Irontwit

Yesterday was the Bala standard distance triathlon. I was confident of setting a personal best for the distance after equalling my pb back in June at the Dambuster – 2:42:29. Bala’s bike course is a fast one and I had already set my pb bike split on this course back in 2004 (1:13:57) and the run course has changed to a flat, out and back route instead of the hill fest that was the old run route. I had also got around to putting cleats on my tri bike shoes (much faster to get on and off than my normal bike shoes) and fitting elastic laces to my running shoes. The weather forecast was superb and so there were no excuses left.

The plan was a simple one: get round the swim; go as hard and as fast as possible on the bike; and see what I had left for the run. I would carry no tools or spare tube on the bike and only half a bottle of energy drink to save weight. I was also going to race sockless throughout. It was all or nothing.

Llyn Tegid

When I arrived on the shore of Llyn Tegid there was mist drifting across the water and a few early athletes sorting out their kit in transition. It was a very atmospheric scene and one which reminded me why I love triathlon so much. My senses twitched up a notch and I quickly got registered and racked my bike.

Meanwhile, the mist thickened and the swim course markers disappeared from view delaying the start. Proceedings finally commenced about 20 minutes late and my wave set off at 10:10am. Last time I was swimming in Llyn Tegid the waves were breaking over my head. Today was much more benign, and although the water was pretty frigid I was quite enjoying myself as I swam around in a pedestrian fashion at the back. Since Ironman UK at the beginning of August I have swum precisely 20 lengths so I wasn’t expecting anything good from my swim, and sure enough almost 38 minutes had elapsed by the time I entered T1. Not the most auspicious of starts.

I was reasonably quick through T1, although it wasn’t the fastest wetsuit change I’ve ever done. The exit from transition on to the main road is via a steep little slip road – maybe only 20 metres long, but I was amazed by the 3 or 4 riders I passed just on this short stretch because they had left their bike in much too high a gear on their rack. Soon I was blasting down the course hoping to beat my best bike split. The road surface on the Bala course is very smooth, there are no sharp corners, and although there is a reasonable amount of uphill, it’s all very gentle. One guy on a Litespeed Sabre and full disc wheel went past at a very high lick, but he was the only rider to pass me on the out lap. Even though I was on a full road bike set up without aerobars I was overtaking loads of riders and I felt I was really flying. In fact I got to the turnaround in under 32 minutes – making my target of 1:10:00 look easily achievable. The return leg was quite a bit tougher as I was now cycling in to a headwind. I was still reeling in rider after rider on the gentle inclines which really suited my high cadence style of riding but couldn’t pull away on the descents. I’d really love

Transition at Bala - the perfect triathlon setting?

to have a go at this circuit on a full aero bike to see how much faster I could go. Despite the headwind I arrived in T2 after 1:07, comfortably under my target for the bike leg. As I entered transition I heard a loud pop followed by the tell tale pffssssst of a rear wheel puncture. How lucky was I?

I flew through transition and was back out on the course in 1:01 leaving me with the prospect of getting under 2:30:00 for the race as a whole, something I hadn’t considered remotely possible prior to the start. A quick mental calculation meant that I would have to knock off the 6.5 miles to the finish in under 42 minutes (under 7 minutes per mile). This was a tall order as my previous best was the 44 minutes I’d done at the Dambuster triathlon in June and at that race, my bike leg was much more measured. Nevertheless I was determined to give it a go and the first mile came up in only 6:18. This was encouraging and I kept up the pressure, but it wasn’t to be. I had to back off slightly and got to the halfway point in just over 23 minutes. I kept pushing, however, and still managed a negative split on my run (2nd half faster than the first) as I sprinted in to record 45:50 for the run.

My final time was 2:33:51 giving me 447th place out of 706 finishers. This was 136th in my age group out of 232.  My bike split was 332nd fastest, which slightly surprised me. It was obviously a day for fast bike splits –  I wonder how much faster I would have been on an aero bike. 61 riders made it under the hour for the bike – a really high number for an olympic distance race. Incredibly, my run was also 332 fastest, meaning I’d lost 345 places on my poor swim (I was 670th fastest) This meant that I overtook a total of 223 athletes in the course of the bike and the run.

In the end, I beat my personal best by 8 minutes and 38 seconds, a pretty pleasing result given that my original plan was to beat 2:40:00. However, had I managed my usual 36 minute swim I would have been within touching distance of going under 2:30:00 which has to be my next target.