Outlaw Triathlon 2013 race report

So, I found myself up again very early yesterday morning to take part in what I was calling my ret-iron-ment race which is my last planned Ironman distance race for sometime possibly ever.

I have decided that the knock on effect of training so much isn't entirely worth the hassle and need a break - so after making sure that I'd bagged a Lanza finish just seven weeks before - I thought I'd put in a farewell appearance at my local Iron distance race where I had marshalled on two previous occasions sine its inception in 2010.

Now, one of the advantages of having such a race so close to home is that I could sleep in my own bed before making my way over to Holme Pierrepoint (HPP) ready to start the race at a dizzily early 6.00am ! The swim is as easy as a swim can be sighting wise as its a straight swim up one side if the rectangular shaped lake, and then a hop across 50 metres or so for a reverse swim back to transition. HPP has four boating segments at the end, and I chose section 3 which was for predicted swim times of 1.20 to 1.40.

I was late into the water, so had to manouvre myself around a bit and tried to get to the first 3rd of the starting pen. An OSB'er roused the athletes to the edge of giddiness and with a sound of a air horn we were set on our way at just about as close to 6 am as you can get. Lat month, I talked about the swim in Lanza being a bit biffy, but Outlaw took it to a whole new level ! My fault though I suppose, as I was trying along with others to get to the left hand side of the lake, and in hindsight I should have started towards the back of pen 2.

The first 250m seemed to take forever and I was convinced that it was going to be a worlds worst swim, but whaddya know, eventually I rounded the two bouys and started to head home in a quick 38 mins, and with no real traffic on the reverse legs, I was able to whittle down the 250m markers until I hit the exit ramp in a delighted 1.17.37 for a 5 minute PB Ironman swim - YIPPEE !!

T1 7.14

Ran from the lake, struggled to get my wettie off, picked up the run bag instead of bike bag, had a pee, but still made 3 minutes on Lanza - go figure !

Bike 5.40.34

I exited transition feeling good as I was already 14 minutes ahead of schedule. By the time I had completed a 3 mile loop of the lake, my gloves and UV arm protectors were both on, and I had managed to use the small bottle of P20 sun protection and given myself a good topping up !

The bike course is relatively flat, and with winds of no more than 5mph I was looking forward to it. Learning a Lanza lesson, I opted for a normal road helmet as it was just so damn warm already.
The first part of the course is the southern loop, and I was flying along at about 21 mph but not exceeding myself - it was important that I rode fast but not smashfest giddy due to the heat. I remembered to drink regularly and had given myself a treat to look forward to with a couple of pork pies in my back pocket. The first of these was munched before the 30 mile feed station and went down a treat. I was still holding that c.21 mph as I headed up to the northern loop and tackled the climb at Oxton Bank, which whilst not long and not that steep, certainly got me working for a bit !

From there it was a downhill slalom into Southwell and then a bit of a tester into a headwind (what there was of it) before a super fast return to the southern loop for one final dance. I stopped the Garmin at 56 mph and reset it so that I could keep an eye on the 2nd part of the race.

The only negative thing about the bike course was the occasional peleton and the drafting corporate relays who were treating the event like a sportive and riding in each others wheel and side by side chatting - D'oh !!

Speed slowed 2nd half as the old legs tired and the sun shone brighter, but the major upside was the ride through Car Colston which was rammed with spectators. I managed to get safely through Radcliffe On trent where there had been an accident at a junction with a competitor and a car, and got back to HPP after a blistering (for me !!) bike split of 5.40 !

T2 3.12

Bloke next to me getting changed was being interviewed for the TV, and I tried to snuggle up to get in the shot - time will tell if I manage it ! 3 minutes - bog standard transitioning and straight out onto the run course.

Run 5.20.11

Muthaf**ker it was hot ! Two laps of the lake to start off with - first lap 27 minutes with a pee stop, 2nd lap 32 mins with some 15 seconds walk breaks - and all I could feel was bloated and gassy and could only run for half a mile at a time before bloatey cramps would stop me , I d walk a bit, manage to expel said wind and repeat process !
The fact of the matter was that the heat, although monstrously warm, could be managed, but my digestive system was throwing me a curve ball and was breaking my run into a stop start effort. Speaking of the heat, I have not seen an event with so many bodies strewn along the way - people were really struggling with the heat in a big way. First lap out to the Embankment and back was a hard slog, with little shade , but did enjoy getting sponged down with cold water by a kind citizen of Nottingham ! I passed Heidi who was working the Lincoln Tri feed station (filling in for me and probably doing twice the work !) and after one really hard lap of the lake it was time to start my final lap into Nottingham - and to celebrate this I started off with the longest bloody walk of the whole day !! It was that bad - I think I must have made nearly the whole of the riverbank before I felt well enough to start jogging again !

I passed lots of guys from my Tri Club and was loving the atmosphere ! I had entertained thoughts of a sub 12 performance before getting onto the run, but I had to run the last mile hard to get in and finish under 12.30. It had been a hard day at the office, but an Ironman PB in my last race was the icing on the cake for me.

So, 12.28.48 in the end, and an event which was a fitting end to my Long Distance Tri career.