Race Report - The Dambuster ITU Standard Distance (2015)

My worst performance so far

It was a bit of a strange race, once again, I have done no training. The last time I ran was at the Deva Triathlon last week!
This wasn’t going to be a fast race. My right leg has felt pretty good all week, with just the occasional twinge, but I decided to totally rest it and not run on it at all.
Due to work and life getting in the way, I didn’t swim or bike either!

The Dambuster Triathlon was an ITU qualifier race, yet it didn’t have that same quality feel as Deva
I registered the night before, so that I had plenty of time in the morning and I was disappointed to see that the race numbers were just cheap printed paper labels, not the nice plastic and easy to remove stickers used at other events. There weren’t any race number body tattoos either. It just seemed to cheapen the whole event and make it feel less “pro race”
The start of the race was delayed by 15 minutes too because people were struggling to get parked.

The Swim

The swim was a single loop in Rutland Water with reasonably visible buoys. One new experience for this race was the beach start! cool! we all lined up on the shore and at the klaxon, run into the water.
Once I got to mid thigh depth, I wanted to dive in and start swimming, but unfortunately, I was stuck behind a few guys that ploughed into the lake almost to chest height, so I didn’t get the quick start I wanted.
I didn’t really settle into the swim for some reason, it wasn’t cold, it wasn’t crowded, I just wasn’t flowing.
Once again, I didn’t take my Garmin with me on the swim, I’m not missing it.
GOOD NEWS! my goggle DIDN’t steam up. I sprayed them in the evening and I sprayed them in morning and they didn’t steam up, perfect.
It was a long run up to T1 and I was still struggling to pull the velcro tab off my wetsuit, I think I need to work on my shoulder flexibility.

T1

I had memorised my route to my rack and my helmet was siting high on my seat, so I go to my bike with no problems.
Wetsuit off, Helmet on and run to the mount line.
My shoes were once again clipped in, but this time I had a little hook for the left shoe, it worked perfectly keeping both shoes in place.
I didn’t kick my rear bottle off this time, but I almost did! it was only just hanging on.

The Bike

Steep long climbs was the theme of this route, steep long climbs and lots of heavy traffic.
It was a nightmare! Even though it was early in the morning, the traffic was horrendous. I got stuck behind articulated trucks which were trying to overtake the slower riders from the first 2 waves, through the villages it was even worse. At one point, I was sat up and sandwiched between a Bentley and a LandRover, not able to pass and it was painfully slow.
And of course, I lost my rear bottle, it vibrated out this time, so I’m not going to use it anymore.
pretty much a disaster from start to finish.
The only good thing, toe warmers! these things are brilliant and they made my tatty ols shoes look almost new.

T2

Bike in was the same bike out, yet i still managed to run past my rack.
My feet weren’t cold this time, so shoes on and away

The Run

Hmm, the run, not my best. As soon as I started to run from the rack it just all felt wrong. my legs felt so weak and it was hurting from the start.
The run course starts off with some fairly minor undulations, its not hilly, then to a flat out and back around the shore of the lake. all very uninteresting.
My head wasn’t in this run and all I could think about was not walking, not stopping, never quit, but I was so slow.
Every Km marker I was thinking “come on, you made it this far, keep going” thats not the thoughts of someone racing, those are the thoughts of someone surviving.
And survive I did.
I didn’t walk, I didn’t stop, but I didn’t feel good at all.

Conclusion

Not a good race for me and it was weird being there on my own.
it was a bit of a dead atmosphere and a bit of a dud race, I dont think I’ll be back next year

Swim - 25:27
T1 - 01:39
Cycle - 01:16:06
T2 - 02:02
Run - 46:57
Overall - 02:31:11

302 OA (754)
43 AG (111)

Nutrition
Porridge, honey, nuts, coffee, beet-it shot
elivar endure (front bottle)
elivar hydrate (rear bottle which fell off)
1 torq gel on run
post race elivar recover

Kit Used
Huub trisuit
Garmin 910xt with quick fit kit and bike mount (multisport mode without transition)
2XU Z:1 wetsuit
zoggs predator flex polarized goggles (my new ones)
Cervelo P3, Zipp firecrests
Front mounted, 600ml bottle
Rear mounted, 600ml bottle (which fell off)
Rudy Project Wing57 aero helmet
Specialized Sport RD shoes
Vaude Mentis 2 toe warmers
Newton TriRacer
Blue Seventy race belt (worn under wetsuit)