Where does time go!? I sit here writing a blog post on the eve of my Windsor Triathlon weekend, 4 weeks on from my trip to North Wales and the Slateman Triathlon. It seems like yesterday that I was competing in the back to back triathlons across the weekend. Here’s my blog that I wrote across the weekend.
This race could well be my first finish at a triathlon since New York City in 2015 (fingers crossed). I have to say “could” as I am writing this blog across the race weekend and well, you guessed it, it’s the night before.
I had never heard of the Slateman Triathlon until I was on the San Francisco Belle Hornblower waiting to head out to start the Escape from Alcatraz triathlon. Yep 2 years ago I met a tri coach from Hull, Craig. At most triathlons, you get chatting to others, it’s a very very friendly sport. I had mentioned that I enjoy a challenge and like to do different types of triathlons/events. Alcatraz was an example of that as it had odd distances, a swim from The Rock and not your typical tri. Craig said that I would like the Slateman, set in around the base of Snowdon, cycling and running through the mountain range and slate quarries proves to give a picturesque triathlon. He also suggested that they do double triathlons across the weekend, The Savage!
As explained in a previous post, the Savage is a variation of a sprint and Olympic triathlon distances in the same weekend. You can either enter them individually, do both, or even enter a longer distance tri the Legend (70.3) on the Sunday. Craig was entered into that one this weekend.
I had booked into this event last year following the chat on the ferry from the summer before. I had to pull out due to injury, my knee wasn’t in a good place and last year was all about JOGLE!
My winter training has gone well, I like to keep a balance between exercise and socialising, so yes, there is always the possibility that I will miss a session or two from my plan. I shared my training plan with you earlier this year, it had suggested that by the time Slateman comes around I would have exercised a total of 51 times, remember this was only starting from late Feb. Mixing up swimming, running, cycling and gym sessions. I stuck to the plan as much as I could, swimming took a hit as I cancelled my gym membership. However I managed to get a flow before this race weekend. In total I missed 15 sessions across the last few months, although that sounds like a lot, I am feeling very fit at the moment and looking forward to seeing what the rest of the summer has to offer.
Travel
My last two events have required a lengthy drive. Snowdon doesn’t come anywhere near the distance I drove to the Alpes but was still a good 4.5 hour drive. I had Thursday off work to get all my stuff prepped. I’ve got a list (course I do) saved from a few years back, covers everything I need for a triathlon. So all packed, I loaded the car and set off to Wales. The weather got better and better the I got, it was pretty miserable when I left home. It felt like it took the same amount of time to get from home to the “Welcome to Wales” sign as it did from there to Llanberis. It also took less than a mile once into Wales before I saw my first ARAF sign, which means slow. They are everywhere!
When I arrived and found my B&B, the owner Jacqui was waiting. Very friendly but did think I was mad doing the 2 in 2 days! A theme that I picked up on as I got chatting to people across the weekend. So as I’ve learnt from New York, San Fran and the Alpes. Lower the amount of walking the day before race day. Where I was staying was 0.3 miles from transition, don’t think I could have stayed much closer. Well I could, but they were full! I popped there twice on Friday, so just the mile or so in the legs pre race. Couldn’t get much to eat that was healthy or clean so settled for curry of the day in a pub and headed back to chill and watch England v Pakistan in the ODI warm up game. Got all my stuff ready, sorted my porridge order for breaks and got myself an early night.
Ok so I wrote the above before I settled for the evening. I actually ended up watching Ricky Gervais, After Life. Got through a cheeky 3 episodes, eventually the head hit the pillow at about 23:00.
Race Day 1 – Saturday Sprint 400m Swim, 20km Bike, 5.7km Run
Standard issue, well for me anyway, alarm set for 06:45, body clock woke me up at 05:45, take after my Dad in that respect, def not my Mum. Morning was swift, I got some porridge down me with some honey mixed through, rule 1, never change race day fuel on race day, stick with what you do for any other training day. Grabbed my stuff and headed to transition, was there by 08:15, perfect timing.
Having a low bib number 6, meant I had like the perfect place for transition. I got set up with every thing laid out and had a pre game wee and headed to the swim.
