I took my first small steps back into the racing world last weekend. It was only a 4km run leg as part of a super sprint triathlon but it was a start.
If triathlons are your thing I'd highly recommend the Dublin City Triathlon. Good course, great atmosphere, well organised and most importantly... jam packed goodie bags.
We got to Dublin late on Saturday night but there was still just a little time for a quick team 'briefing' in the pub. We took our hydration strategy really seriously and made sure to sample the local brew. This didn't make the early start on Sunday morning any easier..
After registering at 7am, checking out the swim course and transition area, watching the early waves starting and meeting up with colleagues who were also taking part it was almost my turn to compete (3+ hours later!!). So, while the swimmers and cyclists did their thing Grellan and I went for a couple of miles warm up. This was just as well as it gave me a opportunity to see the course in advance.
When we got back to transition our swimmers had finished their 600m swim and the cyclists were well on the road. It didn't take long for my teammate to finish his 16k cycle and then it was my turn...
The run course was a mixture of road/pavement and cross country roughly in equal measure. There were some drags (which if tackled at speed will turn your legs jelly) and even the relatively flat cross country section was a bit uneven so it's certainly not a course for a pb. Which was just as well because I'm nowhere near pb shape at the moment. So the plan was to go out steady and hang on. The only problem with that plan was that this was a race and there was interoffice pride at stake! So I headed out feeling comfortable at 5:30 pace. After 800m the course went uphill and certainly made sure that my overall mile split would be considerable slower (6:23). By the time I reached the top of the hill and headed out onto the country my legs were like lead and my breathing was so loud that anyone ahead got plenty warning that I was coming. But I was passing runners all the way so that was motivation to keep going for the team (and it was only a 4k run so it would be over soon...)
Only one person passed me (a chick but a very fast one!! an Irish international 1500m runner - Orla Drumm) and that was with about 800m to go. This gave me some motivation to kick for home at sub 6min pace. I finally crossed the line and stopped my watch with 16:44 on the clock. It took me 12secs to leave transition so I estimate 16:32 for the leg. A slow time but respectable enough given the course and probably as fast as I could have hoped for given that I haven't done any real speed work in a very long time.
The full results have yet to be published but one of our 4 teams (not the one I was in!) won the team relay. Congrats to them.
Now it's onwards and upwards to the next race (probably Cork to Cobh 15m at the start of October). That gives me 5 weeks of serious training time.....
In full flight coming home with 200m to go...
Some of our team members looking relaxed beforehand....
Update 27-August
Provisional results published today show my run time as 16:30. That was the 2nd fastest of the relay runners and the 5th quickest of the day!! Our team came 8th of the relays (28th overall) in a time of 1:05:14. That was 13:00 for the swim and 32:30 for the cycle with T1 (1:35) and T2 (1:40). Well done to my teammates Kieran and Robert.
