London Triathlon - 02/08/2009
August 3, 2009
So, it was down to London for my attempt at the Olympic distance triathlon of 1,500m swim, 40k bike and 10k run. I'd been given an early start time on Sunday, 8.30am, so i travelled down on Saturday staying over in Beckton just down the road from the Excel centre.
I wasn't so much nervous of the racing rather than all the logistics of getting myself down there and to the Excel centre on time and then what to do when i got there, it is after all the biggest triathlon in the world. However, my nerves were unfounded. I made the decision to get up early and get down to the Excel 2hours before my start time. So it was a 5am rise and with that comes the worry of what to eat. If i was at home it isn't a problem but staying in a hotel you're at the mercy of breakfast opening times and the "food" served. Anyway, breakfast at the hotel didn't start until 6am so it wasn't even an option as far as i was concerned, so i rose at 5am and wolfed down a loaf of Soreen and sipped on an Accelerade drink. The Excel centre was easy to find from the hotel and i parked up, at the cost of £10, around 6.30am. This gave me loads of time to sort my stuff, as with staying overnight i had loads of non-tri gear in my bag. It also gave me time to suss out the set up. Fortunately, the stairs from the car park led up to the competitors transition entrance and from there iwas guided to the chip collection area. Once chipped up it was back to transition to set everything up. As i was early for my wave i managed to get a decent transtion point that would be easy to locate from the "Swim In" entrance. It was 7am by the time i'd set up transition, so i left my gear and had a wander around the Expo, which was quiet at this time and bought a souvenier t-shirt (no freebies in London), i spotted Jenson Button here who was due to start his race soon and i wished him luck, he replied "Cheers Mate" obviously chuffed to bits to meet one of IronABS!! I wandered back to the car and dropped off all non-essetial stuff and made my way back to transition, to slip into the wet-suit warm up a bit and make my way to the swim assembly.
Once in swim assembly with cap on ready to go we were all notified that we were in fact part of the largest wave they had ever had in London of 530!! This raised a few smilies mainly from people who had visions of being swum over by 500 people!! In the end this didn't prove to far wrong, i was one of the first in the water and watching everyone pour in a swim up to the start was a sight to behold, unlike the turning buoy which couldn't be seen due to glaring sunlight even with tinted goggles on. As everyone made their way to the start i tried to think about my positioning not wanting to get swum over and i was right at the front so i moved back slightly and to the left this was a big mistake. As the klaxon went everyone seemed to swim over to the left hand side mainly to follow the masses as it was impossible to see anything in the glaring sunlight. It seemed the optimum spot to be was in the middle moving over to the right and coming into the left nearer the turning buoy. It was difficult to get any type of stroke going i couldn't kick my legs because people were on top of them or grabbing them, but you couldn't move to the side to find any space. I did manage to get into my stroke for a good 500m upto the truning buoy but then the meley started again. Once around the buoys and heading back i found my self being pushed over to the right hand side and into the rope designating the swim route and it got just like the start all over again with people either side and onto of my legs, i'm amazed i posted a swim time of 29.19, imagine what i could've done with a free swim.
T1 was long 3.57 in fact, this was due to having to take your wet-suit off immediatley after getting out of the water and placing it in a plastic bag to take with you into transition which involved a run up the dockside into the building up some stairs then along transition. Once on the bike my "squishy" in the top of my aero bottle fell into it which meant i was getting splashed with bright red Fruit Punch Accelerade especially as i left the Excel building via the "rumble" strip ramp. I managed to sort out the bottle once out on the roads and i quickly got the small lap out of the way and headed out again on the big lap to Westminster. This is when i hit a pot hole and the "squishy" in the top of my aero bottle flew out giving me a face full of Fruit punch Accelerade everytime i hit a slight bump, i was covered in the stuff and getting stickier by the second. I deceided to get as much of the drink down me as fast a possible to minimise spillage which was like pulling out the plug after a bath has over flowed the damage was already done. So with a sticky face, legs and coated sunglasses i made it back to the Excel in a time of 1h 6m 33s. Once i navigated the long slippy route back to my T2 it was on with the trainers and visor and off on the run. I felt good at this point and felt like i could post a good time for the 10k, however, hall i could think about was get to the first water station as quick as possible to get some water to wash off the Accelerade!! The first feed station though was gels only!!! Not what i needed, but i was soon upon the shower set up across the run course and then the first water stop, so a couple of cups in the face later i felt even better. I'm surprised how well i felt on the run, i took on board a gel at the start of the run and took one of the Power Bar ones on lap 2 which really perked me up. I couldnt stop smiling at the finish posting a run time of 37.35 and a total time of 2h 19min 37 secs.
