Newbury 2007 race report
Went to bed at 9.45 last night but didn't manage to drop off until around 11 when Sophie came to bed, then I had a bit of restless night with my mind refusing to give up on the idea that I'd forgotten to pack something. If only I had some sort of list...
An early start
Woke up just before 6 then managed to get a few more minutes kip before the alarm screamed at me at 6.15. I'm lucky that I can force myself out of bed even when very tired - years of getting up at 6 in the morning to trek half-way across Manchester to school, I imagine.
The weather report had said clouds, some sun and light winds. I hate wind (parp), but 13mph or so was manageable and at least the cloud would stop me overheating on the run. As it turned out the event was sunnier than expected, but still cool enough for me.
"Hat?","check".."Shoes?","check".."Bike?", "oops"
After final packing and checks, I set off from the house around 7.45 and bombed down the A34 to Newbury. It's a very easy trip to the Northcroft centre where the event is based, and Regina Specktor and Johnny Cash helped me get in the mood.
I arrived at 8.30, about 1 hour before my start time so I had plenty of time to register, grab my lovely orange t-shirt (better than last year if only because I could get one in my size) and rack up my bike. The transition area's moved from the grass beside the swimming pool to the car park at the front. This new position, combined with a sellout race meant that space was very tight and seemed to be the only real cause for concern amongst my fellow racers. I was tucked away in a corner which also had me worrying about the amount of weaving around I'd have to do just to get my bike out and back in.
The new layout confused me for a while, so I took the opportunity to have a good wander round and watch the action, which had started around 8.30. By the time I'd unpacked, pumped my tires, triple-checked everything and been to the toilet twice it was time to get my kit off and get ready for the swim.
Swim
This year the swim started at the shallow end of the 75m outdoor pool, and at about 1ft it really is very shallow. So it was a bit of an uncomfortable start, squatting in the water as the marshal counted down from 5..4..3..2..1. They were setting people off in pairs, but luckily my pairee(?) didn't turn up, so I had the lane to myself until about halfway down the second length. I felt pretty good throughout, passing a couple of people easily. The only problem I had was the 'under the rope' at the end of the 2nd length, since this was at the shallow end, so meant a full-stop and restart. Someone did come flying past me at the end of length 4 but that's OK - there's always some fool that goes too hard on the swim and burns out quickly (or so I told myself!). They were the only person to pass me until about 15km in on the bike.
T1 & Bike
Last year the transition area was beside the pool, but the bike mounting area was a few yards beyond it, so I almost slipped and fell when running in my cleats on a wet poolside with my bike. This year's position was much better - straight out of the pool, run 50 yards and get kitted up.
My glasses have handy 'break away' arms designed to stop the arms breaking if you bend them in odd directions. Like, for instance when you grab them off your helmet in a hurry... So I took a bit longer in T1 than I wanted to as I found the arm and refitted it. I decided to forego socks as I had done at Eynsham, so overall I probably spent less than 2 minutes from finding my bike to heading out with it. A short uphill immediately after the mount was a bit harsh, I thought, but otherwise it was a lovely course on undulating roads. The roads were very well marshalled and mostly clear, but they weren't closed to traffic and I had a few frustrating encounters with other road users who crawled into my way and didn't let me past even though I was clearly racing.
After some maintenance on my back wheel last week I was pleased that nothing rubbed or fell off, and the bike felt pretty quick throughout. As other people plodded up hills, I attacked them (thanks Dan!), and passed a lot of people. I was passed by one person around 15km in, but otherwise I was gaining a lot on other people and felt good by the time I got back to the leisure centre for the run leg. On the way in to transition I got confused and managed to end up with one shoe on my foot and one on the bike. I briefly had the crowd enthralled with my bike-handling skills as I stumbled but then recovered. They literally did gasp and then cheer which was nice! Then I managed to knock over a couple of bikes when I caught my pedals on them running through the cramped transition area (the owners were already on their run leg, so no harm done, and a couple of marshalls saw my clumsiness and re-racked the bikes which made me feel better).
