DGtri Athlete - Simona Carena

The Full Boar Little Piglet Super Sprint

Last Sunday I took part in the first triathlon for 2012: The Full Boar Little Piglet at Bosworth Water Park. 500 mt open water swim, 10 miles bike and 2.5k run.
This is the first of 3 events at the location run by Full Boar, and I hope to compete in the other two later in the season.

The race is very well organized: friendly but professional, it has the same look and feel as larger events, but without the hefty price tag and with few quirky touches that make it stand out.

It also has the most satisfactory goody bag I have seen few years.

What the organizer could not do unfortunately was turn the sun on for a few days to warm up the lake.

After many grim thoughts about the consequences cold lakes have had on some of my recent races I resolved to bite the bullet and take it as a character building experience and use it to learn to manage my cold water phobia.

So there I was on the start line, well actually jumping about on the shore looking at the start line waiting for the “2 minutes to go” before jumping in as a cold lake is no venue for a “warm up”!

I position myself just on the front but slightly outside of direct line to the first buoy in case of a rising panic attack and got off to a fast start.

I soon found myself in 3^rd position, feeling very cold but enthusiastic of the placing due to the small filed taking part. I was trying not to get carried away and keep within my ability for the distance as I could feel a slight panicking feeling when trying to go faster. I let another female competitor go at half way but eventually made it back up to be the first lady by the swim exit.

I was very pleased with the result and to have paced myself well.

T1 was not so impressive, not even by my modest standards: I was feeling wobbly and shivering whilst trying to force a jacket and gloves on. Eventually I manage and was off to the mount line.

In the dress rehearsal the previous day after the cold swim I could barely keep my bike upright, but on the day it actually was not too bad, managed to close shoes on the go and settle in the aero position… on my new bike. Gone are the day of carbon envy thanks to Bill Livingstone I now have the bike of my dreams…

In fact my bike split does not do justice to my new machine, but I worked hard all the way round without letting up the effort and my legs where very sore, so I put it down to pilot error in pacing and possibly to the cold.

The 10 miles soon went by on well marshalled quiet country lanes and I was back in transition trying to squeeze all 10 pinkies in to a pair of trainers… not an easy feat when lost all sensation since the swim.

However I soon hit the run course at full speed, felt not unlike a cartoon character with my numb feet going around super-fast so decided to put on a matching insane grin and see how fast I could go. I managed to make up 1 place in the ladies ranks, but could not bridge the gap to the next lady as ran out of course, not something I normally mind; I was feeling really strong and could have kept going. No complaints however as the 2 fastest lady run split landed my on the 3^rd place in the Open Category.

I have truly enjoyed myself on this event, in spite of the cold on swim and bike. In terms of performance it also was a great day, Dermot plan as usual keeps delivering results!

To crown it all off I now have a coveted “Pig Trophy” and won a goody bag from race sponsor Tiology in the free raffle!