This is definitley an event i'd look to do again next year, it falls a good 6 weeks after Ironman France and could be the event i take on first after my sojurn to Nice
I wasn't so much nervous of the racing rather than all the logistics of getting myself down there and to the Excel centre on time and then what to do when i got there, it is after all the biggest triathlon in the world. However, my nerves were unfounded. I made the decision to get up early and get down to the Excel 2hours before my start time. So it was a 5am rise and with that comes the worry of what to eat. If i was at home it isn't a problem but staying in a hotel you're at the mercy of breakfast opening times and the "food" served. Anyway, breakfast at the hotel didn't start until 6am so it wasn't even an option as far as i was concerned, so i rose at 5am and wolfed down a loaf of Soreen and sipped on an Accelerade drink. The Excel centre was easy to find from the hotel and i parked up, at the cost of £10, around 6.30am. This gave me loads of time to sort my stuff, as with staying overnight i had loads of non-tri gear in my bag. It also gave me time to suss out the set up. Fortunately, the stairs from the car park led up to the competitors transition entrance and from there iwas guided to the chip collection area. Once chipped up it was back to transition to set everything up. As i was early for my wave i managed to get a decent transtion point that would be easy to locate from the "Swim In" entrance. It was 7am by the time i'd set up transition, so i left my gear and had a wander around the Expo, which was quiet at this time and bought a souvenier t-shirt (no freebies in London), i spotted Jenson Button here who was due to start his race soon and i wished him luck, he replied "Cheers Mate" obviously chuffed to bits to meet one of IronABS!! I wandered back to the car and dropped off all non-essetial stuff and made my way back to transition, to slip into the wet-suit warm up a bit and make my way to the swim assembly.
Once in swim assembly with cap on ready to go we were all notified that we were in fact part of the largest wave they had ever had in London of 530!! This raised a few smilies mainly from people who had visions of being swum over by 500 people!! In the end this didn't prove to far wrong, i was one of the first in the water and watching everyone pour in a swim up to the start was a sight to behold, unlike the turning buoy which couldn't be seen due to glaring sunlight even with tinted goggles on. As everyone made their way to the start i tried to think about my positioning not wanting to get swum over and i was right at the front so i moved back slightly and to the left this was a big mistake. As the klaxon went everyone seemed to swim over to the left hand side mainly to follow the masses as it was impossible to see anything in the glaring sunlight. It seemed the optimum spot to be was in the middle moving over to the right and coming into the left nearer the turning buoy. It was difficult to get any type of stroke going i couldn't kick my legs because people were on top of them or grabbing them, but you couldn't move to the side to find any space. I did manage to get into my stroke for a good 500m upto the truning buoy but then the meley started again. Once around the buoys and heading back i found my self being pushed over to the right hand side and into the rope designating the swim route and it got just like the start all over again with people either side and onto of my legs, i'm amazed i posted a swim time of 29.19, imagine what i could've done with a free swim.
T1 was long 3.57 in fact, this was due to having to take your wet-suit off immediatley after getting out of the water and placing it in a plastic bag to take with you into transition which involved a run up the dockside into the building up some stairs then along transition. Once on the bike my "squishy" in the top of my aero bottle fell into it which meant i was getting splashed with bright red Fruit Punch Accelerade especially as i left the Excel building via the "rumble" strip ramp. I managed to sort out the bottle once out on the roads and i quickly got the small lap out of the way and headed out again on the big lap to Westminster. This is when i hit a pot hole and the "squishy" in the top of my aero bottle flew out giving me a face full of Fruit punch Accelerade everytime i hit a slight bump, i was covered in the stuff and getting stickier by the second. I deceided to get as much of the drink down me as fast a possible to minimise spillage which was like pulling out the plug after a bath has over flowed the damage was already done. So with a sticky face, legs and coated sunglasses i made it back to the Excel in a time of 1h 6m 33s. Once i navigated the long slippy route back to my T2 it was on with the trainers and visor and off on the run. I felt good at this point and felt like i could post a good time for the 10k, however, hall i could think about was get to the first water station as quick as possible to get some water to wash off the Accelerade!! The first feed station though was gels only!!! Not what i needed, but i was soon upon the shower set up across the run course and then the first water stop, so a couple of cups in the face later i felt even better. I'm surprised how well i felt on the run, i took on board a gel at the start of the run and took one of the Power Bar ones on lap 2 which really perked me up. I couldnt stop smiling at the finish posting a run time of 37.35 and a total time of 2h 19min 37 secs.
This is definitley an event i'd look to do again next year, it falls a good 6 weeks after Ironman France and could be the event i take on first after my sojurn to Nice
Posted by Simon Darlington.