T2 & Run
Aside from the stumbling bumbling path through the transition area back to my rack, my T2 was pretty good. My Pearl Izumi bike shoes have velcro fasteners so they came off in a jiffy. I got my insole rucked up on my left trainer which I had to reseat - I didn't want to end up like Olly Freeman who ran on a rucked up insole only to realise at the end of the race that he'd broken his foot because of it! I was probably in T2 for a minute or so.
I always struggle to find my pace after the bike. I need to do a lot more brick sessions where I go from bike to run in order to get my legs used to the change of pace. Today it took me about 1.5km to get my breathing down and my leg pace up. I was passed by a few people early on, including Steve who I'd met at the Eynsham Triathlon.
I had started the run at about 10:22am and wanted to finish the run before 10:50am. I was a pleasantly surprised when a marshal said we were 'about half way' as I thought I'd only been running for about 10 minutes. I did wonder whether he might be lying, but at that point I was happy to accept the lie, and felt my legs speed up a little bit. Turns out he wasn't lying: the course is just shorter than I expected.
The run route is along narrow but smooth trails and mostly flat. After the 'about half way' point, it goes uphill a little and runs alongside the A34 for a while, then back downhill and alongside the canal back to the leisure centre. About 1km from the end, I heard someone approaching from behind and I sped up a little. As she came past she cursed me for speeding up, and we had a bit of a laugh (in between gasps). We ran the rest of the way together, with each of us encouraging the other and that really helped me. It's definitely true what they say about other people helping to motivate you.
The end of the run confused me a bit. We'd already crossed the canal further back, and had to go up and over an iron bridge to get back to the leisure centre bank. Last year, the finish was about 200m from the bridge, and I was mentally geared up for a spring. So I was a bit taken aback when I realised that they'd moved the finish (OK, only by about another 200m but it was enough!), and dropped a few metres behind my running partner who managed to do a sprint finish (well done, Fiona - and it turns out she was running on a 6-week old broken toe!). Based on our finishing times, everyone agreed that the run was probably closer to 4.5km than 5km.
Final results
I placed 103 out of almost 400 competitors, so I'm quite happy. Need to work on that running though!
Swim: About 6:12
T1: 1:12
Bike: 40:54
T2: 01:05
Run: 22:50
I'd recommend the Newbury Triathlon to any novices wanting to enter. There were a lot of people new to the sport there today, and everyone seemed to really enjoy themselves. The event was well organised and well marshalled by very friendly people. And the run and bike course are reasonably flat. The only negative point is the tight transition area which is made worse by how popular the event is, but in the end it didn't cause me any great problems.
After final packing and checks, I set off from the house around 7.45 and bombed down the A34 to Newbury. It's a very easy trip to the Northcroft centre where the event is based, and Regina Specktor and Johnny Cash helped me get in the mood.
I arrived at 8.30, about 1 hour before my start time so I had plenty of time to register, grab my lovely orange t-shirt (better than last year if only because I could get one in my size) and rack up my bike. The transition area's moved from the grass beside the swimming pool to the car park at the front. This new position, combined with a sellout race meant that space was very tight and seemed to be the only real cause for concern amongst my fellow racers. I was tucked away in a corner which also had me worrying about the amount of weaving around I'd have to do just to get my bike out and back in.
The new layout confused me for a while, so I took the opportunity to have a good wander round and watch the action, which had started around 8.30. By the time I'd unpacked, pumped my tires, triple-checked everything and been to the toilet twice it was time to get my kit off and get ready for the swim.
Swim
This year the swim started at the shallow end of the 75m outdoor pool, and at about 1ft it really is very shallow. So it was a bit of an uncomfortable start, squatting in the water as the marshal counted down from 5..4..3..2..1. They were setting people off in pairs, but luckily my pairee(?) didn't turn up, so I had the lane to myself until about halfway down the second length. I felt pretty good throughout, passing a couple of people easily. The only problem I had was the 'under the rope' at the end of the 2nd length, since this was at the shallow end, so meant a full-stop and restart. Someone did come flying past me at the end of length 4 but that's OK - there's always some fool that goes too hard on the swim and burns out quickly (or so I told myself!). They were the only person to pass me until about 15km in on the bike.
