It’s been 8 years since I did Windsor Triathlon, back then it was actually my third ever triathlon and first at the Olympic distance. When I set out to plan my year I knew the main event was Sweden 70.3, however in order to there I needed some warm up events. Windsor sat 3 weeks before and therefore a decent event as I plan for that half Ironman.
Training had gone well, managed to improve a lot with my swimming and running, the cycling looks after itself after JOGLE last summer. Each week I swim I seem to get quicker, and some of my brick runs have had some positive average speeds.
Pre Race
Saturday registration was a wash out, I got very very lucky in that the heavens shut up shop just as I arrived and stayed shut until I was back in the car. Camilla got a standard few compliments. One annoying thing was that no bikes were allowed to be covered or locked up over night. Camilla was going to get wet that’s for sure! After registering I popped to my brothers, the family were celebrating my brothers nephews 16th birthday with a BBQ. I stayed clear of all the amazing looking food which killed me, as I wanted roast veg, sweet potato and some salmon for dinner. I thought that was the clean healthy way to go, little did I know it would come back to haunt me in the morning. I’ll get to that. So had dinner, sorted my final stuff, packed my bags and got my head down for the night.
Surprisingly I had one of my best pre race sleeps. I actually woke up at 5:14, a whole 1 minute earlier than the alarm, dressed, tea, porridge and go time!
Well the weather was looking very ominous as I was sorting my transition area. Good job I packed my dry bag otherwise I would have been coming home in wet clothes. As I got to transition I need to do 2 things,
- Have a pre game poo
- Change into my tri suit
Well although the queues for the toilets were awful, I knew this would kill 2 birds with 1 stone, so got settled into the queue and had a 20 minute wait. Once in the loo, well I won’t be too graphic, but let’s just say it wasn’t a long stop sat down! I changed into my tri suit, but then to top off the relaxed bowel movement, I dropped my fresh on boxers down the pan! Looked like ill be heading home commando! Finished my transition set up and walked to the swim start.
On route I got caught chatting to a guy, it was his 6th Windsor tri. Spoke to him a lot about the change of route, every stage was different to when I last came. We will review that a little later once I tell you how I got on.
The Swim
So apparently the new swim route means you swim with the current for the long section. With all the rain that we have had, the currents were really strong. I jumped in the water, had the pre race wee with 30 seconds to spare. The current was soo strong that we had to back ourselves up to not cross the start line.
The klaxon went and away we go. The swim was pretty brutal, I got hit quite a few times. At the turn it became very narrow. That was when we headed back up stream. Now as good as the current was down river, it took some swimming to head back against it.
Swim was overall, good. Happy with technique and how it went. I did get slight cramp in the calf and hamstring coming back up stream, but all in all, happy.
- 2011 Swim Time – 32:26
- 2019 Swim Time – 31:40
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- 2011 Swim Position – 901
- 2019 Swim Position – 714
The Bike
The one leg that I was really really looking to smash, however…
“Probably the wettest bike ride I have ever been on”
Again, another route change. This meant that the run to mount point was longer than before. I settled into an early rhythm once on the bike, but the heavens decided to open! I think it must have rained for 40 minutes straight! I got soaked.
Getting wet wasn’t the worst part, don’t forget I had just been in the Thames for half an hour. It was coming down so heavy and from all angles. I was remembering the part in Forrest Gump when he mentions all the types of rain, lol, cracking film. I had doubts over my time and if I would get my PB that I was searching for. I was over taking soo many people, I think for the whole race only a handful went past me. They did have TT bikes and were pushing hard. The wet made it difficult to push too hard and the puddles were everywhere. The home straight in through Windsor great park saw me top out at 39mph. Considering the conditions, that’s fast. I came in feeling pretty good, slightly heavy legs but hoping my brick sessions in training would get me through.
- 2011 Bike Time – 1:21:47
- 2019 Bike Time – 1:17:36*
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- 2011 Bike Position – 1116
- 2019 Bike Position – 449
*Also Garmin tracked the bike at 25miles in length, so considering I was able to shave off 4 minutes, with the extra mile I am pretty happy. Garmin also said that it was my fastest 40km ride in my stats.
The Run
I thought the cycle had taken it out of me, yet was pleasantly surprised when I saw my first mile spout at 8:31. I maintained this for the first 2 miles, the middles 3 were slower, then finished back on pace. It was a tough course to be fair, I think the toughest change of a leg since the 2011 race. So I finished strong and was pretty happy with my overall pace and way that I finished.
- 2011 Run Time – 51:09
- 2019 Run Time – 52:54
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- 2011 Run Position – 999
- 2019 Run Position – 798
Summary
Surprised by how many spectators were there given the weather situation last week. It was a pretty big event with around 1300 people completing the Olympic distance alone.
So I had a bit of a nightmare with my Garmin watch. I had accidentally pressed to end the cycle 0.5 miles into the ride. So Garmin now thinks I had a 7 minute bike ride and a 1 hour 15 minute T2! Facepalm moment!
Garmin was also suggesting to me that I was approaching a segment when I came to the start of the long walk. Only had to hear my watch beep every lap when I started back on the long walk.
All in all I am very happy with the race. Looking back at the times I did, I really wanted to PB each discipline and overall race. I did hit my PB in both the swim and the bike, which considering the current and weather (and extra mile), I am very very happy indeed. It was a tougher course, so on reflection a week later, I am super chuffed.
- 2011 Overall Time – 2:48:39
- 2019 Overall Time – 2:51:51
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- 2011 Overall Position – 1003 / 1634
- 2019 Overall Position – 570 / 1286
I know that I pushed hard though as it has taken me best part of 5 days to sort of recover. My body felt a little battered in the week, like I had been in a car accident!
This was treated as a final big brick session as training for Sweden 70.3. That’s on the 7th July and will come round quick. I have a couple of sportive before then and a final brick session. Outside of that I just need to add some miles to the running training. Where as Windsor was about setting a quick time, Sweden will all be about finishing. I have unfinished business at the 70.3 distance.
Wish me luck!
I Just Felt Like Cycling 