turn in good time and on way back things were going well. I was catching my minute man quite qucikly but then, all of a sudden, it was like someone just removed the power from the legs. I don't think I bonked, I think I had just blown up from the effort I had put in from the previous 22 miles. The HR had stayed around the 178-180 mark for the entire ride so I suppose there is only so much a heart can take before it decides it does not want to play ball any more.
The last 3 miles were torture, just trying to get some speed back but there was nothing there. I eventually hobbled across the line thinking, what a waste. Travelling all this way for that....to add insult to injury, I still had to drive all the way back.
After last year's failure to get in to the National 10, it was nice to finally get my slot for the 2010 event. I always knew it was going to be a really fast affair and that I would be nowhere near the sharp end, but still, it is good to see how you fare against the best in the land.
The day itself was roasting, a very rare treat in the UK racing calendar. For me, I actually prefer to ride in the heat and having looked at the course, I felt confident in terms of being able to do myself justice - there were no big hills and the main drag was assisted with a tailwind as well - all good news.
However, the tailwind to help you back up the wheel obviously reared its head as a bit of a headwind on the way out. On a section where I thought I was going to be knocking out over 30mph, I was struggling to do 26/27mph. Still, I was feeling pretty strong and the shortness of the ten means you can just give it a real bash. The second roundabout was a bit of a pain with a lorry not really giving me the racing line - the cheek of it - but at least I made it round and I heading back for the finish now.
The slight hill was nowhere near as bad as it looked, but the last section just off the main road was quite painful in terms of just trying to squeeze that last little bit out. In hindsight, I probably should have chosen a lower gear for the whole ride and tried to spin out a bit more, especially on the last stretch. Still, I crossed the line in 20:55 and my final position was about where I thought I would be on the day.
Before P and I even made it to Eton on the Sunday, there was one thing that we both wanted to do to lessen the shock of what was to come, namely to have a go in open water. The main reason being that the comfort of the pool of Swiss Cottage was going to be replaced by water which was reported to be near to the 10 degrees mark - not a nice prospect. So, on Saturday we headed to the lido and almost had the most expensive swim ever, after one length, I was on the verge of defeat and contemplating getting out...£4 seemed too much though so we soldiered on with ice cream heads for another 20 minutes. In the end, it did not seem too bad. Needless to say, there were people there in speedos...nutters.
After making the often traveled journey to Eton Rowing Lake, we were all set for the first of our triathlons for the 2010 season. I seemed to remember how to do everything, getting my bike set up, sorting the wetsuit and various other things that need taking care of, like remembering where your bike is when you get out of the water! The swim went quite well for the first 100 metres or so, I had made it in to the lead and I event think I was pulling away a bit. This was not really what I had hoped for however, I wanted to be towed around the lake by some good swimmer so that I could just sit on their feet and nab myself a good swim time. My legs pretty much gave up on the last 200m, not really sure why, perhaps I need to kick some more. Anyway, out the water in 1st and on to the best cycling course in triathlon.
The wind was not as bad as the flags were showing and there did not seem to be the normal headwind on the outward stretch which was a good indicator that it may be possible to get a decent ride in. Sadly, the Garmin had decided that it did not want to cooperate today and for the remainder of the race, the only information I had was how much battery life the watch had left...not that useful when you want to know how fast you're going. Still, things seemed to be going okay though and the 56x11 stints on the back straight were good fun.
A quick T2 and I was out on the run. I tried to start off quite hard and I think I paid for this after about 1k when I started to slow down a bit. I think it may be better to build into these short runs a bit more, rather than trying to bolt out of T2 as if I was planning on running a 15 minute 5k. Still, settled down after about 3k and started to up the pace towards the end. By this time, I knew I had won my wave by about 4 minutes but my main aim of the day was to win the day outright by beating all the other waves that took place.
In the end, I came in with a time of 55:41 which was about as good as I could have hoped for - I think I would have been quicker had I known what was going on via the Garmin, but I did have a go and I think I raced okay. Looking back, I should have run a bit quicker as I certainly was not hitting the kind of pace I needed to on a few sections. As for winning the day, that didn't happen either - beaten by a measly 4 seconds in the end. Still, not a bad first race.
