What a day. The night before the race I lay awake listening to the fireworks in Nottingham (great timing), that went on till gone 11 and then to the couple in the next room who talked very loudly till 1am. I realised that it was going to be along one. Eventually I guess I managed 3 hours sleep before gathering all of my gear and heading off down the race venue. All was calm as I loaded the bike with various foods and gels. As I pulled on my wetsuit the sun was coming up for what was to be a memorable day. We piled into the rowing lake and it was cold, I did 5 minutes warming up and then waited for the start. The swim was straightforward enough up and down the lake and then out straight into T1. I had made the decision to wear a trisuit so no need to change, simply dry my feet, put on my helmet and go.
The air was a bit chilly whilst my trisuit dried, I also realised that the bike computer still wasn’t working, so it was all going to be guess work for the bike section. The course was pretty friendly, not too much climbing with some straight sections to get stuck into. I settled into a rhythm fairly quickly and was delighted when I hit the first loop point. I re-set my timer so that I could calculate an approximate bike time. The second loop was ok as I started to recognise familiar landmarks. When I hit the second loop point I checked my watch and it read 1:46 for 30 miles. I was very happy with this and calculated that I could complete the bike section in less than 7 hours. This in turn would give me the chance of breaking 13 hours for the entire event. The final lap came in at just over 1:47 which meant that provided I didn’t hang around I could do it. However, as I was thundering down a nice little decent I noticed a small buckle in the front wheel. I stopped to check the tyre wasn’t about to blow, satisfied that it wasn’t I carried on. The ride into T2 was fine and I was reassured that I wasn’t last. The bike had held out, so now it was just me and a pair of running shoes.
As I went out of T2 I felt good. My legs were ok and I settled into an easy rhythm, checking my heart rate every few minutes. I was clocking 9:30 minutes per mile which although slow would achieve my goal of sub 13 hrs. The first 5 miles flew past as did the second 5. Then I started to feel a little uncomfortable. As I approached the 13 mile point, I was ok but could tell that I needed to be careful not to blow it in the last 2 hours. Mile 16 came and went and by mile 20 I decided some strategic planning was needed. By this stage I could see a sub 12:35 was on the cards and using my GPS calculated that provided I stuck to 12 minute miles I could make it. However, a few fellow competitors were having difficulties. One guy passed out and another was throwing up. If that happened to me then it was all over. Although it pained me to do so I devised a plan to walk the first tenth of the mile, then run until my GPS clocked 11 minute mile, then walk again until it hit 12 minute mile and so on till I clocked up another mile. It was a process that focused me on something other than the light headedness etc I was feeling. I told myself:
"The primary goal is to finish, if you pass out you can’t do that"So it went on until I hit the 26 mile mark.
At that stage I had dreamed that I would have a new lease of life. I would then sprint down the funnel to the cheers of the crowds. However, I didn't. The pain was too great as I ran the final 385 yards. Thinking back it would have been fun to do the wobble that you see people do where their legs just give out but I didn't. My sense of humour was absent temporarily. Crossing the line was ok. I had achieved what I had set out to in a time that was good. I walked into the food tent and immediately felt sick. After grabbing a plate of pasta I collected my gear, loaded the car, rang home and set off stopping every hour or so to let the pain in my legs subside.
By 11pm I was home.It had been a long day
As I lay in bed my thoughts went back to my time. 12:32 and a bit. I started to wonder what I could have achieved with 2 good nights sleep beforehand, 3 weeks tapering not 4, a lighter bike, legs that are equal in strength an aero helmet, more effective nutrition and a whole years more experience.
Mmm interesting
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