Bideford Triathlon - Bad Day In The Office

This was my last triathlon race of 2011 and im afraid to say it was a bad day in the office for me, I really wanted to finish in a high but after a great swim the race only took a turn for the worse for me.

I was in the water in Wave 2, and I managed to post a personal best for the swim, 11 minutes, It was meant to be a 650 meter swim, but they buoys drifted with the tide and it felt like closer to 750 meters. I didn't mind this as I found my rhythm in the water pretty quick and was 5th out of the swim from the first 2 waves.

My sighting on the swim was good, we had to swim through different 2 arches on the bridge (out and back) and I aligned with them fine without having to swim to far out the way.

Up the ramp and out the water, I got my wetsuit off relatively quickly, socks on, shades on, helmet on and off I went on the bike leg... this is where my race changed for the worse.

Out of transition and a hill, great not what you need first up and doing a fast swim, I was trying to get rid of the taste of salt water from my mouth but trying to get some lucozade sport down but after trying to get some air in my lungs after the first hill it wasn't happening. After conquering the first hill, the next one came far too soon, and went on for some time, I could find a decent gear to help me find my rhythm I was out the saddle, in the saddle and back out again, it was really showing I hadn't done enough biking and all the hard work I had done on my swimming was disappearing in front of my eyes. The deep burn in my legs wasn't going and the hill wasn't stopping, I had totally lost the view of the leading pack and I felt my race was already over. I was also struggling with getting the bike into the low gears, so this was making climbs even harder for me my heavy legs.

 

Before the race I had heard the second half of the bike was flatter than the first so I after spending the first 13 odd miles climbing I was happy to see a downhill and go on the tri bars and get some speed out there. I managed to chase some down some of the people that had pasted me on the climbs but I knew I was damaging my run by going hard on the bike all the way just to chase these people in front of me down. I was glad to see the end of the bike stage and get into my running trainers and give it my all for the final stage of the race.

I managed a really quick transition for me off the bike, I was determined to get some places back from the disaster on the bike. Cap on and off I went. I had a great start on the run, I chased a number of people down, but I had gone for it far to early, running past the crowds of people cheering you on it was hard not to. 

I got past the water station on the half way marker on the run, and I was slowing, I took on some water and I was still slowing and then we hit an incline which totally threw me, I always try on jogging no matter what my speed was but this was the first time I had to stop and walk a first for me in a race and it was down to the bad biking I had done early in the race.  I could hear the crowds at the finish line so this drove me on to finish, I had a poor bike and a poor run which made my final triathlon race in 2011 a bad one and I finished with a time of 01 34 33 and a rank of 162nd out of 260 racers.

It was a well organised race, one I will definitely do again, I've got a baseline time so I know I have to beat this time again. The only bad thing on the day was the shortage of water at the finish line, great finishers bag and a lovely little medal to remember the day.

I've booked the bike in to see the technician and I'm off to buy a turbo trainer so watch out Bideford in 2012, I'll be back!

Todays session

Duration 01 34 33
Distance 600m Swim, 23.5km Bike, 5km Run