My third triathlon for the season was on Monday the bank holiday just passed and as usual, the British weather never fails to deliver...........COLD and RAIN!
After a restless nights sleep, and my Nero (cat) being ill throughout the night simply waking up at 5am to get ready for this race I wasn't in the right mindset. To be completely honest I simply didn't want to do the race. I even tweeted about it. However I could not let myself down or #TeamPinches.
So I got into my gear and my lovely friend/cotriathelete @CarolineSmith00 picked me up from my house and got me to @HamptonPool for the @ThamesTurboRaceSeries.
It was raining, cold and miserable. Only 256 triathletes turned up to race, over 400 were registered and paid to race, however they were smart an opted not to do it. The whole time I kept on thinking and saying to my fellow triathletes, I really don't want to race. However as I was now there and geared/racked up, there was no way I couldn't race.
I was number 107 and as so many people had not shown up, I was pretty much in the water within 20 mins of the race starting. I got in and started with my swim. Well what a disaster, didn't take my inhaler (which I think is more now a security blanket sometimes) and I basically struggled the entire 12 lengths. Time out of the pool was 00:12:49. Pretty rubbish and I was slower than Race 2 of this series. So not happy.
T1 was much quicker than my previous race, I was in and out within 00:01:49, I literally put my gear and got the hell out there.
The bike is usually my strongest leg, but the conditions simply were not my friend. My gears also were playing up, I struggled to get my chain into the big ring for a little while, removing my focus on powering through. Throughout the course the water covered the road and the headwind was atrocious. My lower back kept kicking in with pain, this I must say was one of my worse bike legs I had had in a long time. The pain with all the elements mother nature was displaying simply had gotten to me mentally. One positive from the bike leg was that I managed to transfer my #Garmin from the bike to my wrist and I had taken my feet out of my shoes whilst on the bike making the T2 transition a quicker one again. Bike leg was completed in 0:50:56 and T2 in 00:01:39.
On to the run, I remembered my mantra of BREATHE but I did struggle to find my rhythm in the first 1km. Lucky for me I had an energy gel in my pocket of my jacket. Once I remembered I had it I took it out straight away and got that into me for extra fuel. Whether it actually helped or not I have no idea, but for my mind had said yes I felt that my pace had picked up. I continued to run round with cheers from the crowd and my fellow turbos. On the second and final lap, @CarolineSmith00 also my numpty twin joined me to assist in picking up the pace and to assist me in finishing strong. I did like I always do, demonstrate my trademark sprint at the end. I did feel my sprint wasn't as fast as my previous finishes but I gave it all I had in the tank. Run completed in 00:31:52. Slightly faster than Race 2 in this series.
Overall time was 01:39:05. I was happy to remain under 1:40. No PB on this occasion.
Learning's from this race:
* I do not like pool based triathlons after spending lots of time in the lake
* MINDSET is everything. On this race day I wasn't mentally there.
Next race is 23 June OWS Aquathon - 750m lake swim/5km run
Till next time
Smooches
xxx
Labels: Racing, Thames Turbo, Triathlons, Weather
