Dorney Lake Triathlon - 24.07.2011

Busy transition area...didn't know where to rack my bike!

Done! Last Sunday, I completed the Dorney Lake Sprint Distance Triathlon in 1h30mins and a few seconds. It was a great event and I really enjoyed it. The weather was fantastic (we have not been lucky with the weather lately so it was enjoyable to see the sun for once). I was just worried about the wind that represented a problem for the cycling part...it's just so much more difficult to cycle with the wind right in your face! It's like trying to push a wall!

Before the race:

My start time was at 11am so I worked out that I had to wake up 3 to 4 hours earlier to eat my breakfast. So I was up at 7h30. I prepared myself a nice & strong cup of coffee (coffein to wake me up) and ate some energy bars. I usually do not have a sensitive stomach but I can not do physical efforts with a stomach full of food. I do not even eat a proper breakfast, I prefer the energy bars, it is less heavy than bread (in my opinion).
I was watching the news from Norway on TV telling about the horrific events in Oslo. I kind of lost track of time and next thing I know it was already 9am...I had to hurry and finish gathering my stuff because I wanted to be at Dorney Lake at 10am to see my friend Jonathan start with his wave. I was glad I had prepared all my things the day before.
I jumped in my car and drove to the lake that is located near Windsor (the lake is Eton College's rowing centre) only 20mins away from Chiswick.
Of course I missed Jonathan's start...and I realised that I actually had to hurry because I had 40 mins left to collect my race number, dress myself up and rack my bike in the transition area (which turned out to be a difficult task as there was not much space left!).
You really have to be methodical in your preparation and do things in the right order. For instance, don't put your wetsuit on and then realise that you need to pee...that's just bad time management. Basically, I almost recommend writing a list of things to do, this way you don't forget anything and you can relax and concentrate on your race. I actually have a list but I did not look at it and realised in horror that I had forgotten my race belt at home (that is used to attach the race number). Thanks God, one of the goodies provided by the triathlon sponsor was a racebelt. I was lucky on that one.

The race:
I zipped my wetsuit at the last minute as I did not want to cook in it. It was actually quite warm outside. Then the 56 contestants (all girls) had to listen to the instructions before getting in the water. The water was 18 degrees (still a bit cold for me). At that point I was wondering where to position myself strategically...I did not really know so I stayed in the middle. I am not (yet) a strong swimmer so I thought that I should not be at the front...but I did not want to be completely at the back either. When the referee blew his wistle...Oh my God! That was like being in Fight Club. You get kicked big time. Blows are coming from everywhere. People just swim and don't care about any obstacles in front of them. They just go ahead. So you do the same! It is really really stressful but the important thing is to stay calm and relaxed and above all, control your breathing...

Fight Club Start

So I swam the 750m as fast as I could trying to use my arms as much as I could rather than my legs. I got out of the water, not too quickly to avoid falling. My friend Jonathan said he was now using ear plugs because it helps keeping your balance when getting out of the water...something I will need to try next time.

I had a hard time removing my wetsuit and did an awful transition time of 3mins!! (some people take less than 40 seconds!).

I jumped on my bike and pedalled as hard as I could. I am not strong in the swim but I am ok on the bike so I had to give my best because you can't really count on the running alone to gain minutes. It was really windy so as I wrote earlier it was a very tough ride for half of the lap. I completed the 20K in 42 mins.

Then I did a second awful transition of 2 mins where I swapped my cycling shoes for trainers and started the remaining 5K run. I noticed a guy ahead of me who was running at a good pace and I focused on trying to catch him. I never caught him but the strategy worked because I managed to run the 5K in 25 mins which is a very decent time given I had just cycled 20K before at full speed.

 

After the race:

I felt astonishingly well after crossing the finish line. Of course I was out of breath and was dreaming about a huge glass of water but I had the feeling that I could have gone for another 5K. So I thought that maybe I could have pushed myself even harder in the run...But I think that all the hard training I've done lately has paid off. I recover much quicker now as I am used to exercise regularly. And also during the race, I've made sure that I was drinking enough water.

This triathlon gave me motivation for the rest of the season. I felt great and I feel that with a little more work and preparation I can improve my time by 5-10 minutes...so my aim for the triathlon I will be doing in september is to go under 1h25 and be as close as possible to 1h20. It is ambitious but I need to challenge myself!

Reward time