After feeling like I didn’t do myself justice at Eastleigh a couple of weeks ago, and nervous about stepping up from sprint to Olympic, I decided to treat the build-up/taper with more care before Marlow (intended to be 1500m swim/37km bike/10km run). I did two 1hr brick sessions the Friday and Monday and “pile of brick” race pace intervals on the Tuesday (5 x 5min turbo+1km treadmill) and then just a gentle ride with Jon on Thursday. Combined with eating and drinking well, I actually got to the weekend feeling pretty refreshed. Result!

Result: 21st/298 (happy!)
(S: 21st, T1: 106th, C: 32nd, T2: 28th, R: 15th)
Date: Sunday 15 July 2012
Format: 1500m 900m river swim (loop downstream only), 37km out-and-back road ride, 10km 7.5km road/towpath run
Race website: http://www.f3events.co.uk/
Full results: http://www.stuweb.co.uk/race/ia/
Photos: http://gallery.sussexsportphotography.com/gallery.tlx?containerid=204816 (you then have to search by race number; Andy was bib 68, I was 523)

Andy managed to register on the Saturday afternoon and kindly called me up after he’d recce’d the transition/finish. I set the alarm for 4:45 a.m. and of course, woke up four times between 11 p.m. and then! Arrived in Marlow to find transition wasn’t quite as complicated as Andy had thought and managed to bag a perfect rack spot next to the bike in/out (opposite corner to swim in/run out), next to plenty of daunting TT bikes, aero wheels and aero helmets – and the three sponsored guys who finished 1-2-3 as it turned out!

We’d already heard the organisers had changed their mind about the run route — too muddy — and shortened it from a two lap 10 km to a one lap 7.5 km and then that due to the fast river flow the swim would be two laps of 750m to give the kayaks better coverage… but on the morning itself they announced it would be a one-way downstream swim. This meant a muddy 1 km walk upstream along the tow path in wetsuits to a tiny gap where we could slide into the river. It took about quarter of an hour to get all 298 starters into the water and you could see right away how fast the river was – trying to swim upstream just a couple of metres out from the bank was like an Endless Pool!

So, predictably the swim start was nuts. There was no way they could organise it really with that many people and the river so fast. I managed to position myself about where I wanted to, and didn’t let the carnage get to me in the first couple of minutes. Unfortunately, about 3 minutes in, I got punched right in the eye socket and couldn’t see out of the eye any more (see T1 photo). Swim plan went out the window and I just survived to the end… in fact with monocular vision and a sore head, I missed the exit and had to swim back 5 or 10 metres against the stream when I realised my error. D’oh!

It was a 100m dash into transition, and the wetsuit practice had been worthwhile as I had cap/goggles off and wetsuit round my waist by the time I was at the rack. Unfortunately, I’d also confirmed that the blow to the head had also knocked out the contact lens. Quick decision – put in another? take out the other and put on glasses? (both options ready!) – nah, option 3 – race as a one-eyed man! It was horribly muddy everywhere – and the 300m foot-dash out of T1 with the bike before we could mount was hard work. As usual I ran in my cleats. Practicing putting shoes on while riding is for next pre-season, but I’m not sure it’d have helped here, because your feet would have been filthy.

Andy and I had ridden the bike route a few weeks ago, so I was prepared. There’s a nasty lump out of Marlow and then apart from the frankly awful road surface, it’s fast to Henley where Andy would turn around on the sprint course. The Olympic distance has the drag up to Nettlebed, and here I was going slower than I’d like, but only falling away from the group in front slightly. Heading to the turn-around point I was able to count the riders ahead of me. The three leaders were at 10m intervals on the road, and then there were two large groups of 10 or so riders each – the amount of drafting I saw was irritating! I reckon I was top 30 into the half way point, pretty encouraging in a field of 300 when the biking has been my weakest discipline this year. The ride back to Henley and then Marlow is fast and I got overtaken by some riders with bigger gears and more aero positions (tri bars are on the Christmas list), but I also caught a couple, and climbed through a group over the nasty lump into Marlow. My legs were fairly screaming, but strategy had been to blitz the bike and just see what I had left on the run, so according to plan. Again there was a long muddy run from the dismount into T2.

I managed a fast T2, overtaking several people – a first for me, and the bricks and intervals had definitely paid off as I was into my stride within a 100m or so and picking off runners quite quickly. If this was the not-muddy run route, I hate to imagine what the muddy one would have been like. But apart from falling hard crossing the Thames on Temple Island footbridge when my feet just went out from under me on the wet wood, the run was uneventful. If it had been another 2.5 km, I’d have caught a few more.

Overall, I’m really happy with that. Fastest bike of the year, run pace not far shy of 4 min/km, and transitions were the best I’ve managed. Being well inside the top 10% (21st/298) probably counts as my best result this year. (Good bruises around my eye today and on hip and knee from the slip on the bridge but wearing them all with pride!)

I’ve been reading and been inspired by Julian Middlewick’s triathlon blog, A View From The Middle, and it turns out he raced Marlow too, finishing just under two minutes and 8 places ahead of me!

And one more photo… because the change of expression as I let myself go crossing the line is quite funny!