Glenarm Triathlon

Saturday 23rd June 2012

 

Glenarm Triathlon

600M Swim - 00:10:17

Transition 1 - 00:03:35

24K Bike - 00:49:17
Transition 2 - 00:02:15
5K Run - 00:20:03
Total time - 01:25:21

63rd out of 116 overall.

This was my last tune up event before the main event at Frankfurt in just 2 weeks time.  I really wanted to get this one under the belt and get the head in to Tri mode.

 

I had been keeping a close eye on the weather forecast as recently our weather has been absolutely rubbish with loads of rain and wind. Not that this would put me off the event but it would certainly put a dampener on it.

As it turned out the weather was a mixed up and horrible as it has been for the last week.

 

The Swim

The swim was meant to be 750M but at the start we were told that it was to be cut a bit shorter because the water was so cold at only 12.5C.  Now that it bloody cold. Also instead of the usual route from the beach out and around and back, we were going to start in the marina and swim round to the exit on the beach,

 

We had to walk over to the marina in bare feet over stones and this was bloody painful and I was glad to get to the water. I never thought I would be so glad to get in to 12 degree water.

 

I got in to the water on the slipway and was not disappointed to find it as cold as I thought it would be.  It was absolutely Baltic, but I just stuck in there and swam a bit to try and warm up.  I developed bit of an ice cream headache because it was that cold.

 

Once the start was sounded out we got underway.  I made the mistake of getting stuck in the middle of the pack and got the washing machine treatment for a minute or two, but I managed to get some clear water and actually enjoyed the swim as the water was really calm.

 

I exited the swim on to the beach, nearly falling over on the stones on the beach but managed to get up the steps and in to Transition 1.  My swim time was pretty good and I felt very comfortable and relaxed (apart from the washing machine) and did not have my usual panic attack at any stage.

 

T1

For me this was fairly quick and I wasted a few seconds as I dithered over deciding on whether to put on my arm warmers or not.  I decided to be hard and not wear them and hope that I would not regret it later.

 

The Bike

I remembered this route from last year and it was a flat mile or so and then turns inland and up for about 3 or 4 miles, levels out to the turnaround point and then straight back down the same route with a great downhill.  I remembered it being quite a hard ride up last year.

Not long after the bike started the rain started hammering down and there were little rivers starting to come down the road. Not long in to the climb my bike developed a minor technical fault.  I was unable to change in to the small front chain ring, and this was going to be important going up the hill, so I pulled over to the side of the road and fixed it.  This cost me a bout 2 minutes and a load of places as lots of drenched triathletes rode on past up the hill.

Once I got the gear problem solved I got back on and headed up the road.

I think my hill training must be paying off as I literally rode past a lot of people, probably about 20 people and I was feeling extremely strong and was so comfortable on the ride up.  where people were obviously struggling and going slow, I was just pushing past and going pretty quick.

 

I reached the turnaround point and was looking forward to the return down the road but was also feeling a bit cautious as the rain was now getting even heavier and the little rivers on parts of the road were getting wider and a bit deeper.

just before I got to the start of the biggest part of the downhill I had to stop again as I heard a really loud metallic clunk from the back wheel. It turned out to be nothing and was probably just a stone smacking against the wheel rim.  This cost me another minute or so.

 

Off down the hill, and I honestly had to feather the brakes a bit as I was genuinely getting ab it nervous about the amount of water on the road.  A car overtook me but then just cruised along in front of me and this made me even more nervous as I knew it could stop a hell of a lot faster than me in the wet, so I made the decision to go round it.  This was a bit bizarre having to overtake a car in the pouring rain.

 

I am delighted with the bike this time and took about 5 minutes of last year's time despite the stops and the awful weather.  Then in to T2.

 

T2

I was a little bit slower her than I hoped to be but it wasn't too bad.  Off out on to the run course.

 

The Run

The first thing I noticed going out on to the run was that my legs felt really good and strong.  I also noticed that I seemed to be going reasonably fast.

After about a mile I had passed 3 or 4 people and the 1 mile alert on my watch went off and told me I had covered the first mile in 7.13.  This is ridiculously fast for me but I wasn't complaining.

The rest of the run went better than I could have dreamed - I maintained the pace and averaged 7.16 for the whole run.

I am so pleased with my running at the moment - fast and strong and very unlike me.

 

On the whole this was another great event organised by Derek and Real Triathlon.  I really enjoyed it and achieved the goal of getting my head really in to a good Tri place.