Thank you to all who took the time to message/text/track me – it’s very much appreciated.
So, a quick (promise!) resume….
Morning – woke to pissing rain & gale force winds. ‘Come to Bolton’ the advert says!
Swim – Tough start. No warm up swim, rolling start, straight in & go for it. I really struggled with this. Breastroked for probably 5 minutes before composing myself & getting on with it. 1:39:47 was a tad slower than I thought, but with me, the swim is-what-it-is. I won’t lose sleep over it.
Bike – Started well, passed loads of people, but then the rear cassette wasn’t indexing correctly depriving me of the bottom 2, and sometimes 3 gears….essential on the dreaded Sheephouse Lane & Hunters Hill. (No joke, these climbs were like the Tour de bloody France – awesome support from the locals all round). Stopped probably 5 times to try to sort it, probably costing me ½ hour +. Bombed off like a madman after each re-passing everyone! Probably used too much energy doing this, then got pissed off & nearly gave up. Not sure how much time/energy this wasted. The front end (82mm tub) was really hard to hold on to in the breeze, and sometimes downright dangerous on the descents. In the end 7:21:32 was 45 minutes slower than planned, but as always, pleasing to turn into T2.
Run – Nice start, Averaged 10 min/mile for 10 miles, then it got tough. Ended up running 1 mile, then walking 1 minute, plus walking up the bloody massive hills going in/coming out of town & to chat with Julie Tapley (Cambridge Tri) and Neil (Impington Joggers). Great too see my fan club on each of the 3 loops round town too. 5:03:45 was very pleasing, if a little disapp
ointing to miss the 5hr mark, but I’d stopped looking at my watch by then!
Finish Line – All a bit of a blur – really should have milked it (so unlike me!!!).14:21:26. A long distance pb by over an hour, but could (& should) have been quicker.
Would I do another? Hell yeah! Still got a quicker time in me than that, but I need to spend some time at home with Tracy & Freya before then.
Should you do one? Hell yeah!……but don’t under-estimate the event.
I have to say a massive thanks to Tracy, Freya, Sue (on her birthday!) & coach Carl for all their support, not just this weekend, but for the past year since I signed up.
