1st Triathlon...1st Place

1st Tri...1st place!

As mentioned in my last post, I had signed up to do the 220 Dorney Lake Evening Triathlon. This was going to be my first triathlon of the season and I was really looking forward to it. I am very pleased to say that not only did I have a great time, I managed to win!

Dorney Lake is easy and fast for me to get to, it's a short train ride from Paddington to Slough and then I cycle the 5 or so miles out to the lake for a 7:30pm start. I was one of the last ones into the water and was pleasantly surprised that it wasn't freezing. We set off for the 750m swim and I went out fast to try and find some nice big feet for me to draft off. It didn't quite happen like that and I lost the front pack within the first few minutes and ended up doing most of the race on my own between the faster group and ahead of the 2nd pack. I had done a very hard 4km set in the pool Tuesday night with Terry so my arms were tired and were not willing to co-operate. My stroke was disintegrating so I decided not to push it too hard and just settle into my Olympic distance race pace and make it up on the bike.

Into T2 which was just a joke because I managed to get stuck in my wetsuit. I had pulled it down at the front running into T1 and started peeling it off my arms when it got stuck on both arms and I couldn't move. I really was Team Wiggle trying to get myself out of it! At one point I actually considered riding my bike wearing my wetsuit as it was not budging. I am sure it provided some entertainment for the spectators seeing me squirm about. Lesson learnt: don't forget the wetsuit lube! Once finally free of the sticky suit I leapt onto the Focus Izalco Chrono and started the 5 laps, a total of 20km, along the side of the lake.

Dorney Lake is a purpose built rowing lake out near Eton and will host the 2012 Olympic rowing events. It makes for a great traffic free race with smooth paths along the side of the lake. Of course you are then confined to doing laps, but hey, a sprint distance race isn't about enjoying the scenery.

The bike leg went very fast and I managed to rein in all of the girls to get into 1st place. It was very windy out there which actually worked to my advantage. The Dutchman and I have spent the past few months tinkering with the Focus Izalco Chrono so I am as aerodynamic as possible. I have also been doing quite a lot of training on the bike to really get to know the gears and what works best. Last night I felt like I was slipping under the wind and it didn't feel like a hard effort. The twice weekly Regents Park intervals are paying off!

I did a quick T2 quickly slipping into my new Pear Izumi running shoes I received last week (thanks Pearl Izumi & Wiggle!!). The great thing about them is they don't have any seams which means no socks. In previous races I always had to put socks on because of problems with blisters but last night I was out of transition super fast.

I decided to put the hammer down early and try and open up a gap on the run to give myself some breathing space in case it went wrong later in the race. It was a 2 lap course for 5km and the wind was really blowing. I wasn't really over taking many people but felt like I was running strong. On the way home on the 2nd lap I tried to put a bit more pace in and managed a slight increase in speed. I had seen a few of the girls at the turn around points but was confident that I had enough of a lead that they wouldn't catch me so I reverted back to my original target of going under 1:15. I finished strong and was pleased to be home in 1:14:33 nabbing 1st place by a 90 sec gap. I have a £50 voucher and some new goggles to show for it so not bad at all for a bit of mid week action.

Happy training and more after this weekend 100 mile challenge in the Chilterns.
Cx