newforest middle distance 08

New Forest Middle Distance Triathlon

Sandy Balls, 21st September 2008

1.9k swim – 90k bike – 21k run

Report by David Astins & Alex Ilyat

This was, in equal measure, the best and worst race of my life. I’d managed to put off doing anything longer than a standard (Olympic) distance triathlon for 14 years, quite a feat, but I’d decided at the beginning of 2008 that it was time to ‘step up’. Not one to jump in with both feet (well, not often), rather than dive straight into an Iron distance event, I decided that I’d take the sensible approach and try middle distance (half Iron distance) in 2008, with a vague possibility of an Iron distance in 2009 or 2010 – “let’s see how it goes”. Hhhmmm.

I’d entered Bala back in June, but illness disrupted my training for that so I’d pulled out, leaving it to Mark “I’ll do it” Jones and Terry “two bottles” Gover. Glad to have missed the trip to Wrexham Maelor Hospital with Terry, my goals refocused on the New Forest event in September – best small triathlon in the UK in 2007 according to 220 magazine. Alex decided to give it a go too, and he’s only been in triathlon about 5 minutes, or something like that.

Ellie’s change of profession a week before the race meant she wasn’t able to come along and support, so I’d have to rely on Ian and Julie Woolie for the cheering, clapping and, as it turned out, shoulder to cry on. An early start on Saturday 20th saw me hit Salisbury around 9.30, ideal time for scrambled eggs on toast and a pot of tea. Half an hour later I was at Sandy Balls (yes, that’s right – check out my pics on Flickr), and I’d registered. Alex soon arrived and after a perusal of all the goodies in the tri shop, it was time for the briefing.

I’d decided to do the race as it was home turf – an obvious advantage! It was nice to be back in the “sunny south”, we had finally found where summer had been hiding, and it made for a really nice weekend.

The main message from the briefing appeared to be “watch out for the cows / deer / horses / pigs etc” which roam freely across the New Forest. Unlikely to be much of a problem I thought, until Alex and I went for a 20k spin around part of the course. We didn’t see any deer, but we did see donkeys, as well as a litter of piglets. Just what a nervous cyclist needs – plenty of wildlife to collide with….

A reccie of the complete bike course by car followed the nice spin on the bike (during which we averaged over 27 km/h without trying), and the general consensus was a nice course, a few climbs, but a lot flatter than our home turf of Pembrokeshire.(Definitely) A sub 3-hour bike split looked to be on the cards. (Hopefully) We then went to rack out bikes at T1, which was at Ellingham Water Ski lake, around 4 miles from Sandy Balls (Race HQ, T2 & finish). As is customary when racking, but event more so when racking in the relative calm of a pre-race day rack, a casual wander around transition revealed the presence of a few straight handlebars, and a LOT of carbon. Biggest “wow!” of all went to a Pinarello TT bike with Zipp wheels – sex on wheels.

The lake looked ideal for the event, nice and sheltered and not a wave or a shark in sight. Racking complete is was off to Fordingbridge to join Ian, Julie and Chris for the ‘last supper’. Ian was taking his support crew role not at all seriously, beginning his zillionth pint as we arrived! Only kidding, it was only 4 or 5, and an excellent meal in a great pub overlooking the river completed the preparation. Time for an early night….

Race day dawned cold and foggy, but clear and dry and we knew that once the fog lifted and the sun got up that it would be a great day. We dropped our run bags at Sandy Balls, and boarded a coach to Ellingham. We were on the first one just before 5.20am (!), and it was pitch black still when we arrived at the swim start. Much pacing around, more perusing other’s lovely bikes, and a few trips to the loo followed. Finally, fifteen minutes before race start, it was into wetsuits, dump the dry bag in the van, and wander down to the lake.

There were a number of people who had experienced a pre-dawn start before as they were wondering around with head torches on – a bonus when it comes to using the porta-loos!

A missing safety boat meant we had a bit of a wait, and it was actually warmer standing in the water than it was on the shore (warmer still if you peed in your wetsuit). Finally the race was underway, and 4 waves each 3 minutes apart got the show on the road. Alex and I were in wave 2 (white hats, for what it’s worth), and it wasn’t long before I was catching the back markers in wave 1 and piling through the field. Although I hadn’t swam 1.9k without stopping this year, I felt good and kept up a good tempo and nice long strokes. Before I knew it I was out on dry land and off onto the bike. I actually caught some of the people in wave 1 too, and managed to draft a bit so good starts all-round.

As soon as I mounted I decided to take my glasses off, as the cold air and my now warm face combined to fog the buggers up, so I slipped them into the back pocket of my cycle top which I’d opted to put on over my tri-suit in T1 as it was quite nippy. (I had a nice new tri suit and wanted to show it off – it wasn’t that cold) I settled into a nice rhythm on the bike, and made sure I was taking regular swigs of PSP22, Go, and water. I felt that I was quite far up the field, having overtaken most of wave 1, and only one guy from wave 2 passing me, in the water.

The bike was great, wonderful scenery, and a few climbs, descents, and twisty-turny bits to keep you alert. I gained a few places, and lost a few more, and just past half-way ate my cereal bar in small chunks over a few miles. One of the gels I’d taped to my top tube had flown off at some point, but I had another so wasn’t at all bothered. As I approached our support crew at the end of lap 1 (around 55k), I felt good and managed a thumbs up. The second, shorter, lap went pretty quickly, and by the time I reached T2 I’d just finished the PSP22, my water, gel but with a little Go left but I felt energized, hydrated and not bloated. I’d got my feeding strategy right, evidently.

