The Apollo Triathlon

1st April 2012

I had got fixated on doing a warm-up tri before the Europeans at the end of the month but like usual, left everything to the last minute and all the local tris got booked up.  This meant a 3 hour drive to Hull to race in the Apollo Triathlon organised by Toro CSC: a tri with a distance of 400m/24k/5k.  It was to take place in the pictureqsque East Yorkshire Village of Welton.

After the previous two weeks which gave the UK the hottest March in many years, it was something of a shock to the system when we were scraping frost from our windscreens on the morning of the race.  I had one of the later start times so it warmed up a little by then.  The crystal clear blue skies made the scenery of the bike route even more spectacular than usual, not that I took too much notice as I battled it out across the rolling countryside.

The swim was OK, not great.  I was out in around 6:30 although chip timing has me as over 7 minutes including the run into transition.  The bike was hard work, I battled into a strong headwind for most of it.  I was determined not to get caught by the men behind me but I seemed to struggle up the climbs and not be getting anywhere.  I put my head down and was determined not to go in a granny ring and just push my way through.  After the last 2 hard duathlons, the last 5k seemed like a breeze.  My legs felt fresh and I felt strong.  I overtook loads of men which made me think I was running a lot quicker than I actually was.  I crossed the line with too much left and made a mental note for the next race to leave nothing at the line.

Still, it was a good enough performance to win the women's category with over a 9 minute lead on the girl in second place and I finished 14th overall with the men too.  The prizes were a really nice touch; with a commemorative coin for the London 2012 Olympic Games.  A great event and a solid result but it's back to the drawing board now for more training.

The next race organised by Toro Csc is the Athena Triathlon @ David Lloyd, Hull on June 24^th.