Race date : 11th August 2016, Nantwich, Cheshire UK
OMG…….I only went and bloody won it!!!
I was well up for this race, one of a series of races run by UK Triathlon and I was feeling strong on the morning of the big day, still buzzing from my PB at the excellent Blackpool illuminations 10k.
I didn’t get the best nights rest as I woke up at 5am wide awake and feeling like I could fight a lion, try as I might I was unable to get back to sleep for ages, I was just way to excited about the race, full of energy and couldn’t wait to get up…
I then fell into a deep sleep about 30 minutes before my alarm went off @ 7.30 and when the alarm sounded I felt groggy – how can you be so awake and full of energy at 5am and then knackered at 7am? this keeps happening to me on race day!
Anyhow I had everything well organised the night before so it was just a case of sorting breakfast, putting the bike on the back of the car and I was good to go.
It was a beautiful morning with the sun streaming down, perfect race conditions. and I had decided from the outset that I was going to try and get as far up the leaderboard as I could in this race.
Let’s just pause for a second here whilst I ‘frame’ this post.
Please bear in mind It wasn’t long ago that I was buzzing about being able to complete a super sprint triathlon and not come last. Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with coming last, some of the most inspirational stories you will find are from the people that cross the finish line at the back of the pack and I am the first to applaud them, their tales inspire me more than you know, but we are each on our own journey.
My whole book is based on how to complete level 1 from scratch and then how to move from one level to the next, should you choose to do so.
It is based on the elation and massive sense of achievement you will feel in completing each race and collecting the medal. If you have never done a super sprint triathlon before then completing the race, is, in itself, a fantastic achievement – it will give you such a wonderful feeling and one that will stay with you for ages,
I have not forgotten that feeling, nor will I…. Ever……it’s why I wrote the book!
I am finding though, as I move up the levels, that when I drop back down, I feel like a lion….And I like feeling like a lion………
What you are about to read is what happened when I dropped back down to level 2 from level 8……
I was a late entrant to this race and had telephoned HQ for my start time earlier in the week. I would be one of the last to start @12.08 and I appreciated the lie in versus the 8.30am starters! I also appreciated the fact that you could telephone HQ instead of the usual e-mail, the lady I spoke to at UK triathlon head office was very helpful, nothing was too much trouble and they answered the phone virtually straight away.
This was a combined super sprint and sprint distance race with around 700 entrants, approx90/10 split in favour of the sprint – I was entering the super sprint but unusually the bike course for the super was the same as the sprint at 20km.
I allowed myself plenty of time to get down the M6 as it can be tricky at times, I set off at 8.30 with the expectation of arriving @ 10am for a 12pm race start.
I breezed down a traffic free M6 (always the way when you allow plenty of time isn’t it) I had the top down and once again the tunes were pumping out – I was in a great mood and I had made the decision to give this race ‘a right good go’ from the outset, the polar opposite of my usual strategy of cautiously holding back and leaving plenty in the tank for later in the race..
Getting to the event is pretty straightforward from J16 of the M6 and I arrived at the car park in good time at 9.45am.
Some of the earlier starters were just finishing their bike section as I rolled in.
£3 to park which I didn’t begrudge as it is on a field right next to registration and a helpful marshall explained the set up.
This is a great event and one that I would highly recommend to you however I would advise that you aim to arrive 90mins before your start time as there is quite a lot to do once you get there.
I untied the bike and walked with it over to the registration tent (approx. 3 minute walk) to collect my athlete pack, at this point I was absolutely bursting for the loo!
On arrival I was pleased to observe plenty of staff on the registration desk and I was only waiting a few seconds before I got called forward.
I got given a race bag which included an energy bar, some gels, about 50 safety pins? my race number, number tattoos (whoop whoop) my number stickers and an advert for some sort of Insurance.
The lady didn’t explain the set up to me, then again I didn’t ask, as I desperately needed the loo, but more on the set-up in a minute.
I was told that the loos are back where I had parked the car. They could do with some portoloos at registration really but anyway back I went with my bike and race pack.
The loos in the car park are up 2 flights of stairs, so carrying the bike up that and then wedging it next to the throne with the bog door wide open was not ideal. Plus there is only one seated toilet in the gents which thank goodness was free on arrival. If you can hang on until you get to the swim start I would recommend that you do this as loo visits are way easier down there.
Anyhow with that out of the way I went back over to the car and set about putting my race number on my race belt, putting the stickers on my bike, and putting my number tattoos on my am and the back of my leg – I love number tats – number tats rock! they looked ace with the UK tri logo. (make sure you take plenty of water to soak them on so they stick) I cracked open the free energy bar as a pre-race treat.
I walks back over to the registration tents, this is in the area where the run starts and finishes, here there was a bouncy castle and some kiddies rides, plenty of free high 5 energy drink and water, which I very much appreciated, a tent for slimming world, a mobile café serving food & hot drinks, what looked like a massage tent and a store selling clothing.
This event has a split transition.
