Roe
Valley Triathlon
750M Swim - 00:18:53
Transition 1 - 00:03:45
20K Bike - 00:44:09
Transition 2 - 00:01:22
5K Run - 00:24:51
Total time - 01:32:59
(47th / 52 in Age Group - 212th / 261 Overall)
The
first Triathlon of the season and once again I am heading in to an event
carrying an injury. It’s all getting a bit boring really. The Elbow
was still a bit stiff and sore on the morning of the event, but I had paid my
entry fee and I was going. I had no idea how my arm would feel in the
swim, or on the bike for hat matter and resting on the Tri bars could be
painful. Time would tell.
As
well as being my first Tri of the season this was due to be the first major
outing of Lisburn Triathlon Club at an event, and there were 9 of us starting.
Interestingly 5 of us had been drawn in the same heat. Myself, David
Heaney, Nelson Shanks, Andy Kennedy and Mark Vaudrey. Also competing were
Desy McIlkenny, Chris McNevison and Keith Scott.
Nelson
was good enough to give Chris and I a lift up to the event and getting 3 bikes
and kit bags in to the boot of a Vauxhall Insignia proved to be a logistical
challenge but it was accomplished and poor Chris had to sit in the back with
the constant fear of being impaled on the rather expensive front fork of his
Cervélo if Nelson had to brake suddenly. Thankfully we got to Limavady
without any blood being spilled.
Pre-race
I felt no nerves. Maybe I’m getting used to doing Triathlons now, and
perhaps it was because it was a pool based swim in wave starts but I was
feeling good and really looking forward to getting in to it.
The
Swim
Pre
swim I was able to “warm up” in the baby pool beside the main pool. Warm
up is not really a fair reflection of it. I managed to do 2 widths and my elbow
got pretty sore and I noticed that I could not pull through the water with my
right arm as it was sore and lacked flexibility and range of movement. In
effect I was going to be doing the swim with one arm pulling and the other not
doing too much at all.
When
you enter the race you are required to put down an estimated finish time for
your swim and then the swim heats are loosely built around expected finish
times. At the time of entry I had said I estimated a swim time of 17
minutes. Secretly I hoped that I would do much better than that and do
around 15.30 to 16.00 minutes. Getting out of the baby pool I realised
that this was never going to happen and it was going to be a slow swim.
Just how slow I was about to find out.
There
were only 4 of us in the swim lane and within 8 lengths I had been lapped by
one of the other swimmers who had finished 10 lengths to my 8. Not long
after the second swimmer passed me and then at about 15 lengths, Davy Heaney
from my Club lapped me too.
The
fastest guy proceeded to lap me two more time and got out of the pool when I
had 22 of the 30 lengths done. Talk about demoralising.
For
the first time ever, I was the last person out of the pool, receiving an
encouraging but pity strewn round of applause. My watch said I had taken
around 18.30 for the swim. Horrendous. It was actually quite
embarrassing. I can clearly say that the injury cost me at least 2
minutes.
T1
Last
time at this event I had the dubious honour of posting the slowest T1 time of
the whole event with a mind numbingly slow 3M24Secs. Sadly this year I
managed to go even slower. 3M45Secs. Bloody hell! That was pathetic.
I struggled badly to get my socks on and then could find my gels which
had been in my helmet resting on the bike. Unfortunately the wind had
blown my helmet off the bike and the gels were gone. After an eternity I
managed to find one gel, get the socks on and get out on the bike.
Interestingly
even with that awful T1 time I wasn’t the slowest. Eight other people
managed somehow to go slower than me. Even still, it was nothing to be
proud of.
Pre-
race my friend Donald Smith who was also competing had asked me to reserve him
a transition spot near to where I plug in my hair strengtheners. Sadly
this is the sort of reputation my tardiness in T1 is creating.
The
Bike
I
remembered the bike route from last time which is pretty much a drag up a
gradually elevating road to a turnaround point and than back in again with a
net descent.
I
do recall last time finding the outward stretch tough going.
This
time the biggest challenge was the wind. It was really blustery and one
more than one occasion I got blown towards to middle of the road. It also
served to scare me from getting down on the aero bars as I am naturally a bit
less stable in that position and it is harder to react quickly or get to the
brakes if needed, so I lost a little bit of aerodynamic advantage by having to
sit up a bit, however it did mean that I managed not to get blown off the bike
completely.
I
saw the four other Lisburn Guys from my Heat and they were all within about one
minute of each other heading away from the turnaround point and about 5 minutes
ahead of me. They all looked really strong with Big Andy leading the
bike.
Worryingly
though as I headed back after the turn I noticed Chris from the Club heading
towards the turnaround point and he was in the wave heat behind me.
Effectively he had done his swim, T1 and was on the bike and rapidly
catching me. Scary stuff.
My
bike time was slightly disappointing at 44.09 but was still over a minute
faster than last time in tougher conditions.
T2
Much
better than T1 and I was in and out relatively quickly.
The
Run
I
felt pretty good heading out on the run and my legs weren’t heavy and no signs
of cramping.
My
goal for the run was to hold a steady pace and not slow down too much.
Less than 1K in to the run I saw Mark heading back past me to the finish,
he was looking very strong and fast. A quick High 5 on the way past and I
could the see Andy hot on his heels about 100 metres behind him. That was
a close race between those two.
Another
battle was going on with Nelson and Davy about 800M back from Andy. Davy
had a lead of about 150m over Nelson as they headed for home. Davys’
High5 with me left my fingers tingling and it was obvious that he was enjoying
his first Triathlon experience. He managed to hold off Nelson to the
finish line.
I
ploughed on the as I made my way back from the turnaround point I saw Chris
catching me on the run – from the heat behind!! I was determined not to
be caught and as I was feeling pretty good I decided to give it a bit of a push
as I knew that Chris would really want to catch me, and I didn’t want to be
caught.
I
knocked out the return leg of the run almost one minute faster than the outward
section which was pretty pleasing and importantly I held off the fast charging
Chris.
My
run time of 24.51 was not too bad, and only about 30 seconds slower then my
last outing.
Overall
My
final time of 01:33:59 was a definite disappointment as I know that the
terrible swim and shocking transition cost be about 3 minutes minimum and the
tough bike conditions maybe another minute or two.
In
saying that, even a time of 1.27 would have been a bit of a disappointment as I
feel like I have stepped back from last year, but to be honest, what did I
expect? Limited training and a string of injuries do not make for a
season of PBs.
The
post race spread of food was fantastic and as ever the Triangle Triathlon Club
put on a great event and it was lovely to catch up with Donald and another good
friend from Tri and Running, Paul Brannigan. I didn’t even know Paul was
competing but it was great to catch up.
This
Tri has made me realise how unfit I am and that the notion of doing the Tri
Limits Half Iron distance race on 1st of June is not a good
idea. Fortunately I had not entered the race yet, so the decision not to
race is fairly easy. I will just spend the next few weeks trying to build
fitness and stay injury free as much as possible.
The
next event will be the Crooked Lake Triathlon on 8th of June, which
is an open water swim which will maybe suit me a bit better as the wetsuit is
my friend!
Big
well done to everyone from Lisburn Triathlon Club and especially those doing
their first Tri.
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