Last night's race, run in the sun, was bloody hot! Never sweated so much.
trying on a metaphor

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@monstermash-rides-again
Last night's race, run in the sun, was bloody hot! Never sweated so much.
Steady run to loosen legs before race day on Wednesday.
Got myself a tri suit.
New reading material. It comes highly recommended. I've read glowing reviews of this book. Hopefully help me keep at it.
Scissett Triathlon. My 1st Triathlon
On Sunday I completed my first triathlon. It was all last minute having been convicted to enter on the Wednesday before the Sunday race. So not planning on doing a triathlon so soon I wasn’t really prepared for it. I didn’t have a tri suit, I never practiced getting my cycling shoes on and off while moving and I’ve never experienced going from cycling to running. I thought by the time I decided to do a triathlon, I’d be more practiced in the art of the triathlon.
So the night before I cleaned my bike and made sure it was in tip top shape. I was quite happy with my bike. I got all my gear ready to just pick up and leave on the Sunday. I like preparing the night before.
On Sunday my brother-in-law, Liam, came to pick me up and be my support crew for the day. We arrived, I registered and had a bike check and racked my bike with my gear ready for a smooth transition. I got lots of tips and advice from my friend Rachel and her daughter Flora, whom was also taking part in her first senior triathlon. She’s a natural.
As I mentioned, I don’t have a tri suit so I did the swim in my trunks. Not ideal but I dealt with it. The swim was harder then I thought. It was only 400m but the pool was small so there were so many turns to do. I think I pushed a little too hard. The woman in front of me wasn’t very accommodating. I was faster then her but she wouldn’t let me past. Rachel later said I was being too nice and that I should’ve just pushed past her. I don’t think I lost too much time from the swim. I completed it in 7:57min. The pool was hard to climb out of with tired arms but I did and I moved onto transition 1.
This wasn’t so smooth! I ran outside into the sun in my trunks. It wasn’t a pretty sight (I’ve seen the pictures!) Ran round to my bike, put my shorts on, then a vest (Dewsbury road runners). I then sat down to make putting my socks on little easier. I’d decided to wear socks because I didn’t like the idea of running without socks for the first time in a race. I need to practice it. I then put my cleats on and helmet and glasses on and made my way to the mount line, slowly, in my cleats. All in all, it took me 2:28 for transition 1. Not good. Loads of room for improvement.
The cycle leg was fantastic. I set off steady, knowing that a long climb was coming. 4 people overtook me at the beginning of the cycle so I upped the pace and as soon as we got to the climb I was warmed up and ready to push. I passed the purple that overtook me quite easily and built up a big lead on them. Only one person overtook me again but I found it hard keeping up with him. The way back to scissett was downhill and fast. By the time I got back to the transition area 37:24 minutes had passed. Not a fantastic time but there was a headwind.
Transition 2 was better. I ran back to my rack in my cleats so lost time there but I got the shoes off quickly and got my running shoes on and off I went. This only took me 54 seconds.
The running felt funny at the start but after half a mile I was feeling good again and back to my normal pace. The finish was fast, which I was really pleased with.
I came 61st out of 200 finishers in a time of 1:08:07 My splits were:
Swim: 7:57:80 Transition 1: 2:28:20 Bike: 37:24:90 Transition 2: 0:54:10 Run: 19:21:70
My main aim now is to practice my transitions. Just knocking a minute off my time would’ve jumped me up 8 places.
Closing comments: I’m hooked! 😃
My first triathlon.
Early morning rides are the best. Mainly because of the lack of traffic on the roads which means I get to put a bit of speed into the segments on strava without having to worry about cars or other road users.
Wet ride home
Early morning ride. 12 miles.
A clean bike is a happy bike
A Successful First Week
This week saw me return to work after 5 weeks off. This has helped keep me in a routine of gym, cycle and run. The workouts before work are fantastic. I feel fresh and ready. After this week I'll be getting my swimming time back as I've some running races on the days I swim. I've found running the hardest to get back into. My breathing just doesn't want to settle at all. This Thursday is the first race in my running clubs summer series. A 2.6 mile trail run from the reindeer pub in Middlestown near Wakefield. The first have is incredibly fast and the second half is all uphill. My plan is to blast the first half and hold on for the rest. My fitness won't make the second half easier regardless if I push first or not.
Some fantastic rides this week in nice weather. Some in not so nice weather too
Calderdale Way Relay
Sunday saw Halifax Harriers host the Calderdale way relay. This consists of 6 legs of different lengths starting in Elland between Huddersfield and Halifax. I've only ever done leg 1 and leg 2. Last year I did leg 1 which is bloody hard work. 11 miles over hard, hilly moors. This year I did leg 2 starting at Cragg Vale (halfway up the longest continuous incline in the UK) and finishing in Todmorden. The race is run under UK fell rules which state that you must carry with you full waterproof clothing, hat, gloves, compass, map, whistle. This meant running with a bag to carry it all in. The weather was fine, slight showers but mainly dry so I knew I wouldn't need any of the contents. I also knew the course so I wouldn't get lost, so it was quite annoying to carry dead weight, especially up those hills. Because it's a relay we had to wait for our team to pass the baton on to us before we could start. Our team mates came in 30 seconds before the mass start so we didn't have a fantastic start. Leg 2 is only 8.4 miles long but the first half is a continuous climb to stoodley pike over the moors. After that there's an incredibly steep downhill section that shreds your legs. Because of my dodgy knee, the downhills were taken slowly to minimise impact. This slowed us down loads. All together there were 3 big hills. The last one was the shortest but the steepest. It seemed silly to try run up when walking would be just as fast. The downhill after that was straight to the finish so that ended up being fast. We missed the pass over by a few minutes but we'd accepted that we weren't at our fastest so we wouldn't make it. All in all its a fantastic race in lovely areas. My only criticism would be that leg 1 is really long and maybe doesn't have enough time allocated for people to pass the baton on. Teams should struggle to get the baton to leg 6, not 1. Not passing the baton on leg 1 is really demoralizing when it should be fun.
I couldn't recommend this book enough. Lots of ideas and good advise weather you're a speedy runner or just a beginner
Illness
I've been quite ill this week. I tried to ignore it and went on a hilly 20 mile ride in beautiful Yorkshire. It was quite hard on my legs and on my chest. I then did a hilly 6 mile run with the club, which was a mistake. My knee injury returned which bloody hurt! The following days my cold made recovering from my ride and run hard. My whole body was aching. I've rested for a few days now so hopefully it will be fine. On Saturday I'll be back at work after 5 weeks off on paternity leave. No more late nights, sleeping in and drinking beer on a school night. Hopefully this will help with motivation. My gym is across the road from where I work. No excuses. On Sunday I'll be doing the Calderdale relay fell race. I'm running with my brother-in-law. We're both injured and out of shape at the moment so it'll be a slow steady run for us. We ran it last year in 1:23:00 but I doubt we'll achieve that this year. After this race there's only 11 days before the first race in our clubs summer series. I wanted to be in the best shape for these races but I doubt that as well unfortunately. Having a baby has really taken it out of me. It's a lot calmer now and the routine we're in is helping.
Steady 20 mile bike ride in beautiful Yorkshire.
A 3 mile ride to the gym. Shoulders and legs and a 8 mile ride home. The ride home was bloody hard work after a leg workout.