This week’s main event was the AJ Bell London Triathlon, in fairness this didn’t really appear on my radar until Suzy was asked to officiate on the Saturday for the “Pro” Mixed Relay competition. Her appearence at this event counts as one of five events she needs to take part in to qualify as a national technical official for British Triathlon. As she had to be in London I thought why not compete on the Sunday to make a weekend of it.
Little did I know but this is the UK’s biggest triathlon with something like 13,000 people taking part over the weekend. I was warned by several people of the possible carnage on the bike, as it was closed roads there was a perception you could ride anywhere on the carriageway and that can create problems for slow vs fast riders. We’ll see…..
We travelled down on the Friday afternoon, I was flustered as I hadn’t trained that afternoon due to dozing off on the sofa instead of doing a small bike session and a swim set that Suzy had planned for me. Before I realised it was 6pm and time to get to London and check-in. On the way down there Suzy searched for opening times of the London Aquatic Centre – the 2012 olympic swimming pool. They closed at 10:30pm so we decided to go in and get at least one of the sessions done. This wasn’t the case at all as Suzy had tricked me into going in on my own whilst she chilled out on poolside!
So, there I was, in a designated “fast lane” doing my 2k set in the olympic pool. I guess a poool is a pool but this place was pretty spectacular and it’s great the London olympic legacy continues as to lose this place would be a shame.
Out of the water and back in the car to get to the hotel. Now Suzy was flustered as she had booked the wrong hotel (in her mind) but we were no less than 15-minute walk from Excel Centre so it wasn’t a major loss. We checked in and then proceeded to the nearest restaurant (less than 100 yds away) for food and back to the hotel to chill out before Suzy’s big day officiating.
After a bif hearty (free) breakfast we were off to Excel Centre to see some of the action on Day 1 of the triathlon. Suzy had to go to a briefing at 09:30am and then stay in the Mixed Relay competition area all day so I was left to my own devices. I just wandered around the centre, watching & listening to race briefings to each wave just before they started and then watched a bit of the swimming in the docks, a bit of the cycling, transition and a bit of the running. Before I knew it this was 5:30pm and time to watch the pro’s at it. One word – fast! I moved around watching the big screen when I couldn’t see the action myself and then watched the transition changes which were also pretty quick. The event was on 300m swim, 5.6km bike and a 1.4km run for each of the four competitiors – two women and two men. Each completed their mini-triathlon before handing over to the next person. Pretty good spectating but once the gaps started to appear after the 2nd leg it was clear who the winners were going to be but the 2nd/3rd race was decided in the last 100 metres. Suzy was doing her bit – officiating at the mount & dismount line and holding the finish tape…….she’ll be on TV!
Sunday morning came and it was time for me & Suzy to race, she entered herself into the Sprint Tri just for training which started about 50-minutes after mine. It was quite possible I would be chasing her on the run leg to finish but it soon turned out to be a clear 10-minutes between us due to my event starting late and Suzy doing a pretty fast time.
After my briefing we all (400 of us in this wave) went down the stairs from Excel to the docks, straight in the water and straight to the start. A bit daunting if you’re always used to acclimitising to the water before the swim. Off we went – I was trying to remember technique all the way. Not a very fast swim – 33 minutes but still respectable I guess. Now onto the bike – a long leg to Westminster and back to Excel before then doing a shorter leg to Billingsgate roundabout and back to complete the 40km. I had planned to sit on half-ironman pace but that went out of the window pretty quickly as I was loving the undulating roads and the fast pace, no-one caught me on the bike leg, I had a mini-battle in the last 10km with another rider but I left him behind with 3km to go. Over the weekend I think I got in the top 50 for the bike leg, including the pro’s so got to be happy with that. Now onto the run, I always seem to start off slowly and then pick up but to my surprise I had a spring in my step from the off and kept to my 5:00 per km pace. Unfortunately the course was long so ended up covering 11.4km to finish with a time off 55 minutes which doesn’t look that good when the organisation says it was just 10k!
I saw Suzy pass the other way on lap 2 of the 4 lap course, she only had to do 2 laps (5km) so after some quick maths I knew she was going to finish 8-10 minutes ahead of me. I saw her again on the next lap pretty much at the same place so her run leg was looking good too. She had managed to win her Age-Group on that day and come 3rd in the whole weekend for the Sprint distance. I managed a 8th place in my Age Group and 13th over the whole weekend. Not bad for some Ironman Training. I would mind coming back to this and training specifically for it. Adding to this I was within 7% of the winner in my AG so this may have qualified me to represent GB in this discipline (I think).
Back to the training……
Monday saw a rest day, this was mainly down to the fact I was racing on Tuesday & Wednesday and after the Dunwich Dynamo this seemed like a good idea – the fact I would be at work 6am all week suggested I may need some R&R for this too!
Tuesday was a first for me (another one) at Sea Palling as I took on the Aquathlon. This 400metre sea swim & 400metre run course which needed to be completed three times seeemed like a good idea at the time, getting me used to sea swimming etc. I was so out of my comfort zone, the two disciplines I suck at were completely exposed and I came in some 10-minutes behind the winner at 33 minutes. I think I was 31st out of 40 people. I know it’s only training but I couldn’t help at being upset by it. One event I think I might not be trying again….maybe.
Wednesday was the 2nd Honington in the Race Series. I was keen to put behind me the negativity towards me from the week previous and set to completing the race in the bunch at the very least. This I did with relative ease right up to the point where I punctured after hitting a pothole with about 10 minutes to go. That’s a DNF for me but I was very happy with the ride as a whole. Suzy stayed with her team mate and guided her round the course giving her a 6th place and a new power PB for the hour. Now she has a few points she’s looking at doing 4 & 5 in the series to be promoted as a 3rd cat rider.
Thursday was a long ride as I would be unable to do it because of the London Tri. I set out from home early afternoon trying to finish my ride at the end of the local Time Trial nearby, I then realised as we were back into August the starting times were now back to 6:30pm and I missed it completely. In the end I did 3:45hrs mostly just over 200w (as planned) so I eased off with 15 minutes to go and just spun my legs in. In fairness I hadnb’t planned the nutrition properly and I was fairly drained when I got home.
All in all a good week. 3 races. A mixed bag of good and bad results but all sessions completed and more to come. I acutely aware that my cycling program has now finished it’s “Ironman Build” block on Sunday so starting tonight (I’m writing this on a Tuesday) I’m into my last 8 weeks “Race Preparation” block…..eeeeeeeek!
Training Peaks Geeks Time….
8:30hrs training time. 509TSS.
Fatigue – 100. Fitness – 108. Form – +20.
Swim – 3500m. Bike – 185km. Run – 15km.
This week sees more training, no mid-week racing as I need to nail the sessions properly and racing jades that a bit. Ending with Gt Yarmouth Half Marathon on Sunday.