Bananaman Triathlon, Dorney Lake, Eton - 12/07/2009
Posted by Simon Darlington on Monday, July 13, 2009
I was the only member of IronABS making the trip down to Dorney Lake for the 800m swim, 30.6k bike ride & 7.5k run triathlon yesterday. When i entered it, a few months ago, i thought i'd need accomodation for the weekend as i was expecting an early start on the Sunday so i booked a hotel. The week before the race the wave times were released and my wave (35-39) was last one out at 14.30!! I still went down on the Saturday and stayed over, but quickly checked out on race morning as it was only a 3hr journey down (or back home) which i could have done on the Snday morning and still been there with loads of time to spare. As it was i woke up in a hotel room totally bored, so i loaded my gear into the car checked out and went down to the venue thinking i could mope around take my time setting up my gear and watch a bit of the racing. God i was bored!! and sunburnt!!!
I got there just as the first wave was setting off. I parked up then strolled the 800meters to where registration was, taking in the tri bling whizzing past me on the bike circuit, registered and strolled back. I sat in the car haveing something to eat and setting up my kit trying my best to drag everything out. Once i'd exhasted everything i could do i took my gear to transition thinking i could waste loads of time there setting it up nice and tidy for a change, which i did. Only after all that approximatley only 1.5 hours had gone by!!! So i spent the rest of the day waiting for my wave trying not to wander around too much and making sure i didn't dehydrate in the heat.
Anyway, with race time now approaching i re-entered transition to give it one final check over, testing that my energy drink and recovery drink had not quite reached boiling point after being sat there for nearly 2.5hours, slipped into my wet-suit and made my way to the start line. After seeing all the other waves go it felt great to be in the water, which was at perfect temperature for a wet suit swim not too cold but not warm, just right, you know what i mean. Anyway, after my last open water swim at the Liverpool tri i fancied my chances at the sharp end of the field so i positioned myself at the front. Once the hooter went the aqua fight started with earnest and i found myself in a row of around 5 or 6 guys all swimming around the same speed just behind the lead guy. Until all of a sudden i felt someone climbing all over my back and before i knew it under i went, i had just been swum over!!! I sped up to try and compensate and catch the guy who had quite literally OVERtaken me, but i'd lost my stroke and my breathing and with another melay breaking out at the first turn buoy i didn't stand a chance. So once i got round the buoy i moved to the inside and found myself some clear water and got into my stroke, which i when i was able to pull away from the people around me and my some in roads into the leaders.
I got out of the swim and into transition. This was the first transtion i'd decided not to change into a pair of socks for the bike & run hoping to speed up my T1 time which in previous races has hovered around 1min 50secs. However, this time i couldn't find my zip tag to un zip my wet suit, once i had located it (it was dangling over my shoulder down my front) i'd reached my racking row and then predictably couldnt find my bike. I remembered it was in a direct line with the "Eton Rowing Club" sign on the main building so i went heading for that but only found my bike when i saw the guys racked next to me who had beaten me in the swim setting off on the ride. So without delay i was on with the cycling shoes minus socks, helmet, sunglasses & race belt and off i went in my slowest T1 time ever of 2 mins (so much for no socks).
The cycle leg was basically 6 laps of the lake, my first aim was to hunt down the guys who were next to me in transition, thinking if i do that then at least i making ground and time. I managed to catch and pass them on the 2nd lap. My bike a Focus Tria Culebro was handling amazingly well and the whole ride felt fast even down the right hand side of the lake where there was a punishing head wind. In fact the bike leg was so good i came into T2 with the leaders.
The two guys who came in with me though were good runners and were quickly away from me once we hit the 3 lap run course. I thought about tring to chase them down but wisely decided against that and tried to pace myself, even though this caused me to lose another 3 positions in the age group. Due to my pacing on the fisrt 2 laps i'd left myself too much to do on the final lap to catch the leaders but after a good final lap i came home in an overall time of 1 hour 40 mins, 26th overall and 6th in my age group.
Bananaman was a step up in distance for me and i felt that i coped well. This i have to take with me as in 3 weeks i attampt my first Olympic distance in London...
I got there just as the first wave was setting off. I parked up then strolled the 800meters to where registration was, taking in the tri bling whizzing past me on the bike circuit, registered and strolled back. I sat in the car haveing something to eat and setting up my kit trying my best to drag everything out. Once i'd exhasted everything i could do i took my gear to transition thinking i could waste loads of time there setting it up nice and tidy for a change, which i did. Only after all that approximatley only 1.5 hours had gone by!!! So i spent the rest of the day waiting for my wave trying not to wander around too much and making sure i didn't dehydrate in the heat.
Anyway, with race time now approaching i re-entered transition to give it one final check over, testing that my energy drink and recovery drink had not quite reached boiling point after being sat there for nearly 2.5hours, slipped into my wet-suit and made my way to the start line. After seeing all the other waves go it felt great to be in the water, which was at perfect temperature for a wet suit swim not too cold but not warm, just right, you know what i mean. Anyway, after my last open water swim at the Liverpool tri i fancied my chances at the sharp end of the field so i positioned myself at the front. Once the hooter went the aqua fight started with earnest and i found myself in a row of around 5 or 6 guys all swimming around the same speed just behind the lead guy. Until all of a sudden i felt someone climbing all over my back and before i knew it under i went, i had just been swum over!!! I sped up to try and compensate and catch the guy who had quite literally OVERtaken me, but i'd lost my stroke and my breathing and with another melay breaking out at the first turn buoy i didn't stand a chance. So once i got round the buoy i moved to the inside and found myself some clear water and got into my stroke, which i when i was able to pull away from the people around me and my some in roads into the leaders.
I got out of the swim and into transition. This was the first transtion i'd decided not to change into a pair of socks for the bike & run hoping to speed up my T1 time which in previous races has hovered around 1min 50secs. However, this time i couldn't find my zip tag to un zip my wet suit, once i had located it (it was dangling over my shoulder down my front) i'd reached my racking row and then predictably couldnt find my bike. I remembered it was in a direct line with the "Eton Rowing Club" sign on the main building so i went heading for that but only found my bike when i saw the guys racked next to me who had beaten me in the swim setting off on the ride. So without delay i was on with the cycling shoes minus socks, helmet, sunglasses & race belt and off i went in my slowest T1 time ever of 2 mins (so much for no socks).
The cycle leg was basically 6 laps of the lake, my first aim was to hunt down the guys who were next to me in transition, thinking if i do that then at least i making ground and time. I managed to catch and pass them on the 2nd lap. My bike a Focus Tria Culebro was handling amazingly well and the whole ride felt fast even down the right hand side of the lake where there was a punishing head wind. In fact the bike leg was so good i came into T2 with the leaders.
The two guys who came in with me though were good runners and were quickly away from me once we hit the 3 lap run course. I thought about tring to chase them down but wisely decided against that and tried to pace myself, even though this caused me to lose another 3 positions in the age group. Due to my pacing on the fisrt 2 laps i'd left myself too much to do on the final lap to catch the leaders but after a good final lap i came home in an overall time of 1 hour 40 mins, 26th overall and 6th in my age group.
Bananaman was a step up in distance for me and i felt that i coped well. This i have to take with me as in 3 weeks i attampt my first Olympic distance in London...