Another week, another race...Mumbles duathlon, second race of 2013

As i raced last sunday and i was racing 6 days later the plan i got from Rose for this past week was easy going, the 80 min brick session again, the conditioning run 60 min total, and the 2hr swim squad, with the saturday swim post race as a recovery. The first part of the week i was quite tired, even though i was logging some serious sleep time. I do believe that it's due to alarms, jolting you from sleep, so i will definitely try and buy a natural light alarm thingy when i can afford it amongst the other things i want to buy for tri before Turkey. I also submitted another MSc assignment this week but i had to make a decision which was to not take on board all my tutor's feedback from the draft, and to submit what i was happy with, with the time and effort i felt able to give as the tutor's feedback was to add a hell of a lot extra into the assignment, with no words left to play with into the very restricted word count. Oh well, all that matters is a pass...i have bigger fish to fry!

This was my first multisport event where my parents weren't able to come and watch me, as they had gone on holidays, so i had borrowed my father's car to be able to use the roof bars, rather than dismantling my bike which always seems to slightly knock something out of kilter on the bike. A 7:30am race start meant a 5am alarm clock and porridge before 5:30am. I had registered the fright night and thankfully the weather forecast was right and the high winds and rain had eased, and Saturday morning was cold, breezy, but dry. This race had a lot of newbies, first timers, and i helped a few guys out in transition going through some rules, and giving them tips on transition. I had also forewarned a guy i knew from my brief climbing days, who was doing this as his first multisport event, about lunnon hill - a short but very sharp little lung/leg buster. If you're not in the right gear at the foot of this hill, coming in from a very fast downhill section, then you're stuffed basically.

I had a prime place in transition, although i wasn't happy coming into T2 when another bike had squeezed into the NO space that was between my spot and the guy next to me. The marshals helped me out by shifting the offending guy's bike over but seriously, there should be some recognition of what is space enough for a bike and transition stuff, and what is just an impingement on another athlete's race, who had bothered to get there early enough to get a spot in transition.

After last's week race i had decided to wear the same gear as even though it was cold i was happy with those layers - base layer, arm sleeves, club tri top, gloves, beanie, club tri shorts, leg warmers, socks. This time i had decided to keep my garmin on my wrist throughout as i was more bothered about using the data for my run pace, rather than getting bike feedback. happy to say it worked for the duration and it was great to see my pace in the final 5k was good going. Again there was another healthy crowd from celtic tri, and within the supporters, so always great banter and camaraderie on the course, with high 5s a plenty :)

My strategy again was keep a steady pace on the run but not pushing it, get up lunnon hill without issue, and then finish the race off. This was the first time since i have had my new bike that i would be going up lunnon hill, and only my 3rd time in total. As my old bike has a triple chainset the granny gear is lower than the lowest gear on my compact chainset on the Scott so it would be interesting to see how i fared. However, i am confident that the strength in my legs is enough to get me up most things as long as i switch my brain onto grinding out the pain.

On the run out i kept Jayne Arnold in my sights throughout, Jayne is a very good runner within the club, and i also knew that Christina Smith, Kona Ironman legend, was just behind me, so i wanted to keep my pace steady. I counted that i was about 5th female and overtook one girl on the way back towards T1, but as this race had both short and long routes it was hard to know who was doing what when out on the course. The long course which i did was 5k run, 32k bike, 5k run. The bike is a tough little course, with plenty of hills and with the exposed wind it made it even more challenging. The long drag up across fairwood common felt like a steep hill given the headwind we had. There were also side winds but alas no tail wind! Twice going around corners my back wheel twitched going over manhole covers so i wasn't going flat out on this course on certain sections, instead taking caution over flat out speed as the conditions weren't worth it. One section of fast downhill was stripped of tarmac for re-laying so this made for a bumpy slow section as i didn't want to be thrown off going over bumps and stuff. This was a no-overtaking zone for that reason so i made sure i passed a slower guy before reaching the section so i could at least move away from him. The marshals were great and the traffic decent in giving way knowing we were racing. Thankfully, lunnon hill was clear of traffic and there were only 2 other guys on the hill with me so it caused no problems. Yes, the pain set in at the steep U bend near the top of the hill, but i stayed seated, kept my cadence up, and focused on positive thoughts, rather than doubts about the pain. Yes my heart rate was probably through the roof, and my breathing was rapid for a little while afterwards so i wasn't sure how i would fare on the final hill up towards the mayals from kittle. Again i was pleased my legs were strong and i didn't need my lowest gear here, only using it for lunnon hill which the lowest gear passed with flying colours, so well done Tessa (my bike)!!

Back down towards T2 and again i slipped my feet out of my shoes before transition although before my next race i want to practice this as i know i am loosing time here by slowing down. However, it does make my T2 speedy and i was pleased with my transition times, although still room for improvement here.

My strategy on the bike was consume 1 energy gel, nectar fuel - tasty!, and i have a nectar 2:1 carb energy drink sachet in the water bottle. As it was i drank less than half the bottle but that was probably because of the wind and needing to keep the bike as stable as possible for a lot of the race in the sections that weren't going downhill or uphill! I knew there was water just into the second run so i was happy to wait for that. Energy wise felt strong throughout so happy with my strategy.

Last week the second run had felt hard work, maybe because of the hard week's training i had had, but this race i felt strong throughout the second run. I could tell that unless there was another much faster woman that had already won, that i was in 2nd place. I knew that the girl who was in first was the girl who had won last week's race and fair play to her, if she can run a 19min something first 5k, beat me by 1min on the bike and then hold a 22:30 min second 5k (1min quicker than me on second leg) then she is the better athlete (at the moment ;)). As i was in 2nd i put pressure on myself to hold my run pace, thanks to my garmin, and wanted to hold off Jayne Arnold who i could see was a little way behind me on the run when it came to passing each other after the final turn. Thankfully, no sprint finish was needed, as my legs were definitely tired, but with a final burst of speed to overtake a final guy i cruised home to take 2nd female :)

It was freezing to hang out afterwards for the presentations and because there were so many novices out there it meant that times were slow and people were still racing when we finished the presentations. I had 5 layers on and i was still cold, even though i had changed out of my sweaty race clothes. Even though it was cold there was still a little crowd for the presentations and again a number of the club won a prize so well done to James Hockin, Mike Tate, Jayne Arnold, and Christina Smith. Also well done to everyone who was taking part for the first time in a multisport event. it'd be great if people were motivated to join celtic tri after this race having seen our colours everywhere. I made a point of letting the guys i helped out in transition about the club, and i always encourage other athletes out on the course as i pass them, or if i see they are struggling. It was nice to get a little cheer as i won my prize and i was dead chuffed to win a sun visor, as i had been fancying that exact one for my trip to turkey, so a job well done all in all. I hadn't been bothered about the result, having done well last week, and given the weather, but 2 podiums in 2 weeks is fantastic and making me think whether next year i focus on the duathlon races as much as i do the tris...i might be better at duathlons?

saying that though, i have worked hard on my swim and i'm looking forward to mixing it up a bit in the masses with my swim now i am more confident, but again within reason. i did make swim last night as a recovery, and boy by the end did i feel how tired i was as my energy just went and my "pace" ground to a complete halt! Needless to say i am SO looking forward to a recovery day tomorrow spent on my sofa catching up on sky+ recordings!! Happy days :)