T1 & Bike
Last year the transition area was beside the pool, but the bike mounting area was a few yards beyond it, so I almost slipped and fell when running in my cleats on a wet poolside with my bike. This year's position was much better - straight out of the pool, run 50 yards and get kitted up.
My glasses have handy 'break away' arms designed to stop the arms breaking if you bend them in odd directions. Like, for instance when you grab them off your helmet in a hurry... So I took a bit longer in T1 than I wanted to as I found the arm and refitted it. I decided to forego socks as I had done at Eynsham, so overall I probably spent less than 2 minutes from finding my bike to heading out with it. A short uphill immediately after the mount was a bit harsh, I thought, but otherwise it was a lovely course on undulating roads. The roads were very well marshalled and mostly clear, but they weren't closed to traffic and I had a few frustrating encounters with other road users who crawled into my way and didn't let me past even though I was clearly racing.
After some maintenance on my back wheel last week I was pleased that nothing rubbed or fell off, and the bike felt pretty quick throughout. As other people plodded up hills, I attacked them (thanks Dan!), and passed a lot of people. I was passed by one person around 15km in, but otherwise I was gaining a lot on other people and felt good by the time I got back to the leisure centre for the run leg. On the way in to transition I got confused and managed to end up with one shoe on my foot and one on the bike. I briefly had the crowd enthralled with my bike-handling skills as I stumbled but then recovered. They literally did gasp and then cheer which was nice! Then I managed to knock over a couple of bikes when I caught my pedals on them running through the cramped transition area (the owners were already on their run leg, so no harm done, and a couple of marshalls saw my clumsiness and re-racked the bikes which made me feel better).
T2 & Run
Aside from the stumbling bumbling path through the transition area back to my rack, my T2 was pretty good. My Pearl Izumi bike shoes have velcro fasteners so they came off in a jiffy. I got my insole rucked up on my left trainer which I had to reseat - I didn't want to end up like Olly Freeman who ran on a rucked up insole only to realise at the end of the race that he'd broken his foot because of it! I was probably in T2 for a minute or so.
I always struggle to find my pace after the bike. I need to do a lot more brick sessions where I go from bike to run in order to get my legs used to the change of pace. Today it took me about 1.5km to get my breathing down and my leg pace up. I was passed by a few people early on, including Steve who I'd met at the Eynsham Triathlon.
I had started the run at about 10:22am and wanted to finish the run before 10:50am. I was a pleasantly surprised when a marshal said we were 'about half way' as I thought I'd only been running for about 10 minutes. I did wonder whether he might be lying, but at that point I was happy to accept the lie, and felt my legs speed up a little bit. Turns out he wasn't lying: the course is just shorter than I expected.
The run route is along narrow but smooth trails and mostly flat. After the 'about half way' point, it goes uphill a little and runs alongside the A34 for a while, then back downhill and alongside the canal back to the leisure centre. About 1km from the end, I heard someone approaching from behind and I sped up a little. As she came past she cursed me for speeding up, and we had a bit of a laugh (in between gasps). We ran the rest of the way together, with each of us encouraging the other and that really helped me. It's definitely true what they say about other people helping to motivate you.
The end of the run confused me a bit. We'd already crossed the canal further back, and had to go up and over an iron bridge to get back to the leisure centre bank. Last year, the finish was about 200m from the bridge, and I was mentally geared up for a spring. So I was a bit taken aback when I realised that they'd moved the finish (OK, only by about another 200m but it was enough!), and dropped a few metres behind my running partner who managed to do a sprint finish (well done, Fiona - and it turns out she was running on a 6-week old broken toe!). Based on our finishing times, everyone agreed that the run was probably closer to 4.5km than 5km.
Final results
I placed 103 out of almost 400 competitors, so I'm quite happy. Need to work on that running though!
Swim: About 6:12
T1: 1:12
Bike: 40:54
T2: 01:05
Run: 22:50
I'd recommend the Newbury Triathlon to any novices wanting to enter. There were a lot of people new to the sport there today, and everyone seemed to really enjoy themselves. The event was well organised and well marshalled by very friendly people. And the run and bike course are reasonably flat. The only negative point is the tight transition area which is made worse by how popular the event is, but in the end it didn't cause me any great problems.
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Well done, that must have felt good passing people on the bike and swim!