Race Day

The morning of the big race.

The Snowman Triathlon, 750m swim, 31km cycle and an 8km run. Not much more than a sprint race, distance wise. However, a lake swim in Snowdonia in mid-October with ascent/descent of Moel Siabod was certainly going to make it a challenge.

All my kit was sorted and it was nice to be getting a lift for a change. We left the house a little later than planned, but still leaving enough time to get organised. Transition was really tight for space but I soon had everything laid out ready for T1. A quick dash to the loo ended up being prolonged, as a selfish so-and-so seemed to be suffering from constipation. I bet he was reading the Daily Mail! (that's an insult from me) By the time I got back to transition there was just enough time to get my wetsuit on.

Eeek, I had to leave my camera to Rosemary's dad and he was disappearing through the throngs. Another 5 mins wasted trying to catch up with him and no time to look at the swim course. Still, it was no one's fault apart from mine for not insisting we left earlier so I soon snapped out of it. I went to find Rosemary to wish her luck. Her knee has been playing up and I really thought it was unwise for her to be racing. She's stubborn insofar as she'll always complete something that she's committed to and it's part of her that's contributed to her successful season. In sport, stubbornness isn't always a bad thing....I'm more guilty than most.

We were accompanied down to the lake by a non-competing athletes who doomed and gloomed about the water temperature. "Are you a sports psychologist?" I asked. Shortly afterwards, I hit the "zone" quite quickly, especially as I didn't want to appear like a big girl when entering the freezing depths, 13m or was it 13ft at the maximum?

It was a bit of a rush to the start-line, around 40m from the shore as the time between the pre-race briefing was only borderline sufficient. I found a good central position about 3 rows from the front and we were soon off. The water was cold but not unbearably so. I knew after last week that if I pushed the pace in the cold water that fatigue would set in very quickly. Rather, I concentrated on my stroke, keeping relaxed and making sure my hand exit was by my thigh. Sighting was easy and the field was small enough for the race not to be a total melee.

Before long, I was exiting the water and running up to T1. My feet were cold I felt a bit disorientated and although I got my wetsuit off ok, getting my bike kit on was another matter. I gave up trying to put my socks on. My emergency pack of spare tube etc fell out my jersey too and I couldn't get it back in over my number belt! Hey hum! Plenty bikes were still in transition and my exit certainly was far from being the slowest. I had selected the right gear to get up the slightly steep road from transition where others were less successful. I passed about 3 people in the 1st 200m.

It took a while to warm up on the bike but it would be the same for everyone. I was passing more people than were passing me. This was positive, as I was on my training bike with an under-geared 46/36 front set of rings. It was difficult not to draft as riders would come past at speed and then slow down to the pace I was going at. When I passed them, they would simply speed up and pass me....with the cycle being repeated.

Coming into one village, my speed was reduced by slow moving traffic, which in turn had been slowed down by bunched bike riders. I then had to unclip on a narrow bridge because of a car log-jam and lost a further 30secs or so. Fortunately, frustration didn't get the better of me, especially as shortly afterwards I past a guy in full TT garb on a top of the range Canyon! I wish the bike had been double the distance as I was feeling strong. Taking my TT bike may have saved me a 3-5 mins but it wasn't too concerned with such a tough run ahead.

Moel Siabod, the mountain we had to ascend then descent was over 2800 feet high and steep. After about 500m of runnable trails, the path became narrow, rocky and slippery. My worst nightmare as coordination and foot placement is a rather weak area for me. The ascent was walk, slip, jog, slip, scramble , trip, squelch and so on all the way to the top. A constant stream of people passed me and I couldn't do a thing about it. Good news arrived when I saw Rosemary on the descent, leading woman's race. Yipee.

I continued to the top slowly, but still quite happy. Getting frustrated would have been counter-productive. One female racer coming up behind slipped and grabbed my bum accidently, or so she said! I felt violated but continued unabated. The descent was a nightmare for me. I was just so slow. "Gotta keep smiling and joking" I thought. Racers I had seen ascending far behind me when I had started the descent were now passing at speed. I even managed a short conversation with a leisurely hill walker, but soon I was unable to keep up with them either. I felt fresh, not even close to being fatigued, yet my ability on the rocky path was such that I could do nothing about it!

Yay! I had reached the forest track and could now start running! The legs hurt though. Coming close to the finish, Rosemary and her dad were there cheering me on, helped by the use of a cow-bell. Only 100m to go and I had finished. I had lost approximately 70 places on the run having posted one of the slowest times of the day. Ha ha....5 minutes later, I was standing in the river cleaning my trainers, then slipped and fell in the damn thing!
I was cheery all the same. 6 months earlier, I hadn't even considered doing a triathlon again and my IM tattoo was a sense of embarrassment at swimming sessions. My belly has almost gone and I've managed my knee injury without too much discomfort. The run in the Snowman was probably the least suited to my ability and I was always going to be slow on it so it wasn't a surprise. Rosemary had finished in 3rd place, only beaten by some excellent fell runners who could descent much more quickly. It's such an amazing skill to be able to descent fast, remain relaxed and not fall. It takes years of practice for most and on any other course, I think she would have won by a few minutes. A good day all round!

Thanks to Sports pictures Cymru for the image of me....it's a cheat I know but I've no good ones of the day!