Race Report - Woodhall Spa Triathlon 1.21.37

I returned to what I like to call ‘the home of triathlon’ today and competed in the Woodhall Spa Sprint triathlon.

2 years ago, I popped along as a spectator to this event having read a blog online and eager to learn more about Triathlon – I can honestly recommend this strategy as it put to bed any fears about taking the plunge as the sport is full of normal people of differing shapes and sizes and not the muscle heads that I had previously thought dominated the scene.

Last year I entered as a competitor and was really pleased with a solid showing of 1.31.28, this year, however, following some improvement seen from the start of the season, I wanted to beat 1 hour and 24 minutes in line with the goals that I set at the start of the year.

This is how events unfolded :

Swim 9.38
It was overcast and windy as the Met Office had quite rightly predicted, but in the 33 metre outdoor pool at Woodhall it was absolutely bloody lovely – honestly, I could have lounged in that pool all day it was that nice, but there was some racing to do instead so I had to get down to the nitty gritty. I was in wave 29 scheduled for 8.56 am, but with a slight 6 min delay we were off shortly after nine. I know not to hammer the first couple of lengths, so I duly ignored that thought and absolutely attempted to hammer the first few lengths. By halfway I was beginning to blow and my bi-lateral breathing had been replaced with the two stroke gasping that I tend to use in open water swimming. Still though, I had not been overtaken and in fact completed a stealth overtaking move of my very own – I’m betting the chap could not even see the flailing man in black inching past him. I did calm down a bit later in the swim to be fair and found myself smiling as I left the pool with a sub ten pool swim for the first time ever !

T1 – 1.40
Took my time, easy does it and all that, made sure I rode with socks on, so took a little longer than I normally would.

Bike – 46.16
I have a lovely new set of Planet X deep rimmed carbon wheels which I bought back in April, but again because of strong winds I bottled out of using them and spent some of yesterday afternoon changing back to the standard spoked version – this is a real shame because apart from a few turns, the Woodhall course is ideal for them. After I had dallied around a bit at the mount line, I eventually got myself clipped in to the pedals and away I went. Strong winds were apparent from the off and I just hoped that it would turn out to be a mostly cross wind as I struggle in headwinds. For the first part of the course it certainly was and I found that I could keep a decent speed in spite of the battering I was getting. The course profile shows a steady elevation for the first half of the course, but in my opinion although this is true, it is made up mostly of deceptive flats and there are no climbs at all on this course. I rode well during the middle part of the course overtaking some earlier starters without being overtaken myself. I was also pleased because by this part of a ride I’m usually starting to feel heavy legged, but in this race they were holding up really well. As we turned towards Horsington though, the wind became a strong gusty headwind, so I buried my head and just kept spinning the best I could. Eventually I could see the welcome sight of the marshalls on the Stixwould Lane junction which meant I was almost back in transition. 46 min ride then compared to 52 last year – can’t be too unhappy with that now can I ?

T2 1.10 – Took my time again and dallied with changing the swim watch for my Garmin, acutely aware that if I was more business like I could save a lot of time in transitions.

Run 22.53
No water on the bike meant that I had to stop at the water table at the start of the run and have a cup ! Once I had necked that I was away, running at a slow pace I thought, but my garmin was telling me it was very fast. Out on the main road, the adrenaline wore off and I decided to pace myself a little above my Lincoln 10k pace which I figured I could hold. I was then overtaken by the only person to overtake me all day and promptly chased after him – so much for sensible pacing ! Again, the adrenaline wore off very quickly and I returned to my previous pace. Apart from the occasional feeling of stitch, the run felt good and more importantly so did my knee !!
Over the line then in 22 mins and a 1.21 overall, a 10 minute improvement on last year and Top 35% of the field – a great improvement on my bottom five finish in my first tri in August 2009 !

Next week is the Blenheim Sprint triathlon and I’ll log in again shortly after...