The last Tri of 2010

The run up to the North Norfolk Triathlon I was planning a nice easy week, Monday was a rest day after the Waveney Tri.
Tuesday started with a gentle 3 mile x country run, then after work I went to Fritton for a swim session, covered about 1100m.
Wednesday I went for another gentle X country run in the morning.
Thursday did a version of the river hundred route with the Rock estate which I covered about 27 miles on the road bike all done nice and easy apart from a couple of sessions trying to keep up with Liam and Joe when they were doing 30 miles an hour on mountain bikes.
Friday was a rest day, had a few beers and relaxed
Saturday Gaff, Liam and myself left after lunch to travel up to Wells which would give us enough time to get registered and sus out the course for Sunday, We did a rece of the swim, transition area and did a lap of the bike route, we pedaled round nice and steady covering about 25 miles in total. Then out for a good pub meal and a couple of pints to ensure fully hydrated and get some carbs in.

Sunday Morning and not the best nights sleep I've ever had partly due to the huge meal, and the noise from the fish tank making me need a pee. Up and off to the event for 7am. Ahead of us was a 1500m swim in wells harbour which proved to be more challenging than it looked due to the tide still running at quite a rate. The bike route we believe ended up being about 26 miles in total for the 2 laps, it was harder on the day than I had anticipated from our rece the day before, the hills seemed a bit bigger with a swim in the legs and a reasonable head wind for the first 4-5 miles of the lap, the transition area was surrounded with crowds of people and supporters shouting and cheering which gave a great atmosphere and gave a good boost to enthusiasm for the run, I think I probably got a bit carried away and went off too fast onto the 6 mile run, off the bike I was up to third position overall but didn't know how far behind 4th place was, the leader and Liam had a good lead on me on the run and when they came back towards the finish on the out and back course I knew there would be little chance of catching them as they booth looked stronger than I was feeling, around the turnaround I only had about 400m over 4th place and speed felt like it was fading fast, When I made it onto the final straight into the finish, which was about a mile long, I would have loved to have slowed down, I daren't look back and just kept telling myself to relax and save a bit for a sprint finish if needed, as it was I had maintained my lead over 4th place and finished well, at the end of the swim I had felt the velcro on the timing chip coming loose and then fall off so I didn't get any split times for the event but was given an overall finish time of 2hrs.19.55 This was enough to give Liam an anxious few minutes until we knew the results as he had started in the first wave 5 minutes ahead of me, in the end he had only beaten me by 3 seconds which must have been a bit of a downer for him as he would usually be at least 5-6 minutes ahead. I think I took about 2mins.30seconds out of Liam's swim time due to an old windsurfing trick of hugging the bank when going up tide which gave me a better than usual swim time in comparison with better swimmers who stayed in the deeper channel.
After the dramas of the day a great event was enjoyed brilliant support, great venue, good organisation and two podium places for the Rock Estate team to finish the season on a high, bring on the winter training.

A good result

The run up to the waveney 2 triathlon started on Monday 30th with an easy bike ride out to Somerleyton with Joe.
Tuesday I biked to work and back steady on the way there and pushed on the way home then went for a swim at Fritton did about 2000m concentrating on relaxing and swimming as efficiently as I know how to.
Wednesday got up early and went for a gentle 3 mile X country run.
Thursday The Rock Estate bike ride was an easy 27 mile ride at a steady pace with Joe along for his birthday ride.

Friday and Saturday I didn't do anything

Sunday morning was an early start off to Bungay I ended up starting in a wave with Liam and Jimbo which was good but could have gone horribly wrong if Jimbo had come out of the water before me on his first triathlon, as it was he wasn't far behind but Liam wasn't far ahead after swimming 2 extra lengths again! not a startling swim time 6.44 for the 400m onto the bike and felt comfortable all the way around, I had no expectations of doing well in this event but wanted to do the best effort that I could, Ive been feeling tired recently so wasn't sure how I would go. I was pleased with my bike time of 31.54. then onto the run felt good for the first 1/2 mile then started to slow, managed to maintain a reasonable pace although didn't feel fast, completed the 2 miles in 13.01.
Another good event well organised and great weather the Rock estate race team put in good performances across the board all coming in under the hour, my time of 51.39 was good enough for 3rd place over all which was a good result for me, although a way off the leader and Liam who put in an excellent bike time and finished 2nd over all.

A gentle week to come before the last Olympic distance event of the season at North Norfolk, It would be nice to finish the season with another good time!!