I had a great bike, almost too good. There were 2 other people who I battled with for all of the 90k, great for keeping focused but I knew I had gone a little too hard. As for my nutrition, I had trained with a carefully calculated plan! So I knew I needed around 220g of carbs – about 2 ½ bottles. Our handy support crew had left a bottle at the feed station which I carefully skidded into almost knocking a marshal over – oops!

Coming in to T2 I saw it was largely empty with around 20 bikes (22, as it turned out) there, so was buoyant as I went out on to the run. I’d remembered my cap, stuck a gel in the back pocket of my tri-suit, and nibbled at a banana as I ran steadily up the first uphill mile. Ian & Julie were at the first water station just over a mile in, and although according to Julie afterwards I had my “race face” on, I felt relaxed, my legs felt good, and I was starting to move through the field.

It was at this point that we left the road and headed out into the New Forest, onto gravel trails and wide woodland paths. A few testing climbs lay ahead, and it was beginning to warm up. As I’d been running up the road out of T2, Alex was cycling towards it, just over 5 minutes behind, (similar bike splits wahoo!) so he was having a good race too. Mine, however, was about to change, quite dramatically…

Sometime after 4 miles, after I’d hit the top 20, I started to feel a bit weird, and was really looking forward to the water station at 5 miles. When I got there, I walked through it, and started running again feeling OK. Then I realized I had a gel in my pocket which I should have taken as I approached the water station, but the next station was only another 2 miles or so, which wouldn’t be a problem, surely? Wrong. Around 6 miles I was running downhill and felt strangely dizzy, so much so that I had to stop and walk. A picnicking family off to my left called out encouragement but I just couldn’t run. Such a bizarre feeling. I made it to the next water station, grabbed a bottle, and drained it in an instant.

I felt OK for another mile or so, but 8-10 miles were unpleasant to say the least, including a short spell lying down under a bush, but thankfully more water at 10 miles got me going again. All very temporary though, as by 11 miles I was in real trouble. Runners were passing me in droves, and my great race was fast descending into farce. Someone offered me a slurp of energy drink and I stupidly declined, and then another but this time I accepted with thanks. It was all I could do not to drain the generous guy’s complete bottle!

I wasn’t having a great time either, energywise I was fine but my legs were shot. I hadn’t run off a long bike before and my quads were really twitchy. I was also getting over taken lots and just wanted to get to the end. I also couldn’t believe that the run was sooo hilly.

Down another hill and to the flat bit before the last climb to the road, and I was out of it, still walking, but away with the fairies. Thankfully Alex caught me at this point, and to his eternal credit produced what I can only describe as a life saving energy gel. As I waived Alex on and thanked him, I laid down in the dust and drained the gel sachet of it’s contents, let it go down a bit, and then start walking again. I walked all the way to the top of the hill, drained a cup of energy drink and one of water at the water station, and started to jog along the road. The gel and drinks started to kick in, and before I knew it I was actually running and managed to overtake someone on the way back! By this time my legs were spent, I actually had to walk a bit on the flat but I was nearly there…

I crawled across the line in 5hr 44mins, under a minute behind Alex, and proceeded to neck several cups of water. Julie gave me a hug and at this point emotion overcame me (sorry Julie), the disappointment of blowing up on the run washing over me like waves of despair. Still, had it not been for Alex and his magic gel, I would probably still be out on the course!!! A well timed chocolate bar, followed by a muffin, and later some chips, soon restored my spirits, and I’ve since had plenty of time to reflect. Some learning points for the future:

REALLY respect the distance (yep)
Don’t be afraid of peeing in your wetsuit – your wetsuit doesn’t mind
Tape your gels down properly (get pockets)
Take two cereal / energy bars on your bike (1g Carb/kg bodyweight - geek)
Just because he’s got a flash Pinarello, doesn’t mean he’s any good
Two gels for the run (and a spare one for Dave)
Do some nice long steady bikes in training, and run a good 6-8 miles off the back of them
A good swim really makes stuff all difference in this sort of event – train enough to be comfortable, but spend more time doing long runs when tired ‘cos that’s what you need to be able to cope with
Donkeys tend to stand still, better to aim for the rear end rather than the front though, just in case (I vote for the front – it can’t kick that way)
I need some carbon wheels
Aero drinks bottles are fine on smooth roads

In summary, if you fancy having a go at middle distance, this is to be highly recommended – a better setting you could not imagine. Whichever way you look at it though, it’s a tough run – but with scenery like that, it’s worth it. I must admit to crying a bit too, I think it is quite mentally tough as well as physical; despite this I loved doing this race. I’ll never be good enough to win a race so it is always a personal challenge and at this distance there is a real challenge in finishing, and a skill in metering out your energy over 5-6hours.

Results for Club members:

Pos	Name	Swim/bike	Run	Total
87	Alex Ilyat	3.33.34	2.09.32	5.43.16
90	David Astins	3.28.23	2.15.40	4.45.03

A race report from the organisers can be found here

http://www.racenewforest.co.uk/racereport_NFMDT08.html

Race results can be found here

http://www.racenewforest.co.uk/results_NFMDT_210908.htm

Details of the event can be found here

http://www.racenewforest.co.uk/08_new_forest_middle_distance_triathlon_home.htm