It is a long time since the Upton Triathlon and I am overdue an update on my performance on the day. Well, I am able to report that I completed the sprint distance in a time of 1:40 and some seconds which was pretty much on target.
The swim was a reasonable 17 odd minutes which was actually fantastic given my more normal pool and lake times for 750m. I was expecting something slower than 20 minutes. I was only overtaken by a couple of uber-fit women from their start which was about 5 mins behind mine. I even managed to get out of the wetsuit quite quickly so a transition of sub 4 minutes was a good achievement.
Of course the leaders were much quicker and probably several miles ahead on their bikes before I even mounted mine. Nevertheless, my cycle was bang on expectations and if it wasn't for the very long section of bike pushing from transition to mount/dismount the bike time would have been around 45mins. As it was the official time was still under 50 mins so again on target.
The run was slow by normal 5k expectations but on reflection the 28 minutes was not too bad on the back of a swim and cycle. All in all I could have expected any more and so I went away happy.
But Grand Insanity is less about the performance and more about the delusional "what might have been" and what about the next one? If I had managed to transition as efficiently as the leaders then I would have shaved around 4 minutes off the time. After all, to swim, cycle and run fast requires fitness and athleticism.. To change clothes is something we all do everyday. So why can it be so hard? I had all my stuff laid out like everyone else. I had a check list taped to my plastic box (yes I had a plastic box just like the pros), I had abandoned any notion of cycling and running in socks and decided to forego donning another running top over the tri-vest thereby condemning the spectators to the unedifying sight of over-flabby and underdeveloped triceps blobbing up and down for the rest of the race.
But despite all this I was as far away from the leaders in transition times in relative terms as I was in the actual athletic events. Perhaps I need a transition training regime? I wonder if there are classes - body pump or zumba followed by a quick change class! Perhaps it is about rolling out of bed, dressing in 10s, sprinting to shower, undress in 10s and then re-dress in less than 20s. If that is the case perhaps we should consider adding an extra element to transition. Making toast and coffee on the way out would perhaps even the odds for us more normal people. Top athletes should be made to cook a full english by way of a handicap. I rather fancy a bacon butty as I start the cycle.
Anyway, I am clearly losing it after a long summer along with my fitness which tanked after a fortnight in the med trying to windsurf. Now that is truly an insane activity.
