Posted at 18:0 on Jun 10, 2011 by Fuel Blog
Racing Blenheim was a welcome surprise, having only entered middle distance races this year it was great to receive an entry from Maxifuel and to have an unexpected change of distance.
My preparation for the race was not the most conducive to fast times:
1) training all geared towards longer, lower intensity racing;
2) heavy training in the two weeks prior including a long run Friday and a hard brick session on Saturday pre-race.
However, I had decided that since I had only found out that I was racing relatively last minute, I would just take the race as it came.
The day before the race saw beautiful sunshine and warm weather, so I packed my stuff the day before with this in mind. I woke up (early) on the morning of the race and thought, ‘it seems a little colder than anticipated’...and it was, all day! So I hastily proceeded to add several layers to my planned wardrobe. However, I was lucky enough to stay dry during the race at least (swim excepted).
I racked my bike and then went and met the Maxifuel team, where I was hydrated and fuelled with Viper Active sports drink whilst gaining some top tips from triathlon expert Pat Leahy. I then ducked off for a bit of ‘getting focused time’, pre-race. Before I knew it, it was time to go, we were in the water and the horn went. I positioned myself near the front and managed not to get run over in the water-based stampede that is the start. I got into a rhythm quite quickly and was surprised to reach the end of the swim in what seemed like no time. There are advantages to being used to racing longer distances!
I was fifth out of the water, no doubt helped along by my super quick Speedo wetsuit. I made my way up the steep bank into transition and out onto the bike course. The bike course gets a little congested in places but is a very enjoyable route, with a few ups and downs and some technical corners. I pushed on through the bike section and back into transition two. On entering transition I saw that there were no other bikes – good! I was the first back. I slipped on my trainers (more on that in a moment) and exited transition as quickly as I could.
Now I said that I slipped on my trainers – well I did, both metaphorically speaking and literally. Pre-race I applied a liberal amount of lubricant in them to prevent blisters, but found that I had been a little over zealous and could barely keep my feet in them – interesting on the downhill sections!
The run was again a scenic route and I just tried to push through as quickly as I could. It was difficult to ‘race’ as there were people from different waves on the course all going at different speeds and having started at different times. However, the sense of participation and enjoyment from those around me was great. That and being cheered on by the Maxifuel crew – thank you.
So by the end of the run no-one had overtaken me and as I crossed the finish line I was greeted with a Maxifuel Recovermax to help me get back training as soon as possible! Short course racing hurts!
I had a great day thanks Maxifuel crew and Pat Leahy for their support and advice. I raced in my new Speedo tri suit which was very comfortable and extremely fast drying.
Overall I won my wave and my age group. I came 2nd overall female (over the Saturday and Sunday sprint races).
Reader Comments
Posted at 20:43 on Aug 8, 2011 by Magda
I had no idea how to approach this before-now Im locked and lodead.
Posted at 23:54 on Aug 7, 2011 by Deliverance
A few years ago Id have to pay seomone for this information.
