Shropshire Triathlon

The first standard distance of the year!

The night before the big T, all I could here was rain, rain RAIN.

The day of the race I looked out of my window, and yes, it was still raining. The 1 hr drive, it rained all the way.

Registration and transition set up were all as normal and yes it was still raining.

Watching the first few waves set off, it was slightly disconcerting the green/blue splashes which could be seen. The lake was pretty full of blue/green algae, and I really didn't want to be ill leading up to the World Duathlon Champs next weekend.

Once we were in the water it was freezing, and visibility underwater was 0. the first 200m or so of the swim I had to swim my best face up front crawl as I could see absolutely nothing underwater and the mele of arms and legs was as bad as always.

The cold water temperature and the standing around in the rain meant that I was, yes, cold! I panicked slightly and my chest was really tight, also I had a really bizarre sensation in my quads. It was like my leg muscles had been replaced with concrete. I thought that the only option was 1. swim fast, or 2. sink like a stone.

Since it seems to be a rule I have to forget something on race day, this time I forgot to empty my Garmin, therefore before the swim start, it helpfully told me….Memory Full, and with not enough time to go through the thousand multifunction button presses needed to delete a meesely run, my watch had now become a useless wrist accessory.

So, out of the water I had no idea how the swim had gone, but I knew as always there were a lot of people in front of me. I found my bike with ease thanks to it being next to a giant tree.

The concrete leg sensation didn't subside for a while on the bike (I have no idea how long since my watch was rendered useless thanks to my lack of attention) it rained some more on the bike. Having read the race instructions it said there were some tricky climbs, which I was looking forward to since I am good at climbing. However these monstrous climbs as promised were nowhere to be found.

Eventually I came to a 10km sign, I had no idea what this was in relation to. It couldn't be 10km gone, surely?! Then 9km, how bizarre, they were counting down to transition. This gave me a welcome boost and before I knew it I was back in T2 and off onto the run.

Haha – not so fast Bagshaw, it would seem that my feet had been replaced with blocks of ice and I stumbled my way back to my position on the racking. My fingers were also useless and it took way too long to get my trainers on. After 5km on the run I finally got some feeling back into my feet. Running off the bike, and without the sensation of knowing what your feet are doing is very disconcerting. So the feeling came back, and, uh-oh, problem number 2, the tongue in my trainers was all twisted, in both shoes. This meant that I was now getting blisters on the TOP of my feet!

Woohoo – finish!

Sorry - no pics, so wet I didn't want to get phone soaked! 

Lessons Learned

Make sure watch is charged AND has memory.
A couple of seconds to make sure trainers are straight might be well spent.

Results at Stu Web http://www.stuweb.co.uk/event/1557