With two weeks to go until Auckland (three until race day) I have been trying to keep the motivation going for the final couple of weeks. I have been running and swimming regularly but since coming back to Rutland, my cycling has suffered.
Last weekend (23rd September) saw my second attempt at the London Triathlon after completing it back in 2010 as my first ever Olympic Distance. Race preparation had been far from ideal with the two and a half week break away in South Africa eating and drinking what cannot be said to be all that healthy for a triathlete!
Anyway, the run up into the race was a long busy week of catching up with work and a conference in Leeds before our journey to London on the Saturday.
Arriving with another friend of ours who was also racing on the Sunday we arrived at our hotel in plenty of time with Tom's family and his girlfriend Kelly to support us. After a brief walk around Canary Wharf, we decided to eat at Jamie's Italian early on in the evening to give us plenty of time to sleep, or so we thought! I have since decided that the Travelodge was probably not the best place to sleep as I probably only managed a couple of hours kip before my earlier start time than the boys.
I was up at 6am and breakfasted before creeping out to drive to the Excel.
With all the diversions due to the race, traffic was totally mental and I was late in getting to the centre. The weather wasn't too bad, but not entirely good either with heavy overcast clouds and a slight chill in the air.
The Excel centre is immense with huge arenas for parking and the transition. But I was quite confident as I had done this all before. Annoyingly the boys weren't off until 2.30pm, by which time I would have been long finished and ready for bed!
Getting ready for the race in transition was interesting as you had no allocated position, and having arrived later than I planned to, chip was collected and I struggled to find a suitable place to rack my bike. The other issue is that with over thousands of bikes and racking, you really have to know where you have placed your bike and bits.
With plenty of first-timers there it was quite obvious really as people had spread all their bits all over the place in front of their bikes or to the side. I had to ask one girl to move her menagerie of materials so that I could place my bike on the rack. Having raced a few times now, I literally only have my running shoes (sometimes my running cap if hot) next to my bike. I have learnt that you don't need all that much really! Anyway after finalising my position, it was over to the swim warm up and briefing where we were informed that we were the largest ladies wave with over 450 people there. I missed my opportunity to get in the first wave of these ladies and ended up in the second wave of swimmers.
Walking out to the water, a guy then came over to interview me with a huge camera! It was quite off putting as I was psyching myself up for the race. But clearly I must have look relaxed!
Getting into the water, it was quite fresh but not as cold as I have swum in, and positioning myself around 2nd row back, I found that I was in the ideal position, or so I thought!
On the starting hooter, it was legs and arms everywhere, but being quite confident, I was able to work my way up through the swimmers quite confidently. It was only really on the turn around that I managed to get into some free space as I had caught up the stragglers of the previous wave.
Exiting the water, I was surprised to see what I considered a slow time of 27:42, however on reflection I was probably in the first wave of swimmers, and after watching Will's swim time of 23:14 later on, I felt a lot better about my swim performance.
Weather forecasts had been predicted the mother of all storms to be approaching the UK on that Sunday and it was to begin with some fairly strong easterly winds. This meant that the out leg of the bike route down to Westminster was fast, however the return leg with the ever increasing winds was getting more and more difficult! Anyway after the second lap and on returning into the Excel centre, you have to go up a fairly sharp ramp into T2. I was a little bit under prepared and changed down gears on the ramp and suddenly my chain was off. I then had to hop off the bike and try to put the chain back on. It was firmly stuck however and I had to take off my shoes and run the extra bit into T2. I felt like such an idiot!
My bike time of 1:16:03 was a slight improvement on 2010, but I felt that with a different route to the last time (i did the Tower Bridge route in 2010) I was a bit stronger and therefore 2 minutes was still an improvement.
By this point the heavens had began to open and I was quite cold, but I knew that I would warm up for sure on the run.
The run is a torturous 4 laps of 2.5km but is effectively out and back so you end up running back on the same path with the hundreds of other competitors. I was trying to focus on a strong core and body, but my back just wasn't playing ball. My left calf also decided to cramp up so it was a case of mind over matter! Time to dig deep and pull out all of the stops. It was also becoming a game of dodge the walker and avoid the elite junior boys who were racing through at top notch speed! It did make me smile though every time I passed the Charity tents with their loud cheers for pretty much every single person running. This is probably what makes this race one of the best really. It is great for spectator support and good when it rains as you can watch the race pretty much under cover.
Other than that though, it is an expensive race and even though you get a medal at the end, you do somehow feel a bit shortchanged, especially given that you have had to stay the night before as well. A goody bag wouldn't go amiss from this event.
All in all a good race, but I don't know if I would go again given the amount of hassle it is as well as having to enter the race a full 10 months or so in advance.
And so it is back onto training. I have started to play hockey again after a break for a time and I find it is really great to supplement my running training as it is like interval or fartlek training with a bit of skill involved! I used to play a lot when I was younger and really enjoyed it so have decided to get back into it. I am coming away from training pretty tired but it is all good fun and I have played a few matches.
This week has also been quite tough on my body. Normally come September and it's time to have a bit of a rest for the body so that you can recover not only physically but also mentally. It can become a bit of a battle of the mind and body when you have raced over the year and want to wind down.
I have visited my physio and sports massage therapist lots over the past week, and therefore I have to give them full credit for keeping my body together at the moment. Although I have been asked that I do rest and recover after the race! I certainly will take their advice on that one.
My plans are that after the race in New Zealand I will have a few weeks off to eat, drink and do what I like and then get back into some training. My year will be focused on the London Marathon, the ETU Sprint Triathlon in Turkey and possibly thoughts of a middle distance come September 2013.
Hopefully your training/season has been a successful one, and I hope that you are recovering nicely for the winter training to kick off soon!
Happy training! :)
