This weekend was the Nokia Royal Windsor Triathlon. An Olympic distance race in a stunning setting. Where else can you race in the shadows of such a famous landmark?The weekend started at 7am on Saturday with preparations for a football tournament!
The Cougars were in a tournament in Cirencester on Saturday morning with the start scheduled for 9am! Luca and I were up early and breakfasted waiting for our lift. The plan was that we would get a lift to Cirencester and that Sue and Amelie would then pick up where we would then continue on to Windsor. Racking at Windsor needs to be done before 4:25pm on the pre-race Saturday.
I loaded up the family car with my kit and bike – panicking that I forgotten something which is ridiculous!
The tournament at Cirencester was brilliant! Really well run with good teams competing. The format was a 7 team league with the tope two playing off for the final. Games were 5mins each way. We had a strong squad of 8 players and agreed a rotation policy that saw them each miss two group games. In the group stages we lost only one match winning 2 and drawing the other 3. Through all of this we only conceded three goals in the 6 matches. The last group game was tense with a win required to qualify. We won that match 2-1 with a last gasp goal from a corner. We were in the final.
The final was against Cirencester A who had beaten us 1-0 n the group stages in what was a very tight game. The final would follow the same pattern with the score at 0-0 after full time and extra time. It was to be penalties, three each and then sudden death. We scored our first two with the third hitting the post. The Cirencester player stepped up to take their third penalty, if he scored it was sudden death, miss and we would win. He struck it and our keeper made the save! Cue pandemonium as our keeper was lost as the other boys dived on him! Great moments! There was a presentation of the trophies and then a hurried departure.
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We headed towards the M4 and Windsor!
We were there in plenty of time, I registered and racked my bike and helmet.
We then strolled into Windsor for a coffee break! A little more wandering with some shopping and then Wagamamas for dinner! We made our way back to the car park – it was locked! There was no way to get our car out! Luca and I jumped the gate to see if anyone with a key was around. They weren’t!! The plan B was to get our gear out of the car and then taxi to our hotel. As I was just considering this a guy who was camping in the car park said you could lift the locked gate off it’s hinges!! I checked it out and you could! Amazing, so I brought the car round, lifted off the gate and then put it back on! Nice and secure :)
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Race Day
This was a race over the Olympic distance and was my third year in the event. I was doing it again this year as the previous attempt had ended so miserably. In 2008 I bettered my 2007 time (marginally) but ended so full of cramp and in so much pain that it really took the fun out of it. My reason for entering this year was that I wanted to do well.
To me that meant finishing in a better time but also not finishing in such a state of disrepair.
The forecast for the weekend was rubbish with rain forecast. They could not have been more wrong, I have no idea what the temperature was but it was a beautiful day and perfect for racing. My start was 07:30 and the temperature was already at 14C. I jumped, with my fellow age groupers, into the Thames which was definitely colder (and dirtier) than the lake at Blenheim last weekend. I got my positioning wrong and was to the back of the field. The horn sounded and immediately I was in a scrum. Elbows, fists and feet were everywhere. As we made for the far side of the river I could not get clear water and took a hard blow to the right groin that rocked me back a bit. On the far side of the river the traffic was as bad and at one point I slowed and as my legs dropped I touched the back and walked a bit. Spotting some clear water I dived for it and then got clear. Unfortunately looking at my splits for the race the damage to my time was done. I am normal a comfortable sub 30min swimmer (still not fast I know) but to do 32mins was disappointing.
Clearing the swim it’s a short run into transition and to the bike. The sun was shining and at 8am it was really warm. My strategy for the bike was to just keep comfortable, that is to use the gears as best I could and keep my cadence high. I also wanted to be on my tri-bars for most of the cycle and just keep spinning. This was as previously my bike leg has not been strong and has left me with nothing for the run. Last year was an improved cycle leaving me with cramps in the run that I struggled with the whole way round. The bike course is very familiar and fairly fast, there are some rolling sections but nothing that could be defined as a climb of any note. The sun was beating down and there was little wind. The only real noise was the low rumble of guys flying past me on wafer thin carbon fibre flying machines with disc wheels! Oh for a new bike!
I do wonder what difference it would make to me - I am a plodder on the bike, not the strongest at all and so would one of these amazing bikes make a difference and how much time would I save?
I felt comfortable the whole bike ride, no twinges in my quads (tell tale signs of cramp) and the road down through the Great Park was fantastic. Down low on the bars, pedalling hard as the road leads down into Windsor. As I approached T2 I glanced at my watch and was really surprised at the time! For a fleeting moment I considered a 2:30 finish! I jumped off my bike and tip-toed through transition to my kit. Changing as fast as I could and out onto the run. I was a little nervous as I started as was half expecting cramp to set in. That didn’t happen and I settled into a rhythm for the three laps.
My run was similar to last week at Blenheim, I got into a pace and felt comfortable but could not then increase the speed. I was not suffering at all but I couldn’t up the ante. As I cam round for the final lap and into the home stretch I put a sprint to finish before the clock turned over to 10:35. My finish time was 02:34:54 which at the time I was thrilled with.
I stayed at the finish waiting for Nigel to come in, he came though very strongly and, it turned out, had broken the 2:30 barrier completing in 2:28 and turning in a sub 40minute 10km run. Hats off! Lightning didn’t strike twice for me and attentions now turn to London on August 2nd!
The results and positions cam through later in the evening and then I was disappointed. My swim was slow for me, the bike was much improved and then the run was also slow, considering how I felt. I shouldn’t lose sight of the goal I had for this race which was to finish well and not be physically wrecked afterwards. I achieved that, 10mins of my PB is not to be sniffed at and I was absolutely fine after the race no real after effects other than achy legs. I certainly wasn’t sick like I was last year!
It’s also good to know that the increased training and better quality training has paid dividends. The 55-60km rides followed by runs of around 5-7km have really made a difference to my fitness and performance, as they have also done to Nigel.
This will be my last Windsor triathlon despite Le Fassett’s pledge to be there next year. Three years running is enough and I want to try some different events. I’m now off to research how to run faster!
