Southwell Tri, 2013 Season review and whats new for 2014!!!
Southwell Triathlon
So as the season comes to a close, the last race on the calendar was the Lastminute Southwell Triathlon...having not done a sprint distance tri since....well....this one 2 years ago I decided to enter and have a little "smack down" with some of the new and old lads in the Lincoln Tri club....loads of high expectations and lots of sandbagging!!
Swim:- 10:31 (inc run to transition) - 400m
Went off quite well, got into a good rhythm, but tried not to look to the side and see my competition as I knew this would make me go hell for leather and be blowing out my ass in no time!... but it happened and I had to slow down abit to get my heart rate down and stop 3x to sort my goggles as kept leaking water! nightmare....
T1:- 0:57
This time I opted for no socks just get the bike shoes on, helmet, belt, glasses and get the hell out...
Bike - 32.06 - 18km
No fancy shoes already clipped in mounting jobby, just pull up to the line, clip one in and get going..........except my left shoe wouldn't clip in! (not used my tri shoes for 2 years so this will teach me!)...75-100m down the road I eventually got it clipped in and started playing catch up as I knew I was the last one in my lane to get out the pool. No sooner had I got 1km down the road my contact lense started coming loose in my eye and flew out! lucky it landed in my sunglasses...i didnt pull over to put it back in otherwise I would of wasted more time....so carried on squinting out of one eye making sure I could at least see something!... Managed to take a few of the guys out on the bike and saw them on the way back so could work out the time difference. Soon I was coming back into transition, I though I would be clever and leave my shoes clipped in to save time....having not practiced this for a while I thought i would be ok.....wrong! I got my foot stuck and couldn't get it out! I feared I was going to crash big time but lucky I got it out just in time, but scuffed my shoes on the tarmac!!!....
T2 - 0:40
Barefoot into transition...running shoes on...no socks again, helmet off, belt switched round...go!
Run - 20:36 - 5km
Soon as I got off the bike my right hamstring cramped! So the next few hundred meter or so I had to try and slowly "run" it out and hope not to pull anything (actually do some brick sessions in future!) Got my stride back but it just kept niggling as I ran....eventually I got overtaken by Dan who I managed to overtake on the bike, but this guy does sub 17min 5k's!....so I knew I had to make up a lot of time on the run to beat him...but it wasnt to be....so I just took it steady and got to the finish line to fish my now stuck contact lense from out of my sun glasses....
Total: 1h 04mins
Looking back, I beat my PB on the course by 6mins....and last time I was training for it big time!, this year....I had not done anything since Ironman in August so almost 2 months of no training and just the odd swim, run and cycle to work...I wont hide the fact I was still disapointed in my time but I only had myself to blame as I got lazy....but end of the day, it was a great race with the lads, chilling out after the race and soaking up the sunshine!
2013 - Review
Well not much to really report apart from 3 races I have done this year, due to the fact of going through a stressful relationship split and adapting to changes to my life, caring for my boy, trying to study to get a new job and trying to keep a roof over my head, but the light is finally at the end of the tunnel so that chapter of my life has now closed and a new exciting one has opened (more later!) Did the Lincoln 10k, got the sub 40 I had been after for so long!! took alot of effort for the last 100m to get past the line in time and to stop myself almost puking! Ace!...but the big race was the IRONMAN UK.....love it so much and wanted to do it again but £400 a pop...I just can't afford it this time so will have to wait till 2015....amazing race, great support from my friends and the local community...its one race you just have to do for the experience! Southwell.....well, its just reminds me that you cant slack off too long as you will loose your fitness quickly, plus dont practice anything on race day!!!
2014 - New Beginning
So whats in store for 2014? Well as I couldnt afford Ironman, I was tempted to go long again and do Outlaw instead...but my bank ballance said "NO"....I was gutted, I really wanted to do at least one big race!!.....so opted to go for the OUTLAW HALF instead as was cheaper...So whats my aims for this race then? Well...Ideally I would love to start getting competitive rather than just finishing the race to say like "Yeah! I did the distance, I have done the maximum commercial distance of Ironman (I am no way doing double, tripple ironmans!! that really would be pulling teeth out pain!!) So I can now go back down the ladder and speed up my times for sprint, and half-ironman....with looking to go all out at Ironman 2015 and see if getting a Kona slot is achievable....it looks like a long journey, but I will happy the day I am treading water in Kailua Bay waiting for that cannon to fire at 6am....
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