Northampton Olympic

The Northampton Olympic Triathlon was also our club championships with club honours going to the top 3 male and female athletes.  Unfortunately there were only 10 of us there representing the club but with parents, partners and friends there to support us too there was a great atmosphere.  Saying the venue was muddy would be an understatement! I saw 3 people slide flat on their backsides before I had even racked my bike! The rain started to drizzle and having not raced for 6 weeks due to my last triathlon being cancelled, I was really nervous for this.

This was the first time Chris had watched an OW Triathlon - he thought we were mad!

The women’s wave was off with the over 40 men’s wave and so I was keen to get a good space on the start line out of trouble.  I  opted for the far right hand side next to TJ, another Rugby Triathlete, and told him to get on my feet for the swim, just like we had practiced in Annecy!  When the hooter sounded for us to go I was straight into clear water with a quick start, but couldn’t feel TJ tickling my toes! In fact, every time I breathed to the side or sighted to the front I couldn’t see anyone either.  Was I in the lead? I had certainly got a good start! Once we got to the first buoy I merged with a group on my left that I hadn’t seen, there was about 10 of us or so in the lead pack.  Turning round the buoy to go to the next one the calmness of the lake seemed to suddenly change and it was really choppy.  I couldn’t breathe as normal and had to really lift my shoulders out of the water to get over the waves to see the next buoy.  I lost that first group quite early on so just swam on my own.  Changing direction around the second buoy and it was quite calm again and I wondered what I’d been fussing about until 200m later when there was another turn, waves again and I began to feel almost sea sick! I saw a white hat ahead (another female competitor) so sighted off her until I got on her feet.  We exited the water together and I ran hard up T1 to get a bit of a lead.

When we entered transition the commentator announced my name as the first female competitor out of the water!! What?? Was he pulling my leg?!? This has never happened to me before! I almost stopped dead whilst putting my helmet on to ask him to repeat it again. How exciting!!! Swimming has gone from one of my weaknesses to a strength thanks to the help of Steve Casson, and I had a new rush of energy knowing I was in the lead.

Out on the bike route and it was immediately testing with a bit of a hill up into the village.  I caught a couple of guys early on and tried to cycle hard but the headwind was quite fierce at times.  In fact, whichever way you went there seemed to be a headwind! It was hard to get into any sort of rhythm but I have come to learn that putting that extra bit of effort in on the bike leg in a tri really does pay off.  I caught Matt from our tri club who had a fantastic swim and we gave each other a cheer.  The cycle course was one big lap and one smaller lap and it was nice cycling past the transition area to hear some cheers and get you refocused.  For most of the bike course I couldn’t see a soul and it felt a bit like a time trial rather than a race.  On the smaller lap, I merged with the guys who had set off in a later wave and seeing how quick they were travelling made me realise I had been dilly-dallying along for a bit so I picked it up towards the end of the second lap.  Back in off the bike in 1:08:35 for a pretty tough course was quite pleasing.  I now had a 5 minute lead on the next female and the race was going well.  I had a super smooth transition (in fact both of my transitions were the best they’ve ever been), was this all too good to be true.....?

Really struggling on lap 3

Yes!! I set off on the 4 lap run which was full of twists and turns around pylons, ropes, marshals and involved a few jumps over potholes and puddles.  I really wanted a 40 minute 10k but thought realistically it would be more like 42 minutes.  Lap 1 was completed no problems, a quick look at the watch – 10 minutes, great, I was on track.  I got cheers off Mum & Chris, Neil & Ann-Marie, Steve, Simon and the marshals, it was great!  Then half way into lap 2 I had a terrible stitch! I haven’t had a stitch for years (not since running cross-country at primary school and wanting to drop out!) The stitch was then followed by the hiccups and whilst my legs were screaming at me to get a move on because they felt really strong and fresh, my breathing and diaphragm were like “cant....get....air!” To make things worse I could feel the drink and gel that I had taken on the bike sloshing around making funny noises.  It was quite possibly the most uncomfortable run ever! My 5 minute lead was getting shorter and shorter and I feared that I wouldn’t be able to hold on any longer.  I saw quite a few Rugby Tri Members now also on the run and they gave me a cheer, Stu was absolutely flying and made it look so effortless so I kept telling myself “come on Sam, how hard can it be?” .  The finish line couldn’t come too soon and when I crossed the line I was chatting away and my legs felt fine (whereas usually I’m doubled over or collapsed in a heap on the floor) which shows I hadn’t been able to push myself as much as I had wanted to on the run.  I was really disappointed with my run split but that said, I was pleased that mentally I had hung in and proud that I had still been the first female to cross the line with over a 90 second lead.  There’s always things to work on, but I had lots of positives to take away from this race.

 

Athlete Name	Club	Swim	T1	Cycle	T2	Run	Time
Sam Anderson	Rugby Triathlon	00:24:12	00:00:54	01:08:35	00:00:40	00:46:54	02:21:17
Rachel Clay	Wessex Wizards	00:24:17	00:01:08	01:12:29	00:00:52	00:44:11	02:22:58
Rachel Baker	Mid Sussex	00:26:20	00:01:14	01:10:33	00:00:51	00:49:17	02:28:16

The club champs was won by Stu who ran a 37 minute 10k (on a course where you did well to just stay on your feet!) and he placed 11^th overall in his first ever Olympic distance Tri.  He was also the only guy from the club I didn’t manage to chick! Josie & Tori also successfully completed their first standard distance race in what I think was a really tough course on a tough day.  I think they both enjoyed it too, and I think Josie was second in her Age Group which was a fab result!  Jane ran the fastest 10k split for the women from Rugby Tri, and managed to stay on her bike this time J!  TJ convincingly won his age group despite faffing about on the swim, so all in all it was a very successful day.  I was even lost for words (for a change!) when the organiser told me to make a speech when I was on the podium.  All I managed to say was “I’m glad that’s over!”   Next for me, and for most of the Rugby Triathletes, is the Cowman on 8^th July – the British Middle Distance Championships.  It should be great fun!!