The
Vitruvian Triathlon 2013
1900m
swim (1.2 miles)
85 km
bike (52.8 miles)
21 km run
(13 miles)
The Bike
So off I set on the bike leg. I felt
fresher than I expected. The course leads uphill out of the entrance to Rutland
Water then uphill slightly on the main road. I used this as an excuse to go
slow, catch my breath from making the change from swimming to cycling and get
into a rhythm. I knew a steep downhill was coming leading to the roundabout at
Oakham. I tried getting my head around this. I do get the fear on steep
downhills! I get more confident the longer I am on the bike. Anyway, I held
back a little on the first lap. I had done the route before, on a practice run
and at the Dambuster, so I knew what was coming, but my brain tends to remember
bits instead of full routes, and I struggle to put the pieces together in the
right order. This meant that as soon as I took the left at the Oakham
roundabout, I expected to pretty much straight away hit the Rutland Ripple (the
big double down then up section that is not very nice on the uphills!). This
wasn’t the case, by probably at least a mile if not two, so I had a massive
build up of anticipation whilst I got to it. It wasn’t the uphill I was
bothered about. I knew I could make it up, even if I hit my super slow any
slower and I’ll stop speed in my last possible gear, I knew I could hold that
for as long as I needed. Again, it was
the downhill that bothered me. I tried to let it go and people were rushing
past me much faster than I was going, but I just couldn’t let it go. I held off
until I was partway down, then let go of the brake. I think if I had a closed
road I would feel safer, because if I came off I had no chance of then also
being hit by a a car. To me this was the difference between gravel rash and, at
worst, a broken bone compared to potentially ending up dead (such a drama
queen). Whatever. As I had already learned, my head had much more influence
over my performance than my body. I was working on this and there wasn’t much
more I could do right then. Clearly holding back on the downhill made the
uphill more difficult than it needed to be because I had less momentum, so I
slogged myself up the other side and found I had developed an internal mantra: “Not
as bad as Bigby, not as bad as Bigby” which is a super-steep evil curving hill
that Chris had built into our training route to prep for these hills. It was
true, it wasn’t as bad as Bigby, for steepness, but it seemed to last forever!
Whereas Bigby was more of a short sharp shock. Anyway, that seemed to help!
The Vitruvian Cycle Route (do twice) |
There were a few more landmarks,
but the scenery, as much as it was beautiful, all started to look the same. It
was only when I got through Ketton, turning a sharp left, I felt that I was on
the home straight. It hadn’t felt like it had taken as long as I had expected,
even though the journey had been filled with the usual messing with your own
head issues such as “If I deliberately stack my bike I won’t have to finish, I
could just stop” type thoughts. That and praying for a flat. This is when you
end up with time to think about how far you have come, how far you have left
overall, and how long it is all taking. Not helpful, but then what else are you
gonna think about on the bike leg of a triathlon?! This would alternate to
thoughts of “thank god I haven’t got a flat, I just need to get the bike leg
done then I know I can plod the run” and “I’m doing it! I’m gonna actually
finish!” Unfortunately, the event photographer appears to have caught me in one
of my unhappier moments!
Not looking too chuffed... |
Nothing particularly eventful
happened on the bike leg. I remember feeling properly in sync with my bike and
being really happy about it, like “this is TOTALLY the right bike for me! She’s
AMAZING!” and feeling like everything was pretty smooth. I had a mental
counting thing going on that was helping me keep my cadence up and make sure I
was in the right gear to maintain my cadence. I’d gone past a speed camera
feeling pretty comfortable and it had clocked me at 20mph, so I counted whilst
pumping my legs “twen-ty, twen-ty”. The things you do on a long repetitive road
ride!
I came in after the first lap
thinking “crap I never practised bottle pick up!” just as I was headed at a
load of people holding out high 5 bottles. I lobbed mine at a guy gesturing frantically
at me and shouted “high 5” twice before one of the bottle guys went “up ahead”.
The first guys were giving out water only but I knew I needed the electrolytes
because I can get cramp in my calves. As much as I preferred water because I
just find it more refreshing and pleasant to drink, I knew I needed the extra
content the high 5 would give me. Turned out it was a pretty tasty and not
syrupy one anyway, which was good. I managed to grab a bottle without fumbling
about, but I was going pretty slowly just to make sure I got it. I couldn’t get
round again without it as I could feel it was getting warm by this point.
I headed out for the second lap surprised to
find myself feeling good. I was over halfway through the bike leg, though I had
expected to feel more like “Oh no not again!”. I was more confident now I had
warmed up and spent some time on the bike, so I let rip on the hill down to the
roundabout. I came up to the roundabout with some momentum, and realised I was
rapidly gaining on a woman ahead, who was slowing to deal with the roundabout
and was alongside a car. There was nowhere for me to go and both cyclist and
driver looked like they were going to stop... at an empty roundabout. I wasn’t
about to slow down to unclipping pace, so I said “Come on go go go!”. The woman
jumped and got a shift on. I apologised as I rode past, but felt I shouldn’t
have had to say it anyway really! (She overtook me back later!)
