I am somewhat guilty (again) of not updating my blog, and every time I think ‘oh yeah, I’ll keep this updated’, I end up coming back in a few months and thinking ‘I really should keep this updated.’ So, anyway, I thought I’d make this update Triathlon centric, having done three now in the last two months, and I will provide a brief account of all three for you (yes, you, the avid reader) so that you can share in the delights of my completely irrational passion for all things Triathlon. Still got you…? Good, then I’ll begin with Hyde Park 2015:
So, my ‘race season’ kicked off on Sunday May 31st – it was due to be the 30th but Arsenal decided to get through to the FA Cup final AGAIN and played this on the Saturday. A very kind lady at ITU central (or some subsidiary of) moved me to the Sunday, which obviously and unintentionally was going to steal the limelight from the Brownlees in the Elite race later in the day. Sorry chaps! I think I knew this one was going to be a disaster right from the moment I had to make an emergency comfort stop near Paddington for both myself and my daughter, already running late but when the moment strikes, nothing can be done. Finally get to Park Lane Q-Park and had to run with the bike to get to transition, even then I only had literally ten minutes to prepare my transition area, get my wetsuit on an leg it the 400m odd distance to the swim start. I arrived just as my wave were about to head for the pontoon…! So, no warm up, no chillaxing in transition and preparing myself, nope, just straight into it.
The swim was pretty hopeless; in my flustered state all technique went out of the window and it was all I could do to make it to the first buoy, feeling like I was swimming in treacle rather than the delightful Serpentine! Half way around and the skies opened, and as I rounded the last buoy my thoughts moved to the soaking wet trainers waiting for me in transition. I decided to go for a one pair of shoes strategy meaning, which works okay on the SPD pedals on the bike, but with slick tyres it meant a very cautious three laps. My caution was well advised as I saw three different people monumentally stack it on corners they were taking too fast, all three got back on safely, but still, it would’ve hurt! I could feel my trainers squelching on each rotation and was really REALLY looking forward to running 5km in them!
And so to the 5km run, I hate running… did I mention that? No, well I do, I HATE it, but it’s part of the overall charm of Triathlon and I am getting better at it meaning it is slowly becoming something I don’t dread anymore! I got shin splints in lap 1, which seemed to take forever to subside, and not sure if it’s the cold and wet causing it or not. Finally I got a bit of adrenaline on lap 2 and upped the pace slightly to the finish. Final result Swim 00:20:31 Bike 00:48:27 Run 00:34:20 – Overall 01:52:17… Slower by 7 minutes to last year, but considering the conditions I’m pretty chuffed with that.