The transition area that you can see at registration is T2, the bike to run transition. In this area you only need to leave the things that you need for your run, in my case my trainers and my hat. It wasn’t numbered, there was plenty of racks and it was just a case of finding a space. I opted for back row far corner pretty much next to ‘run out’ and was surprised to discover that this prime location had plenty of available space.
Once you have parked your run gear you then need to get to the swim start, use the bag that they gave you at registration to carry all your bike gear, helmet, gloves, shoes etc and make sure that you have put one of your number stickers on the bag – i’ll explain why in a minute.
You then walk, fully clothed, with your bike and all your bike gear down to the local swimming baths. This is across the busy road from where the registration tents are and approx. a ten minute walk down into the estate. Everybody seemed to be walking down but I ended up getting on my bike and cycling down to it as the walk was annoying me.
Upon arrival you will find T1, the swim to bike transition where you rack your bike directly outside the swimming baths but do not arrive here too early as there is not a lot of room in the bike racking area and they only let you rack your bike approx. 30mins before your swim start.
The guy on security checked my number tats before letting me in so make sure you have put these on. I racked my bike and dumped my bag on the floor next to it. fully clothed I went for a nosey inside the swimming baths as I still had half an hour or so until swim start and there is nothing else to do down here to keep you entertained whilst you wait.
At this point a word of caution- the idea is that you get changed into your swim stuff and put your clothes into your bag and leave it on the floor next to your bike. the bag is then ‘swept’ by the ‘bag lady’ (her words not mine!) and taken back to the registration tents at T2 so that it is waiting for you when you finish the race, cool eh?
However, It was only Once I had been inside the swimming baths watching the other athletes swim for approx. 10 mins that it suddenly dawned on me that not only was I still fully clothed but more importantly my goggles where still in my bag and I began to panic that my bag had already been ‘swept’ by the ‘bag lady’.
I charged back out to transition in a panic with the security guard thinking I was the local bike thief but was relieved to discover that my bag was still on the floor where I had left it! If you don’t want this panic to happen to you then I suggest you keep your bag with you or have a word with the marshalls and give them the heads up.
The swim is in the 30 metre outdoor pool of the swimming baths, the only outdoor heated brine swimming pool left in great Britain no less, which has plenty of toilets and large shower and changing facilities.
The swim was interesting. basically the pool was divided up into 3 lanes and the brief was to do 2 lengths in each lane before making your way to swim exit. Each lane has a dark blue ‘sighting’ line in the middle of it. Whilst I was watching I noticed that the swim was getting very conjested at times, this is why it is so important to put an accurate estimated swim time on your entry form, please make sure that you do this, it will make everybody’s life easier, not least your own.
My swim time was coming round so time to unpeel the layers and collect my goggles. You get given a swim cap from a marshall at the swim start.
I got changed and lines up beside the pool, shaking hands with the guys around me. There was a fantastic atmosphere at this event, all the other athletes were very friendly and all the event crew made sure you felt at ease. at all times. We then got into lane 1 in number order and were allowed to aclimitise to the water for a couple of minutes which was a bit on the cold side but I soon adjusted.
Basically the marshall then called us in to lane 2 one by one to begin our swim with a 20 second gap between each one of us.
I got called in to the start lane and it felt like as soon as I got called in the marshall shouted “go!” – I ddnt even have time to set my watch!
As I said, I had made the decision to let myself off the leash today and really go for it, the exact opposite to the way I have been training for distance.
I started strong and fast, and easily knocked out the first 2 lengths, as I moved into the next lane the marshall told me to swim on the outside of the lane and I took this to mean that I was looking strong. I continued at pace and was so grateful to the other swimmers who gave me plenty of room and allowed me to pass instead of starting a war with me, which I really appreciated. Before I knew where I was the swim was over, I was to complete it in 3:41, exiting the swim in 4th place, not that I was aware of it at the time, as soon as I got out of the water though I started my stopwatch.
There was then an approx. 200 metre jog round the back of the pool hall on mats and over to T1, bike transition.
Transition has historically been a weak spot for me but I managed to negotiate it in a very respectable 2:40 this time around.
Onto the bike and my bike was feeling good.
The 20km bike course starts with a couple of turns out of the estate and then is a fast slight descent for the first mile or so. I got down on my aero bars and began to whiz pass a lot of other riders.
I noticed that there were mile markers which I very much appreciated and before I knew where I was we were at 2 miles.
I knew that the winner of this race last year had done the bike course in 36mins so to have any realistic chance of competing I knew I had to get near that time – At 2 miles I was just about on track.
I was pushing the bike really hard, way harder than I usually would, but at 3 miles I still felt strong.
The bike route was very well signposted with big yellow signs and the marshalls were excellent at all the major turns. whilst the roads were not traffic free today I was racing so the cars can wait as far as I am concerned, this makes a big difference to your rythmn, and thankfully they played ball.
There was a few small hills and then a couple of steady slight climbs but nothing too major.
Once again I was doing all the overtaking on the bike and no-one was coming past me, I was down on my aero bars for long periods just grinding it out.
Before long the 5 mile marker appeared and looking at the watch I was pretty much on target for the 36 mins, although I wasn’t sure how much longer I could maintain my pace.