I still held back for the ripple!
It was just too big! I went into a kind of plodding get through it headspace
for the rest of the time. Just finish it! I felt excited coming in from the
bike. The end felt properly in sight! The run was going to feel short relative
to the bike. I gave Fran a thumbs up coming in from the bike. I was elated.
Next, run!
The Run
I got into transition again
feeling better than expected. I quickly changed shoes and started heading out
when someone let me know I was still wearing my bike helmet! I shed that and
hit the run. I didn’t feel tired at this point. More over the moon! I headed
out, which again was slightly uphill. My expectation of struggling with this straight
off the bike wasn’t realised, which boosted my confidence. I could hear the guy
on the tannoy announcing finishers, but instead of thinking “Crikey I’ve got
the whole run to do yet” I just thought “That will be me soon!” and buzzed off
the happy atmosphere. I think I was almost in denial about the amount of time I
had left to do, which was at least 2 hours!
The first bit of “urgh” was just
where the run skirted the lake, at about half a mile out, when there’s a short,
steep uphill which is just what you need! I never for one second thought about
the run as a half marathon. I think that would have done me in. It was 4 5km
runs. The run route was two laps of an out and back. So 5km out, 5km back, 5k
out again, and 5km back. This rings a bell to when I was marshalling the
Outlaw, which is ironman full distance so finishes with a marathon. I cannot
remember who said it, but one of the guys doing it was saying they were seeing
it as 4 10km runs and explained how he had broken it into sections. Perhaps
this had settled in my head, but all I could think afterwards was how detrimental
to my state of mind it would have been to even think half marathon when I was starting the run. So I’m buzzing
totally. I can hear the music from the finish for some of the run, and I’m back
in a group of competitors rather than being in the middle of nowhere on my todd
on the bike leg. It felt a lot different.
I got over the dam, about halfway through the
first “out” when I clocked my friend Nick heading towards me having already hit the turn around point. I gave him a shout. He had clearly
been working very hard as it took him a second to recognise and acknowledge me.
He seemed a bit dazed. To me, this was a massive boost. I had had it in my head that the guys’ would
have finished by the time I got on the run (they had been in earlier swim waves
and were generally MUCH faster than me at everything!). Only a few yards
further on I clocked another friend, Aidy, and gave him a shout. He just looked
at me and shook his head. He didn’t look very happy at all so I let him be.
Another few hundred yards and I spotted Jonny. Now I was really confused and
wondering what lap everyone was on as Jonny was more in line with my speed than
Aidy and Nick’s so I shouted to ask what lap he was on and he replied “one” and
we did a high five. This made sense. Aidy and Nick must have been on the home
straight. I was still boosted by seeing them all and my first lap felt great. I
was feeling really hot though. It was now lunchtime and the sun was fully up. I
was taking water at every feed station. I was sick to the back teeth of high
five now and hoped I wouldn’t start cramping. I necked half a banana on my way
out on the first lap, which seemed to go down fine. On my first “back” I
stopped at the portaloo. I was pretty impressed with myself at not having
needed the loo already! I came back in and picked up a gel from the marshalls
before turning to head out again. This was when I started flagging. I just
seemed to slump! I knew I’d slowed a bit, but I think I had finally hit that “given
all I’ve got” stage. I felt like I’d run out of resources. I just kept going. I
knew I wasn’t doing bad for time. At the final turning point (5km to go) I
stopped for a second to drink some water and asked for the time. My legs were
giving me a load of grief in the muscle over the knee, in both legs. I gave them
a seconds rest. The lady said 1.30pm. At the time, my head couldn’t even
compute what that meant. I knew I had been thinking 2pm would be good but I
couldn’t figure out the time. I just remember I knew 1.30pm was good and I felt
chuffed anyway! I grabbed another half banana just for the home straight and
plodded my way back through. We were few and far between now, and I
acknowledged the people behind me as I passed them. We’d done this bit
together!
I came down to the finish line
making sure my number was visible. I wanted to hear my name called out and
those magic words “You are a Vitruvian!” I was so happy! I waved my arms in the
air coming down to the finish line. I crossed it and all I could think about
was getting back in the lake. I’d had this image in my head at several points
on the bike and run. I sat down in a chair immediately. I’d felt nauseous
stopping at the end of the Dambuster and wanted to check I wasn’t going to feel
that way again. I felt ok. Voices popped up behind me and there were hands on
my shoulders. The A team had come to congratulate me! I couldn’t even think, I
just wanted to get my t-shirt (proof I’d done it!) and get my ass in that lake!
I asked a marshall if it was ok to go in and he said “Put it this way, that’s
what all the elites did as soon as they finished”. I needed no further
encouragement. I headed in aiming to get at least thigh deep. I ended up laid
in it with only my head out. It felt brilliant!