Holkham Half 2019 Race report

This has been a long time coming. My last middle distance or half iron triathlon took place at the OSB sister event Outlaw Half back in 2014 where I managed a 5.17 finish.

Leaving triathlon after Ironman Wales that same year, I've mainly kept to training just for time trialling which I've gotten better at year on year. Sure, in that time I chucked in a sprint Tri on a couple of occasions , but it has only been this year where I've committed to Ironman Barcelona at the end of the year that I've returned to Tri. This would be my B race for the year, and this is how it went...

Pre race
Camped from Friday afternoon through to Monday morning on site with electric hook up. If I was to do this race again I would do the same thing. Yes, a travelodge would have been comfier, but with a swim start of 6.49 it was nice to be ten minutes away from the start.

We ambled down ready to get into transition just before six, and the whole thing didn't feel rushed at all. The atmosphere was great, the sun looked like it was coming out, and the day looked like it would be a good one. Silver swim hat in hand I made my way eventually down to the swim start.

Swim 41.42 
Like I said 6.49 start with the rest of the 45-49 male age groupers. I made my way into the lake and remember having a few minutes to acclimatise. the water was lovely to be fair, but a bit silty and I could feel myself sinking into it as I waited to be set off. Once underway, initially it was busy and it wasn't until five minutes in that I settled down and concentrated on both my breathing and my stroke. The course was easy to navigate and soon enough we were circling the island at the bottom and making our way back. I managed to get on to someones legs on the return which saved me a lot of sighting. I did take a couple of glancers to the head, but nothing too serious. Exiting the water in 41.42 was a time I'd take all day long.

T1 - 2.03
Quicker than Dambuster, I swigged some coke from the table on the way up from the lake, put on my shoes and helmet and nowt else, ran with the bike and got on with it.

Bike 2.26.50
We had decided to recce the bike course the day before and all commented on the rolling nature of the course. In time trialling terms I would have called at least the first half of it as sporting at best. I feared a slower time than my planned 2.30, but nonetheless, chose 230-240 watts as a pace target and stuck to it. That pacing strategy worked a treat for me, and despite hold ups on the busier coastal tracks, I never felt like a slow ride, and it rolled nicely for large parts. I maybe could have looked at 240/250 watts, but did not want to push my luck.  Got to the second feed at 46 miles at dead on 2 hours and that was the first time I realised my average speed was 23mph as I only use watts and cadence on my garmin screen. The last 10 miles seemed relatively easy and as I got back into Holkham grounds I span a bit to wake up the legs and grabbed a bit of a breather as we queued through the coned sections to get back to transition.

T2 - 2.35
Well, a bit longer than the first one as I plonked my arse on the floor to put on both calf guards and socks and my comfy running shoes for the half marathon.

Run  1.47.19
This was the unexpected. The course is a three lap run, with the first half being mostly climbing gently and then the second half is entirely enjoyable on dusty tracks and through woodland and finally service roads down to the lake.  I knew I would need to keep to mile splits that began with a 7 to keep pace for the 1.45 finish that I was aiming for, and for the first six miles or so, that went to plan. It was roasting hot, but I was coping, and by stuffing the wet sponges down my tri suit I was keeping cool enough. at the end of the second lap, I was still going well but my mile splits had started to edge into the 8's. as hard as I tried, the third lap became a battle and for most of it my heart rate was near maximum. I new it was going to be close, however, once the 13 mile bleep came up and I was not within sight of the finishing chute I knew the game may be up.  I had run a 1.47 time for 13.25 miles and just missed out on a sub 5 finish overall bu just 29 seconds. It had been a wondeful weekend and the event had been challenging but such good fun as it was well organised and the support was incredible.