Big Day at Little Woody

Finish: 06:53:14
2K Swim (+400m jog to T1) 00:42:22
100K Bike 04:06:30
20K Run 02:04:20

Race report

The little woody half Ironman distance triathlon was my A1 race of the year and the primary target of all of my training. Overall my training season had gone quite well, almost making the target volumes set out in my plan. I did have a bit of an issue in early June when I was flattened with a cold and I also struggled to recover from the Worcester triathlon, to the point of overtraining. Overall in fact the base phases of my training went very well but I struggled to increase the intensity moving to the build phase. I think the lesson to take away is that I should have been gradually increasing intensity earlier in the season through base two and base three.

A big difference this year to any other year of triathlon training was the high-volume of open water swimming which made a huge difference on race day (more later).

I had a very easy taper/peak phase, due mainly to enforced rest brought on by a strange inner ear infection which did strange things to balance. I did however do to hard sessions about two weeks before the race. One swim plus fast run and one hilly bike set with Marco. In retrospect the fast hilly bike set may not have been a great idea, not because of what it took out of the legs but rather the raised expectation of pace which may have contributed to me going off a bit quick on the bike leg of the race.

I travelled down the night before and stayed over near the race as the logistics of the event are challenging to say the least. The swim start is about 15 km from the race headquarters and the bike to run transition. This meant having to attend the race briefing at the race HQ, picked up transition bags and then drive a considerable distance (with fairly shoddy directions) to the swim to bike transition to rack my bike. From there it was back to a very to star hotel in Monmouth (nice, clean but with a very dodgy clientele). Monmouth looks very pretty but on a Friday night it was full of beer bellies all out looking for a fight, so I gave it a miss. There was little point in trying to get some decent food anyway as my guts had gone into open revolt as per usual! I did manage to eat some off the bland food I brought with me but it was a struggle. I spent the evening setting out my kit and packing my transition bags already for the morning.

Race day

04:45 get up.
05:00 try to get some breakfast down, this involved much chewing but little swallowing of my muesli! I can never eat properly prerace which is a bloody nightmare particularly as I favour longer distance events (Muppet).
05:15 exit hotel with all my race bags ready to go (or not...?)

A quick drive across to the race HQ, drop off my run bag and catch the bus. While sat on the bus I did in last mental run through of my kit. Then it struck. Where is my hydration pack? Oh no! Hanging neatly on the back of the chair in the hotel. Nice. So bit of a mild panic followed by a minor brainwave. I asked the driver to give me two minutes grace and dashed to the car to pick up some bottles and a broken behind the seat bottle rack which had two cages attached. Dealing with this last-minute panic actually helped settle my nerves on the basis that this was the customary stuff up of the day out of the way.

Arriving at T1 borrowed a set of Allen keys and sorted out the cages. There was plenty of good chat to be had in transition with lots of nice folks doing the race. There was a little bit of extra standing around as the full distance race had got off to a slightly late start. The swim entrance and exit was somewhat, shall we say, rustic. The lake water was relatively warm but also very murky.

And they're off

The swim started into the sun which meant that there was no chance of actually citing the navigation boys but as the course follows the lake shore getting lost wasn't really an option. There was a nice amount of argy-bargy and contact at the start and good measure my goggles leaked for the first time since I've owned them. Previously I think all of these factors would have been enough to upset me greatly (like the panic attack I had at Hawley lake last year) but the tonnes of open water swimming meant that I wasn't fazed in the least and quickly, after emptying my goggles, I settled into a good strong rhythm and exited the 2 km swim in 40 minutes feeling in good shape for the bike ride.

Big bike

Now I knew from the fact that there was a double loop for the full distance and a single loop for the half distance, plus the ride from swim start to race HQ, that either one race was long one race was short. It turns out the little Woody draws the long straw. The bike course actually feels like two different courses, one hilly course on twisty lanes and one rolling course on open roads. My target pace off 28-30 KPH was ambitious on that course.

The weather on the day was perfect and the scenery is pretty good, which keeps the mind off things. However over the second half of the bike leg I was feeling very close to the dreaded bonk and was doing all I could to get as much food as possible on board. The feed stations on the route were well-stocked with the notable exception of something salty. I was saved at the second feed station by a nice woman who gave me peanuts which were intended for her husband, but she taught he could spare a few! Thanks Misses. The final climb into Coleford on the bike nearly did me in and at that stage I was thinking I would almost certainly drop out after finishing the bike. Over the last mile or so I talked myself into finishing even in the event of having to walk most of the half marathon. Overall the bike was 99 km with about 1000 m of climbing. Nice. I was glad to hand my bike to the nice man in transition.

Run Fatboy run.

Still toying with the idea of a DNF I sat on the very comfortable white plastic chairs in transition and put my runners on. Looking left and right I was seated with two other athletes who looked like decent endurance racers who had also just finished the bike. Encouraged by the fact that I wasn't in poor company I talked myself into (and to some extent was talked into by a nice man with a beard) making a nice steady start on the run and seeing how things went from there. Out of transition, a long pause in the feed station, and off onto the run I was feeling a bit sorry for myself. This sorry for myself feeling lasted all of about two minutes as my run legs kicked in and I was putting out a very steady five minute kilometre pace. It's very strange the difference between the two disciplines and how you can be almost broken on the bike and yet well able to run. I thought this may have been a false dawn rather than a second wind so I deliberately throttled back on the run pace over the first quarter of the course. This was a wise decision as though I didn't ever feel like I was going to have to walk I did flag somewhat over the midsection of the run. On the last quarter of the run I hit a bit of a purple patch which may in part have been due to taking in caffeine. It was very nice after feeling horrendous at the bike finish to be able to finish strong on the run.

And we're done

The finish itself was an anticlimactic affair as there was little atmosphere at the finish line. One was left with the feeling of "okay so that's that done, what next". The showers however were cracking. It makes a real difference to have a good shower at the end of the race. Showered, shaved and with a burger and chips in the belly I arrived home looking apparently "normal". Which is a good sign. My legs were quite sore the next day but other than that no apparent ill effects.

Overall view

I was quite happy with the swim, particularly the degree to which I was comfortable in the open water. My technique needs a lot of work still but my strength and endurance on the swim have never been better.

Getting in the big miles on the bike is the killer as it is the most time consuming aspect of training and I felt that this was a limiter in the race and I was quite dissatisfied with just how rough I felt finishing the bike. Hillclimbing has never been my strong suit but this really showed strongly in the race. For next year I will have too treat this as my limiter and focus a lot on strength in the bike..

A good run though! I felt strong as soon as I made the transition from bike to run and I probably could have pushed harder at my confidence not been knocked by nearly DNF off the bike.

I have always counted biking as my strongest element and it came as a bit of a surprise really that this should be the weak link in this race.

After a long season of training I have mixed feelings about the race as I am not sure I am satisfied with my performance? Or maybe I am? I think I let it sink in for a week and see how I feel about it then.