Merchant Taylor's Triathlon

AM. Merchant Taylors' Olympic Triathlon (1500m/40km/10km) (http://www.triathlon-zone.com/events.html). HR152(164)

Swim 1500/22:52 ____ 1:32/100m, HR145(156)
T1. 1:33
Cycle 40km/1:08:55 __ 34.8km/h, HR151(162)
T2. 0:52
Run 10km/40:08 _____ 6:28min/mile, HR160(164)

Total: 2:14:23. 5th overall, 1st over 40 (Results http://www.racetimingsystems.com/public/results.aspx?raceid=1112)

Another cold, early morning start but at least there was a bit of sunshine about. We were up at 4am to drive to registration and the start was at 6:40 for the men. We'd been warned that the lake was very cold, and no kidding! I was keen to get into the water as soon as the women's race was underway, just to get a bit acclimatised. The start was a bit chaotic - a lack of sprint training in the pool meant I didn't get clear water off the start and I got bashed around quite a bit. One guy in a green swimming hat virtually rugby tackled me to get to the leaders, pillock. That took my breath away a bit and it took me another minute or more of steady swimming until I got my panic under control. After that, I was slightly catching the lead group, but just tracked them into T1, about 20 or 30 seconds back.

I was so cold getting out of the water that it was hard to negotiate removing my wetsuit and getting my gloves on, but eventually I was underway. I saw a few near-disasters out of T1 as riders tried to get their feet into shoes on the move. Speed humps and a slight uphill out of the school grounds didn't help and I saw at least one crash. I didn't have such problems though, thankfully, and was soon out on to the roads. The cycle route was very hilly and twisty - I used every gear I had, from 55-12 to 45-23. It was initially a struggle to get some fluid inside me - my stomach was protesting at the cold a bit, but after about 15 minutes I manages to swig some of my bottle. I recognised a few of the lanes from the Watford Half-marathon. I nearly caught up with a guy on a Ceepo on the way back round the lap, and about 200m in front of him, could see two riders doing a 2-up (naughty!). I think the Ceepo rider must've been the winner, outrunning them both.

After a nasty couple of climbs towards the end of the cycle, I was quickly into T2 and trying to stuff numb, cold feet into my running shoes. The run was mostly off-road, some lumpy paths and some cricket pitches, but reasonably flat. One guy passed me like a rocket towards the end of the first lap but I kept a steady pace (halves of 20:08 and 20:00) and raised a bit of a sprint for the line. I spoke to the marshal with the results laptop - he didn't have Age Group placings as he'd already realised that some people had missed the mats, so I didn't bother hanging around for any prize-giving, looked like it was going to take some sorting out.

There were some nice pastries and tea/coffee at the finish:

(click picture for more photos)