Bala Standard Distance Triathlon 11-09-2011
My last race for this season was the Bala Standard Distance in Wales. This is a very well organized race from Wrexham Triathlon club and had a 500 strong field or European qualifier hopeful, young and old age groupers and a few newbies. The race atmosphere is great and it is a due to the organizing club, and the locals good will to stage a race on close roads, good course and a stunning location in a triathlon friendly town.
My preparation was good and Dermot prescribed a very good taper that left me quite fresh and rearing to go. I stayed one of the near camp sites, about 15 minutes from the start line and on the day before the race I joined the 750 charity swim to rec the venue.
On race morning I woke in the comfort of my campervan with a headache, but after some strong coffee I was ready to go.
The sport centre became race HQ for the day, with superb facilities, and the lake front is transformed in a large transition area. It all seemed to work well, though a few queues and some unhappy competitors that had to swap wheels as due to windy conditions the discs were outlawed.
The lake, as I found out the day before on the charity swim, was a bit on the cold side and on Sunday quite choppy too. I normally look forward to difficult swim condition but on Sunday I was feeling cold even before getting in the lake and not so positive. Once all kit was sorted and had a warm up run around it was time to walk to the swim entry.
The first wave of younger male competitor was first off, so it was a bit off putting seeing that, as the ladies were entering the water form a small pear, quite a few of the lads were being pulled out by the safety kayaks. It took an age to get started from when in the water and I was shivering and not feeling focused on the task ahead. When the hooter went off I started swim but soon found myself very uncomfortable and unable to swim with head in the water and panicking a bit about being amongst splashing swimmers. This carried on for the first 750 meters until we got turn around buoy. After that I was able to keep my head in the water and got going, but I did not feel I was having being effective at all.
The last 50 mt of the swim are to be crawled on the bottom of the lake, as it is very shallow but due to slippery pebbles is not possible to run. It is quite comical to watch and I was glad that I had a trial the day before. It took nearly 34 minutes to swim 1.5K
I then executed my worst transition to the day: 4 minutes of shivering trying to take the wetty off, feeling very dazed and fumbling for extra layers packed in my transition bag. A marshal took pity and sorted out my number belt before letting me out of transition. At this stage I felt very deflated and not bright as I really wanted to do well but wasted so much time. I did not look at the watch as it would have been an excuse to jack it in and I would have regretted not finishing, or giving it a good try, but in my motivation was not at its highest. First lesson of the day: I need to be mentally stronger and keep positive; I was not throwing the teddy out of the pram but equally I am not happy with myself unless I feel I am giving it my best.
As I climbed a small ramp out of transition on to the main road, still shivering, the cheering of spectator was a balm to the soul; as I got out of the saddle I felt that my legs, who were refusing to do any kicking in the water, were actually feeling ok. It took a while to get going, even with a base layer and a light jacket and head warmer I was still cold; all I could do was pushing down on the pedals in the hope to perk up. After seeing Dermot ploughing up the tarmac at the Club Relays I have been so inspired that in every ride and turbo session I have pushed that little harder, so I really wanted to have a perform on the bike. The course is a “there and back” route, the first half has more of a upward profile but still fast even against the wind, the second half is awesome, I soon realized from the manic grin on some of the competitors from the previous wave coming back. Is a road you can work hard down on the bars, with exciting bends and some downward sloping to keep momentum or accelerate.
On the return leg I was able to bend on the tri bars with comfort as my back eventually got loose after the frozen lake and I started to enjoy the race as the sun came up. I then realized it also had rained but as I was in my own personal black cloud I did not take much notice. It was late to salvage the bike split to do justice to the good training that Dermot has set me, but I gave it a go.
The last 3 miles of the bike overlap the run course, also a there and back run, so I could see the faster competitors already out and some coming back towards the finish line. I really started to feel good, and I was keen to get stuck in the run. T2 was a bit fumbled as my feet and hand were still not co-operating and I had a few layers to shed, but the start of the run felt immediately good, thanks to the permanent brick sessions on my scheduled devised by the coach. In fact it felt so good that I did not realize that the road was gradually going up until I came down on it on the way back! I just thought, looking at my Garmin, that I was having a slow run, but I was enjoying myself and keeping an eye out to check Sam Anderson, another athlete coached by Dermot but in few leagues above my standards, and let her know her standing in the lady’s race. I had seen her running out at the 1st mile marker as I was getting back in to Bala, so knew she was close to finishing.
As the road evened out and then descended to the turn round point in a camp site I started to feel really good and so thought to push faster and even overtook a few people on the way back. I did not think I was going to run a PB, so perhaps I did not try as hard as I could. In hindsight this is lesson n.2 of the day: never give up! I did put a spur on at the end and wind up to a sprint finish at 53’59.
I then found out that race is advertised at 10.25K, so officially I call it a PB and I am still kicking myself for not having had a more positive mental attitude.
So the season is over and I have to give the BIGGEST THANKS to the very inspirational coach Dermot, it has been tough to keep to discipline to follow the plan but very rewarding in seeing the results, challenging to always aim at doing better and fun. The best asset to my training and racing is to have Dermot’s help and support.
