Well hello readers.
I hope to engage you in what will be a running blog of my race of the year, The Dambuster. My knowledge of the dambuster isn’t the best but I love the film and my motivation when in pain will be memorising the dambuster music.
Well how did I get to enter this race ?
It was a mixture of things, discussions with Steve and Jinxy last year on how they have enjoyed the race, the fact that it’s the BTF NATIONAL TRIATHLON CHAMPIONSHIPS 2011 and the qualification event for the ITU Standard Triathlon World Championships 2011 – Beijing, September 2011, sadly I can’t afford a trip. So coach Simon picked it as my main focus for the year in my race calendar and I entered (I was not lucky enough to get a free entry as an early fathers day gift or birthday pressie or 10th wedding anniversary gift).
Race Plan
So what do I want to achieve, I’m not racing to win but I will be racing to achieve the highest possible place in my age group. I would prefer this to be in the top 3 as my goal for next year is to qualify for an ITU event and actually be competitive against my peers.
Pre-Race Prep
Thanks to coach Simon advise I’ll be camping at the site. I’ve checked the weather and can confirm it will be raining whilst I pitch my tent. I’ve actually only ever camped once before and it rained every day so I do have a bit of experience, but am interested on how this differs to a night in a hotel / early morning 4am wake up call and drive. The actual course cycle is longer than a normal olympic and has a few hills but looks like good drag, the run also looks pancake flat and all times checked last year would confirm this when comparing against others I’ve raced before.
The Sleep + Trip
I left St Evenege at 6pm and realised that the A1 was closed after J17 due to a fire. Great, so took an off road tour of roads and areas I didn’t realise exist including a War Memorial. Finally got to camp at 8pm and set about setting up the tent and blowing up my deluxe blow up bed. I also had a chance to register and walk around the course which was refreshing. Also had a chat with fellow triathelete campers. Now I’ll admit the sleep could have been better as it didn’t stop raining all night and then at 5am the organisers decided to start the music
Race Setup
I bumped into fellow team mate Richard Melvin at the course and had a quick chat but I felt really relaxed as I was prepared. Put bike into transition and followed Dil’s top tip for counting the right steps (This is brilliant and works !!!).
The Swim
Now what a great place to swim, the lake is beautiull and they split out waves from 35+. The race started and I got into a bunch of 6 and simply followed feet. This was a real change from my usual 100m burst. I was relaxed and controlled and felt easy. I got out in 22:39 so equally happy with the time.
T1
A simple transition and away I went. Okay not as fast as dil but safe !!!
The Bike
What a course. It has 2 hills and then is flat and undulating but ends with a few climbs. I was probably a bit layed back in the bike as the organiser warned us at the start of issues with Police and any law infringements and they would cancel the race. However, I still raced and as I was in the 2nd wave it was great to pick-of athletes from the first wave. I suffered on the bike with a bit of back pain and my chain jumped off the rear cassette (now I don’t think I’ll ever buy a Planet-x again and luckily Trisports are fixing the deficiency with the frame), this had a slight negative on me that I didn’t risk going up too many gears but used the Turbo sessions 120rpm to full use. It was a windy day and this was made clear by the number of aero bikes on the side of the route caught by the strong winds. I ended with a time of 1:11:21 and this really is the difference if you want to be in the top 10 let alone the top 3 of my Age Group.
T2
DOH DOH DOH. I ended up with one shoe on and one off. Yes for the first time ever in Triathlon I messed up by not taking my feet out of shoes far enough in advance of the line.
The Run
By far the best run course I have done to date. Great scenary and flat, although windy. It’s a nice out and back. I ran steady leg and finished with 36:05 which was the difference between me and a fellow HSBC employee .
The Result
Overall = 62
Age Group 35-39=11th
Overall Time : 2:12:12
Swim : 0:22:39
T1 : 0:01:10
Bike : 1:11:21
Run : 00:00:55
Run : 0:36:05
Review
I’ll admit I did start with a vision of 3rd in my age group but I now realise that is a tougher challenge, although one I will take up. I quite fancy targeting the Age Group qualification to New Zealand in Olympic Distance next year. I’ll return to the course this year to do the middle distance and have different ideas on how to tackle the bike. Now on to the next Olympic and hopefully get down to 2:05 (Think I’ll target MK as it is short ). As events go this has top marks from me except with the exception of a timing issue but this was resolved by the time I got home, great facility (showers etc).