Standard triathlon protocol, get someone else to zip the wetsuit up. I then noticed a little cut in the suit, not ideal when I have only worn it once before. HUUB will be getting an about that (which they have had). So everyone was cautious of the water temperature. After Exmoor some years back, nothing and I mean nothing can come close to that. It was chilly and when it hit my face, it def woke me up! Swim went really well, happy with my time and my sighting. My open water swimming has come on a lot since the Alpes where I managed to swim an extra 300m than I was supposed to. Onto the bike…
The bike was pretty cool, it was 5 mile climb, followed by a little down and up, then 5 mile descent back to transition. I think I only got overtaken by 2/3 bikes, so have come along way over the years, so better at climbing these days. Upon entering transition I thought I was going to be DQ’d! I unclipped the helmet before racking the bike, the marshall made me stop and re clip the helmet back up before I could run towards my position and rack the bike. I even unclipped once more before I racked the bike and got told off again. I did try to find the marshall later to apologise but couldn’t see him.
The run…WOW! I’ve entered and run some steep runs this year. Benfleet 15, Brutals, Tough Mudders, yet I think this was the worst! First 20 minutes was all uphill, now for a run that is just over 5km, which I can normally do in around23 minutes, that’s a lot of climbing! Some serious hills, lots of walking, it was relentless. The downhill way back was pretty fun though. It was at this point that I noticed my tri suit sleeves had been rolled up since the swim! Gutted for how the pics will come out, yet I will learn for tomorrow.
One thing that did feel weird was not getting a medal at the end. I guess my race isn’t technically over yet, save that for tomorrow.
Although unofficial as I wrote this part of the blog, it looks as though I came 100th today, out of a field of 238. Take that. I was in 88th place in the bike, yet 127th in the run, some of the others were like gazelles going up those hills!
So as I wrote this part of the blog, I had been back to the B&B, showered, stretched, got the recovery compression tights on and headed out for lunch. Went for a ham and cheese sarnie and mushroom soup combo. Wanted to go check if the massage tent at transition was still open, which it wasn’t, then I needed to decide whether to chill or head up Snowdon (by train).
I forgot to mention just how many compliments Camilla received today!
Race Day 2 – Sunday Classic 1km Swim, 50km Bike, 11km Run
So I didn’t manage to get a decent nights sleep, was a little apprehensive into how the knee would hold up and feel today, also how the body in general would cope. Especially when your watch tells you to have 4 days recovery time! Gulp!
Had a slightly later start on Sunday, my wave was going off at 09:40, still opted for the 07:30 porridge though. Transition was similar to Saturday, although a lot more people, a buzz in the air. The heavens decided to open just before we were due to start. I got a little wet before I had even got into my wetsuit. I made a boo boo as I was walking to the start, I still had my socks on! Doh! Oh well, they are somewhere near the start line in the poo covered field if anyone needs some short trainer socks!
The water temperature had dropped overnight due to the rain, it was at 12.5 degrees which was 0.4 lower than Saturday, enough to make you know its freezing, especially when it hits the face for the first time! I am really happy with my swim, considering when I first started triathlons I would come up for a bit of breast stroke every once in a while, today was full on front crawl the whole way. I got hit by a another triathlete after a few minutes into the swim, these things can be carnage sometimes, this was just the one hit. I also had to dig someone in the ribs to get them to move over as they kept on swimming into my direction and getting in the way. They learnt. T1 done, smoothly onto the bike!
The bike was also wet, I was 1 minute slower on the first 5 mile climb, it had set off in the same direction and course as the Saturday race. After that I managed to settle into the bike. Legs started to feel a little heavy after 12 miles, but decided to suck it up and push on, deal with it on the run! At 16 miles the marshalls waved us down to a stop. There had been a road accident, so we had to stop and wait. This cost me 10 minutes waiting. I didn’t really mind too much, but it was on a downhill section where I was flying! The restart saw nearly 60-70 cyclists all go off together, drafting was going to be well out the picture, a peloton style next 5 miles, game on. More and more compliments on Camilla. A swift T2 (not removing the helmet until I needed to) and onto the run.
Well, the lady with numero 1 on her bib suggested that the Sunday would be the easier run of the two days. After a mile, there was about 2 miles of climbing. My back was in bits and really hurting, so I decided to walk a lot of the hills. Especially when I didn’t really know the end was. Once up there, it was very much downhill all the way home with the odd little up. I finished strong in the run, maybe its because that’s where all the spectators are, got to look good for the crowds.
Race was done, time to refuel. Treated myself to a burger and a pint of cider. I had no concerns around sleeping well that night!
Slateman Savage is def one to recommend, not for the faint hearted though. Be sure not to burn out too much on the Saturday, as the Sunday hills will come back to bite you on the arse! The scenery is stunning, definitely one of the most picturesque places I have been for a triathlon.
I had a few day rest once I got home, it was 4 weeks before Windsor and 7 weeks before Ironman Sweden (70.3).
That’s all for now, I hope you enjoy the read!
I Just Felt Like Cycling 