My last race for this season was the Bala Standard Distance in Wales. This is a very well organized race from Wrexham Triathlon club and had a 500 strong field or European qualifier hopeful, young and old age groupers and a few newbies. The race atmosphere is great and it is a due to the organizing club, and the locals good will to stage a race on close roads, good course and a stunning location in a triathlon friendly town.
My preparation was good and Dermot prescribed a very good taper that left me quite fresh and rearing to go. I stayed one of the near camp sites, about 15 minutes from the start line and on the day before the race I joined the 750 charity swim to rec the venue.
On race morning I woke in the comfort of my campervan with a headache, but after some strong coffee I was ready to go.
The sport centre became race HQ for the day, with superb facilities, and the lake front is transformed in a large transition area. It all seemed to work well, though a few queues and some unhappy competitors that had to swap wheels as due to windy conditions the discs were outlawed.
The lake, as I found out the day before on the charity swim, was a bit on the cold side and on Sunday quite choppy too. I normally look forward to difficult swim condition but on Sunday I was feeling cold even before getting in the lake and not so positive. Once all kit was sorted and had a warm up run around it was time to walk to the swim entry.
The first wave of younger male competitor was first off, so it was a bit off putting seeing that, as the ladies were entering the water form a small pear, quite a few of the lads were being pulled out by the safety kayaks. It took an age to get started from when in the water and I was shivering and not feeling focused on the task ahead. When the hooter went off I started swim but soon found myself very uncomfortable and unable to swim with head in the water and panicking a bit about being amongst splashing swimmers. This carried on for the first 750 meters until we got turn around buoy. After that I was able to keep my head in the water and got going, but I did not feel I was having being effective at all.
The last 50 mt of the swim are to be crawled on the bottom of the lake, as it is very shallow but due to slippery pebbles is not possible to run. It is quite comical to watch and I was glad that I had a trial the day before. It took nearly 34 minutes to swim 1.5K
I then executed my worst transition to the day: 4 minutes of shivering trying to take the wetty off, feeling very dazed and fumbling for extra layers packed in my transition bag. A marshal took pity and sorted out my number belt before letting me out of transition. At this stage I felt very deflated and not bright as I really wanted to do well but wasted so much time. I did not look at the watch as it would have been an excuse to jack it in and I would have regretted not finishing, or giving it a good try, but in my motivation was not at its highest. First lesson of the day: I need to be mentally stronger and keep positive; I was not throwing the teddy out of the pram but equally I am not happy with myself unless I feel I am giving it my best.
As I climbed a small ramp out of transition on to the main road, still shivering, the cheering of spectator was a balm to the soul; as I got out of the saddle I felt that my legs, who were refusing to do any kicking in the water, were actually feeling ok. It took a while to get going, even with a base layer and a light jacket and head warmer I was still cold; all I could do was pushing down on the pedals in the hope to perk up. After seeing Dermot ploughing up the tarmac at the Club Relays I have been so inspired that in every ride and turbo session I have pushed that little harder, so I really wanted to have a perform on the bike. The course is a “there and back” route, the first half has more of a upward profile but still fast even against the wind, the second half is awesome, I soon realized from the manic grin on some of the competitors from the previous wave coming back. Is a road you can work hard down on the bars, with exciting bends and some downward sloping to keep momentum or accelerate.
On the return leg I was able to bend on the tri bars with comfort as my back eventually got loose after the frozen lake and I started to enjoy the race as the sun came up. I then realized it also had rained but as I was in my own personal black cloud I did not take much notice. It was late to salvage the bike split to do justice to the good training that Dermot has set me, but I gave it a go.
The last 3 miles of the bike overlap the run course, also a there and back run, so I could see the faster competitors already out and some coming back towards the finish line. I really started to feel good, and I was keen to get stuck in the run. T2 was a bit fumbled as my feet and hand were still not co-operating and I had a few layers to shed, but the start of the run felt immediately good, thanks to the permanent brick sessions on my scheduled devised by the coach. In fact it felt so good that I did not realize that the road was gradually going up until I came down on it on the way back! I just thought, looking at my Garmin, that I was having a slow run, but I was enjoying myself and keeping an eye out to check Sam Anderson, another athlete coached by Dermot but in few leagues above my standards, and let her know her standing in the lady’s race. I had seen her running out at the 1st mile marker as I was getting back in to Bala, so knew she was close to finishing.
As the road evened out and then descended to the turn round point in a camp site I started to feel really good and so thought to push faster and even overtook a few people on the way back. I did not think I was going to run a PB, so perhaps I did not try as hard as I could. In hindsight this is lesson n.2 of the day: never give up! I did put a spur on at the end and wind up to a sprint finish at 53’59.
I then found out that race is advertised at 10.25K, so officially I call it a PB and I am still kicking myself for not having had a more positive mental attitude.
So the season is over and I have to give the BIGGEST THANKS to the very inspirational coach Dermot, it has been tough to keep to discipline to follow the plan but very rewarding in seeing the results, challenging to always aim at doing better and fun. The best asset to my training and racing is to have Dermot’s help and support.
Simona
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