After the last 6 months of focusing on getting into shape for the European Duathlon Championships (Kalkar) it was about time my focus shifted back to triathlon. So my traithlon season opener was going to be the Driffield sprint triathlon, a pool based sprint triathlon consisting of a; 400 m swim, 18 km bike and a 5 km run. This race is always on my radar as its both a great locally organised race and it fits perfectly into my build up for Nottingham sprint triathlon (normally a GB qualifier). This year however I wasn't using it to prepare me for Nottingham as its the same weekend and one of my best friends wedding in Malta (which I'm going to).
Triathlon's are infamous for early starts, however being a pool based tri your start time is dictated by your swim time, thus the faster you are the later you start. I was starting in the the penultimate wave, which was great as it meant I had time in the morning to chill and get in the grove. Sally and I set of with ~90 minutes before the start of my wave, so after factoring in travel time this meant I would have over an hour to register, rack my bike and set up transition before blast off!
The swim was very well organised as always with people counting lengths for you. There were two others in my lane and wave, we were allowed in a bit early so we could have a quick warm up. Just before the start I we all were discussing our swim times, we were all of a similar speed and as i was the last in our wave I had it in my head that I would justdraft off them! :-). I had a really good swim, swimming the quickest I have and was certainly within myself, so feel super happy and confident with my swim at the moment. I was quickly out of the pool and into T1, which was drilled and I was soon out and onto the bike.
Once onto the bike course this was time for me to put some serious power down and smash the course. As part of my triathlon training I race in a local TT league so I knew I would be in good shape for this part of the race. The first half of the bike course is a little lumpy and into a headwind, which made things tough going. Once out of the wind it was eyeballs out, keeping as aero as possible and smash the biggest gear I could, whist keeping a high cadence. I was able to up my speed even further once on the final push to home as the course took us along a main "A" road! On the approach to T2 it was time to take my feet out of my tri-shoes, before jumping off my bike at the "dismount line" before heading into T2.
After a good T2, I was quickly into the first of three laps. The first lap seemed pretty tough and it took me while to get into my stride. This year they had slightly changed the run route, through the school and leisure centre, but it was a definite improvement. Once onto the second lap I was feeling really good and was now passing other competitors with ease, my pace was winding up nicely. Now on to the third and final lap it was time for me to start planning when I would kick for the finish, I decided it would be once taking the final turn through the school, which would leave me about 400 m to hang on. With about 150 m to go I could hear Sally cheering me on and that gave the final boost I needed to finish, at full gas!
I finished joint 9th in a time of 59 minutes and 30 seconds and 2nd in my age-group. i'm buzzing with that as its a new PB over that course.
As always a massive thanks to my sponsors Meridian Foods and Coconoil, as well as my coach Ian Mayhew (Gears & Tears). Now on to Malta for to celebrate Nathen and Natalie's wedding.
Seriously focused and time to go full gas for the final lap!! Thanks for the picture Freebird events.
