Upton on Severn Tri

Swimming in the river Severn. In July. Mmm. The clearest river yet or possibly something to do with weeks of dry weather and the 30 degree sunshine glistening in the water. 58 women entered the water at 12:30. My new race plan - long slow strokes with a bit of input from my legs to achieve the planned 34 minute swim. By 750 m it was clear just how easy this was going to be. Half way and I was full of enthusiasm. Believing this meant I was going too slow, I put in some effort. Worryingly, this resulted in foot cramp with 50 m to go which was staved off by dropping the feet and continuing with the arms at accellerated pace. Instead of just one or two people behind me, there were apparently more than 5. TSK called out a time of 30 minutes to me making me very happy. Best as I could I skipped into transition. With a long and uncomfortable run alongside transition to the opposite end of the field I crossed the timing mat at 31:44.

Now, I thought this was an efficient transition but I seem to have fumbled with a bunch of food to sate the hunger which set it before the swim. 04:33 apparently.

Stuck behind two annoying fellas wearing their shoes on their pedals instead of their feet, I was slow getting onto the road. Lap average speeds of 29.2km/hr on the first and 31.6km/hr on the second lap. I really enjoyed the bike. Arms exhausted, climbing normally was an issue but the legs seemed unperturbed and continued to power me up hill like the bike was posessed. I passed people I didn’t expect to… a number of times as they passed me back. The only hint that things were going wrong was the echo of a cramp as I climbed the last long, slow climb.

I swept into the final turn in a flurry and hopped off the bike. I think I shrouded a yelp pretty well as my hamstrings cramped. Oops… and knees. Double oops. TSK shouted 2:03 at me which sounded a bit crap to be fair but on later inspection turned out to put me 8th placed bike out of 56 women in the race.

The 4 minute transition was down to me lying around on the ground getting shoes changed, finding more food. Heading out on to the run with a cramping belly through eating a banana and not drinking enough water. From the first water stop, things seemed to speed up - despite the fact that I felt dreadful - even compared to the end of the 15km trail run I did last month. Alas, no, things were not improving. 9.55 kph on the first lap, 8.14kph on the second lap. That’s 6:17min/km on the first and 7:22min/km on the second.

Short of catching around 4 people who were going slower than me, my only fun came from a little friendly banter with fellow competitors and jolly encouragement from spectators.

The last 100m were the only ones that were in the shade so a sudden acceleration came and I crossed the line with a modicum of decency though had to walk away from the timing-chip collectors as I didn’t dare stop fast enough for them to strip me of my timing chip.

All in all, a good race but summed up by shocking management of effort led to a poor finish. I’m pretty proud of myself though as I discovered 36 hours later that I was heading for a nasty bout of gastroentoritis on which I can blame my failure to beat any records.

Better luck for the next one I guess.

Result:
Swim: 31:44 (216) 1500m (this included a mamoth run between exit and the timing line)
T1: 4:33
Bike: 1:22:19 (121) 40km
T2: 3:09
Run: 1:09:24 (221) 10km
3:11:12