Beverley Triathlon

A great race from start to finish, that's the first time this season. I had a good swim, exiting the pool at the same time as Ed Charlton Weedy from the Army tri team. For those that don't know he is the Interservice Champion this year. We left T1 together and I got my feet into my bike shoes quicker and led out the first mile through the town. Once we hit the road Ed showed his true strength on the bike and passed me. I don't get passed very often on the bike in a triathlon so was surprised at how easy he seemed to pull away. I tried to go with him and held the gap at 1 min 10 secs. I knew if I stuck with him I would be leaving the rest of the field behind. I got back to T2 and was as slick as ever, I set off on the run knowing that I had worked hard on the bike and was destined for the podium unless something went badly wrong. I ran hard and could see Ed in front of me at the turn. I was closing in on him but couldn't get close enough. I finished just 50 seconds behind him. I had the 4th fastest swim of the day, the second fastest bike of the day and the fastest run of the day. My reward for the effort was £20 cash, a free entry into any of the freebird events next year, a trophy and a bottle of wine. I reckon I raced faster due to wearing my new Oakley Jawbones LOL!

Ultimate bling, oh yeah a race report too

Blingy Bling Tastic, yes after a 4 1/2 week wait I finally received the ultimate bling item of the year - my Oakley Jawbones in Livestrong colours!!!! You know you want some!

Anyway on to the race, the Allerthorpe Classic standard distance tri. It was to be the first swim in my new Blueseventy Helix, maybe not the best plan to do my first swim in it on a race but it seemed to work out ok. I swam a 23:22 and 29th out of the water. I had a bit of a struggle in T1 as the new suit has different cuffs and I struggled to get out of them (a bit of lube on that area next time). I got on the bike and it was a flat course but very windy. I was going well but didn't feel anywhere near as fast as other races this year, not sure why but it just wasn't quite there. I made good progress and got back to T2 with a bike time of 1:01:19. Had a flyer in T2 with a sub 20 second transition, and off on the run. This is where I feel cheated. I know everyone had to do the same distance but I feel robbed due to the run being very long. I was running well and catching people as I went, I thought I had done a good run but found that I had only run a 40:23. Obviously the run was long as Phil Graves and Andy Fisher only ran 37 and a 1/2 for it. I finished with a 2:05:04 but had the run been accurate I reckon I would have beaten my p.b of 2:01:10. I finished 8th overall so a good result on a tough day due to the wind. I now move on as its back to doing a sprint on Sunday then a couple of weeks before the Vitruvian.

New Wetsuit

I've parted with some cash and got a new wetsuit, the old one was only just hanging together after lots of repairs over the last 4 years. I now have a blueseventy helix from Simon at www.thetristore.com for a bargain price of just £299.99 delivered. I will give it a test on Sunday in the Allerthorpe Classic tri, no time to test it prior to the event so will have to race test it! Review will be on here after the race along with race report, stand by!

Interservice Race

The interservice race took place on Wednesday 29th July in the stunning grounds of Sherborne Castle in Dorset. The forecast was for rain and lots of it, but on arrival the roads were dry. The swim start was really wide which meant it wasn't too much of a fight during the first 300 meters. I had lots of room and settled into a nice rhythm straight away. I exited the water in 23:17 which is a good swim for me. I had a good transition and then set off in pursuit of the fast swimmers knowing I would pass most of them on the fantastic long hilly bike course. I knew the course would be hard and the weather made it harder which played into my hands. I finished the 50k bike in 1:20:05 the 4th quickest bike of the day and the fastest RAF bike time by nearly 2 minutes. A faultless 2nd transition and I was away running and feeling good on the 10k run. I managed to put in a 35:17 run and a total time of 2:20:01. I had a good all round race with no real weakness on the day. I finished in 10th place and was the 3rd RAF finisher. A satisfying race for a change :-)
Next week I have another olympic in yorkshire, the week after is a sprint event and then just 2 weeks later its the Vitruvian.