Grafman National Middle Distance Champs
I was going into this race pretty damn tired, hoping the last 2 weekends racing had kicked me into shape. I was disappointed with the Outlaw Half last weekend and had done some pretty decent training in the week. Attempting two 70.3 races on consecutive weekends was always going to be tough !!
The build up to the race was good. Like I say I had a 4.45 at Outlaw on the previous Sunday then put some decent bike & run miles in along with my biggest ever swim week. I felt good, had registered and packed early on Saturday and had a decent nights sleep.
Race day arrived with the usual iPhone alarm and 30 secs wondering why I had set my alarm for dog-shit o'clock. 4.51 am to be precise! Breakfast this week I switched to a mixture of scrambled eggs and beans with a blueberry bagel & black coffee. Nothing to pack with the car loaded yesterday I headed straight out the door to gather up Ian and Marky.
Transition set up all easy enough, after last week I made damn sure I didn't forget my bike nutrition by stuffing them in my bike shoes! Queue for Khazi was bad but once that little jb was taken care of I was ready to roll.
The Swim
Off in wave 2, I started left and mid pack. Settled into a rhythm fairly quickly and felt OK. First lap went by quick enough and the Australian exit around the 'island' was much more enjoyable than Zurich. Back in and again in a decent rhythm. Swmi was 2 triangles (first 1150m, 2nd 750m) and on the final turn I realised I'd probably taken it too easy. Indeed after the race when I found out my splits it was a another disappointing 34 high.
Swim - 34.49
T1 - 2.00
The Bike
Out onto the bike I felt pretty good from the off. The course starts with a blast down to Ellington and then two right turns back up to transition. I was taking people from the start and had a decent pace going. Ellington hill was a blow but got to the top without burning any matches and flew past transition with my toung hanging out ;)
The course ran through Perry and drops down to the main St Neots -> Northampton road where you basically do 2 20 mile loops.#
Early on Dunc from Nice Tri passed me with one of the fast women, a guy called Lozzer and a guy from 7 oaks. We pushed in a pace line up to the first turn with a LOT of cat and mousing. My power was fairly erratic, I know Dunc rides with a power meter and I was passing all on the hills then getting taken on the flats. On the first r-about we settled again but I decided to hold at the back of the pace line (I better not say group for fear of drafting accusations!) sitting 10m off the back of the wheel in front. I had a gel as we passed half way through the first loop then pushed it up through Kimbolton and dropped all but the 7 oaks guy who rode off the front. Shortly after the 2nd turn around in Lower Dean I passed 7 oaks guy and pushed on looking for Mark. Mark was having a stormer for someone on a road bike with extensions (first time he'd ridden them). I'd lent him my FFWD wheels and wished I hadn't!
The run back to St Neots is tougher and I was holding 22.5 avge now. I wasn;t riding to pace this week but I was just having fun and passing a lot of people. At the 3rd turnaround I was 1.10 down on Mark so expected to make the pass before the end which didn't happen! Bloody kids haha
The rest of the ride was just eating, passing and keeping it together. My arse was a bit sore after coming out the saddle on a climb and not getting it comfy again and shoulders were starting to ache from the cross wind grabbing the 808 front. Apart from that it was all good in the hood.
Back into transition and ready to run.
Bike - 2:26.37
T2 - 59 secs
Got onto the run and felt good. Started way to quick but backed off to 6:30 pace. 2nd & 3rd mile backed of to 6:40 pace which was spot on. By about 5 miles the hills and heat were taking their toll. Great to pass lots of people and only had Dunc pass me at about 4 miles. Pace slowed onto 2nd lap as I was working at 7/mm or just under but i knew it was better than last week. Fuck it was hot out there and I couldn't get water down quick enough. Done mental maths on Mark to realise he wasn't going to beat me OA but jesus for someone doing his first middle he was having a stormer.
Last few miles of run were pretty good, held it together and feeling happy that I'd put in a solid performance. Certainly felt last week in my legs but I had improved massively through racing these last 3 weeks.
Crossed the line, really really happy to see (a) Erdinger stand and (b) run course was well short!
Run - 1:28.37
Race Time - 4:32:52
5th in 40-44 AG for National Championships.
OK lets not get carried away, 1st and 3rd were in my AG and half an hour up the road. I'm not kidding myself I'm 5th best in the universe for 40-44 year olds but finally felt like I'd put in a decent performance. There's a long way to go. Still got to put my QXL rings on which will help my bike. My swim is horrific and more work WILL pay off, there's 3-4 mins right there. My run legs are not there in tri yet. Q rings will help but I'm starting to run well again and it will come good.
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