West Wight Triathlon 2011

Race day dawned grey and a bit breezier than yesterday.
Swim 11'59" (15" better than last time), bike 76'56" (2 minutes 56" worse - windier?), run 40'01" (33" worse).

T1 and T2 slightly slower - by 17" - shoe changing?

Overall 2 hours 11'13" = 2 minutes 11 seconds worse than last time.

Legs felt very heavy in the run - did we overdo it in the warmup?

Pre West Wight Tri warmup bike

About 35km, at a nice easy pace on a lovely sunny afternoon.

Causeway and Thorley

8.49km at 5'24/km - on a hot and sunny day. Pleasing, especially with alco-loading diet!

Along the railway path, end to end (including the garden centre)

Biking in the IOW

About 35km around the West Wight, and around the triathlon course. Average speed about 26 km/hr, but the last few km were an easy cruise back down the railway path. Some nice fast km in the middle. And the course gets less daunting with familiarity!

Freshwater Bay

A very slow run to Tennyson's Monument, and back to the base of the hill with Judith. Total distance 9.18km at a pace of 7'29"/km (!). Quite a lot of stopping.

And then another from Freshwater Bay to Yarmouth along the railway path - 4.69km at a pace of 5'44"/km and a total distance for the day of 13.88km

On the bike

Slowly going faster on the bike - 20km in just over 40 minutes yesterday. But now I'm into the taper - so not much exercise this week to build up leg strength for Sunday

Indoor Triathlon - rehearsal

August 29th:

Indoor triathlon dry run: 600m swim in 12'18", 35 km on the gym bike in 69 minutes and the 7.5km run in just under 40 minutes. Plus maybe 3 minutes for transitions - I just don't believe the gym bike is representative.

Still, gives me some confidence on the 2hr 30 target being realistic. I'll be coming looking for sponsorship in the next few weeks - pre-empt me by visiting www.justgiving.com/johnaw (or feel smug if you already have!)

Happy Birthday

As a birthday gift to myself, I went to the gym to do a mini-triathlon (600m swim, 22km bike in 40 minutes, 5km run in 26'35"). The transition from swim to bike took about 3 minutes (drying, heartrate monitor on, top on, socks on, shoes on, ipod on, onto the bike and go).

The transition off the bike is quick (at least in a gym), but the first km or two are difficult (wobbly heavy legs). I think the trick is not to go off too fast on the run - which fortunately isn't a big problem!

Back from the Isle of Wight

Covered about 40km in two weeks in the Isle of Wight (running) - including a 14km and a 10km run. Plus my IoW bike arrivedand I tried out the triathlon route - estimating 1 hr 20 for the full 35km.

Some nasty hills, some fun downhill sections. At least the run is flat!

We're off!

So there I was, in the office, slightly pink from my gym session and sauna, when the conversation takes an ugly turn.

Steve: Why are you looking so sweaty?

Me: I've just been to the gym

Steve: Have you been going long?

Me: Pretty regularly for a couple of years

Steve: So, when do expect to start seeing results?


Provocation, I think you'll agree, and it was what drove me to commit to the West Wight Triathlon (and to secure the first £50 of sponsorship).

Following the excellent example of the Reluctant Marathon Man, I'll try to keep this blog updated, so my progress towards the objective is recorded. I'll also list the shopping opportunities the event throws up, for the technically minded!