If I remember righty the 5 to 6 mile stretch was fairly fast but then at 6 mile the course seemed to get very open and really windy, as always on the bike the wind is blowing at you instead of behind you.
I hate the wind I really do it’s a complete energy sapper and one I didn’t need at this point in the race.
I almost gave up the ghost but when the 8 mile marker appeared I realised that I was still on for the 36 mins and this gave me a shot of energy..
The large headges acted as a windbreak which I welcomed and I kicked on for one last push, still no-one had come past me and I had lost count of the number of people I had overtaken during the race but I knew it was a fair few..
I got lucky at the next few junctions and roundabouts thanks to some excellent marshalling and the stars lining up to enable me not to break my stride into the roundabouts.
The last mile or so was pretty fast and I gave it one last go however my heart sank when I saw the sign for the bike finish with my watch at 39mins (I had forgotten that I had set it as soon as I got out the pool so this time included transition)
I was pretty sure my dreams of taking the title were spent, I was now hoping for a sub 1 hour finish and hopefully a place in the top 5.
Into T2 where I spent 1:32 changing from bike to run gear which is excellent for me and out onto the run course.
At this stage I was unaware of my swim time but knew it was fairly strong and reckoned I needed a sub 14 minute 2.5km to beat the hour marker.This would be a PB and I had pushed it very hard on the bike so was unsure what I had left in the tank for the run.
The run course is grass, well fenced off, and a well trodden ‘path’ had developed. The initial start was quite energy sapping whilst I waited for my body to click over into ‘run’ mode.
The run is fairly flat with a slight climb about half way round. I was to do 2 laps of the course.
I kind of got round my first lap, again I was doing all of the overtaking. Looking at the race numbers as I passed I noticed that they were all lower than mine. This meant that I had caught people up, as we had started the race in number order.
I didnt really feel like I was running particularly fast. At this point no-one had come past me but I presumed the leaders had already run away with the race by now. Once I passed the finish line on the first lap all of a sudden I got a big addrennalin rush as I realised I had done lap 1 in sub 7 minutes. so was on track for a sub one hour race.
I then rode the adrenaline wave for a while before I became aware of a very strong runner coming from behind- his race number was only a few up from mine so I was certain he was coming for me. I was quite a way in front of him but he was getting stronger where I was getting weaker. At a point where the course doubles back on itself we crossed and I shouted at him to ‘foxtrot oscar’ with a smile on my face half joking, half serious and he just gave me a look as if to say ‘I’m coming’.
With about 1km left he came and sat on my back for a while and we both knew he had me ,I tried my best to run as fast as I could but my body was not playing, he was too strong and I told him that he had me before giving him a high 5. I tried to keep up with him as he passed but it was no use.
I enjoyed the battle with him and was a little bit gutted but hey, I had ran a great race.
I turned into the finish straight and posed for me picture, collected my medal and made my way into the high 5 tent for a drink.
I felt sick as I had pushed it way harder than I usually do but was certain I had come in under the hour mark.
I had got wind that there was a telly displaying our results so asked a marshall where it was “round the back of the high 5 tent” came the reply.
I goes round to see a big group of people huddled around the TV screen which was displaying the results of the Sprint Race not mine.
It seemed to take forever for my results to appear and I asked the guy behind the telly for an update “2 minutes he said”
I helped myself to another drink and made my way back to the telly.
Stood round the monitor was the guy that I had duelled with earlier – I shook his hand and congratulated him on a great race, he overheard me telling another athlete about our dual befre revealing “I was in a different race to you!” – it turns out he was in the Sprint not the super!!! he nearly won too!
At this point the results system updated and I couldn’t believe what I saw on the screen – the rankings of my race had appeared and I was in pole position with a time of 55:26!!!
Not all the results were in from the race yet so I was convinced I would drop down, but people were patting me on the back and shaking my hand – I honestly could not believe what was happening.
I stayed there glued to the screen as more and more results came through, In total there were 40 athletes in my race split into male/female and my rank remained at #1 of 40 the whole time!
I then heard the announcer saying that it was time for the awards ceremony so I made my way back round to the podium where a crowd had gathered.
Onto our race and he announced third…..
then second………
Before saying “and the winner of the super sprint triathlon is………….”
My name and race number was called out!!!
I still could not believe what was happening and still can’t now!
I made my way onto the stage to be presented with the winners trophy plus a winners goodie bag containing a large tub of high 5 sports drink, a huge bag of mornflake porridge, a zone 3 running visor, zone 3 swimming claws, a high 5 sports bottle and some velo champion sunglasses! how cool is all that?!!!
I went and treated myself to a bacon roll and a coffee and clapped the final finisher (the real hero of the race) over the line.
I love this event and will be back next year to defend my crown!
This day will stay with me forever!
How buzzin was I all the way back up the M6?
Thanks to everybody involved at UK Triathlon for organising a superb race, all the marshalls, the event crew, the volunteers, all the other athletes for creating a great atmosphere and of course the guy that pushed me all the way to the end!
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