Warwickshire Sprint Triathlon 2017

Another year and just the one triathlon to enter right at the very end of the season. My swimming was going to be OK as I'd trained up to the half iron, and we know my biking would be fine - the unknown quantity would be the running part as I'd done not a lot other than 3 runs with running club once a week since the start of September... how did I do ?

Pre race

Stayed in a retro caravan for a bit of glamping. Heidi would be doing her very first super sprint so it was important to get a nice rest ahead of the race and this was ideal. The tri itself runs out of Stratford Upon Avon Leisure Centre and I remembered doing this as one of my very first triathlons in 2009. The pool was a 33.3m biggie, the bike had shrunk to 19km, and the run was a bog standard 5k - this is the tale of the day..

Swim 8.57

An improvement on Weymouth and a bit quicker than I timed myself in training. With the pool being 33m it seemed easier and the swim at this tri as per last time saw you changing lanes after four lengths and moving down a lane with the aim being to finish near the exit. At 8.30.15 I was off, and just treated it as a training swim - I enjoyed it very much and couldn't get excited if I got overtaken or not. No stress, just concentrated on my stroke and cared not about much else. 8.57 was a lot better than anticipated and included getting out and possibly going down the stairs it was impossible to figure out where transition was.

T1 - 1.07

About right, didn't have a lot to do, it was just competent as a transition

Bike 27.28

4th fastest on the day - loved it - a nimute off being fastest bike split and I got traffic hold up in places especially coming back into Stratford - TT mode engaged and no prisoners taken. Power meter didn't work for the first half so no doubt my pacing was off. Happy with it though..

T2 - 57

In hindsight with nothing more than popping the bike back in and sliding on some shoes, I maybe could have been a bit quicker !

Run 21.40

Time for the great unknown ! I felt great coming out of transition and was running really very well. I kept with it expecting to either blow up or catch a stitch and although nothing as bad as that happened - I did however settle down a bit after my first mile registered 6.46. I just kept going surprising myself at how I was pacing things - the run was easily navigated and as such I was able to mentally break it down into segments easily.  21.40 and 15th overall (3rd in age group) just proving that I can dip in and out when required and put in a reasonable effort - clearly a far cry from 2009s feldgling effort that's for sure !

Heidi finished her super sprint with an amazing effort - it's too early yet to know if this is the beginning of another team newham or not - time will tell :)