Tri 4

Saturday 8th August, Leybourne Lakes, the scene of my 4th tri, the third at Leybourne Lakes.

The lead-up to the race wasn't a good one. After waking up ok on Sunday (very very early coz I had to take my parents to the airport (so it was a 5am wake-up)) we went back to the London Triathlon to watch day 2 and the loympic event. We did, however spend most of the afternoon resting (and recovering).

On MOnday I headed to work and to my first football game since my injury. The game was ok, I think I played ok (nothing spectacular) and our team drew. I actually played outfield for the first time (the point was the workout) and it was a hell of a workout. There was however a big down-side. In the warm-up kick around I went for a shot and felt the toe 'go'. I was in quite a bit of pain but considering its a 5-a-side game and there were only 5 of us, I kept going, played the full game and left myself to regret it later. And regret it I did ... it was back to the pain of the first week of the metatarsal injury, so much so that I couldn't walk on it overnight and had to stay home. I have, however, discovered a new cream "Deep Freeze". I must admit it worked miracles. 4 applications a day. At that stage I had all but given up on the Saturday race but Deep Freeze worked its magic and a day before the race I woke up pain free. I hadn't done any training since Monday but being pain free gave me te confidence tat I could do the race. And do it I did.

I had unfinished business with the Saturday morning race. You may recall this was the setting of my second Tri and debacle so there was a serious detemination to do better, to get a PB for the course and to get under 1 hour 20. To cut a long story short the race was a fairly fast one. I had decided to draft off someone in the swim but within 1 minute of the race I was in limbo, the vast majority of competitors had long gone, and the ones next to me seemed to be going slower than I was. I finally managed to draft over the last 50m. The swim and T1 were my fastest yet.

The bike ride was again my fastest yet (still slow but faster than before). So I got off the bike and into the run after 50 mins and some change. I had half an hour to do the run but that's where the problems started. For the first 500-1000m I felt like there was someone literally sitting on my chest. Not a chance of taking a deep breath. The legs were tired and my laces kept coming undone (three times) which kept interrupting my rhythm. The run wasn't my fastest but sheer determination and a continued realisation that if I kept on going I would be on target for not only a PB but also a sub-1:20 time meant that I kept at it. I finished in 1:19:47. A personal best and under 1:20.

That's it for the Leybourne Lakes course this season. I've hit a target. Next season, hopefully, I'll have improved my bike riding markedly, and my fitness. The target (at present) is therefore to get under 1:15 next season ...

There's still a couple of races to go this season (varying distances) so I'm looking forward to further results (hopefully good ones) which I can then aim to improve on over the winter.