Start of a new and busy month. 5 races in 4 weeks ranging from super-sprint to half-ironman. Saturday 3rd September Malmesbury Victoria football club hosted the DB Max 10km race around the town of Malmesbury and surrounding villages; the event encouraged over 400 runners to come and test their times for what is likely to be the last race of the season. Knowing I had The Cotswold Sprint Triathlon the next day, I didn’t think it would be wise to compete in the race so I volunteered as the ‘lead cyclist’ -meaning I cycled roughly 20 metres in front of the lead runner. The weather was a constant spitting which turned into a light downpour around the hour mark however most of the runners were finished by then and enjoying post run euphoria. Leading the run was a fun and exciting job and more enjoyable that standing at a corner marshalling. I would like to compete in the race next year if possible and looking at the times I could’ve come in the top 5 (sub 38). http://dbmax.co.uk/ Sunday 4th September The day I have been dreaming about has finally arrived! I took advantage of the short lie in until 6am, fuelled myself with some Pedal Bites muesli and headed off to the Cotswold Lake 32 coincidently only a few cars behind our neighbour who was also competing in the event (GBR athlete Amy Bentley). It was a bleak morning, no rain but heavily overcast which personally I find to be the best conditions. The lake was slightly choppy, the roads were wet and slippy and the run route was muddy and heavily trodden on but hey, this should just make the race more exciting. Turns out the biggest problem I would face throughout the day was getting to the start line on time and knowing which way to go on the swim…Toilet queues and difficulty putting on the wetsuit meant that I was too rushed to lube my ankles and wrists (to aid wetsuit removal) and I completely forgot my energy gels which I was planning on keeping under the tight fabric of my tri suit. Rookie errors and not to be repeated. Onto the start line and I had just managed to squeeze my head into the swim cap and completed the briefest of warmups before we were called to the line and given the countdown. I positioned myself right at the front, everyone was ankle deep before a run in and dive start. I was stood next to a fellow u20 athlete (Benjamin Summerville) who had won the category last year and in particular with an excellent swim. Today I was feeling strong and knew that if everything went to plan, the podium position would be mine. The siren went, I took a strong dive in and found myself in second position, right on the toes of Ben, perfect. It didn’t last. He continued to increase his pace and I just couldn’t hold it, my breathing was out of rythym and my shoulders were fatigued. I continued in second place until roughly 300m to go where I was overtaken by two athletes, whom I continued to draft until the steep exit ramp. I got to my feet, set the pace for the 100m run to transition and removed the first half of my wetsuit. Swim and run completed in 11.32, a bit disappointing to be truthful, and well short of my target time. Fairly speedy transition, only Ben was ahead of me and so that was incentive to put some effort in and get back in contention. The kilometres were flying past, the change from a 90km cycle to 20km is wonderful and I felt strong. I consistently kept the pace above 35kmph and flew around the course. I was pleased that I was only overtaken by 3 athletes for the whole cycle route. In the last 4km I really started pumping the legs and reached speeds of 42kmph on the flat which boosted my average to 37kmph to finish. Off the bike and running through to transition, I misjudged my location on the rack and ran straight past before having to turn round and correct myself - valuable seconds lost. Cycle completed in 32:03 (exactly the same as Ben). Now charging straight out to the run chasing my target of 18 minutes. My legs felt brilliant for the first 100m before they simply died, my breathing became rash and my movements sloppy, not helped by the dozens of slow athletes in previous waves that I had to overtake in some narrow parts of the course. 1 of 2 laps done and I was beginning to feel stronger, my rhythm improved and I was flying along - my legs opened up and I started to gain some ground. I passed my Dad and he called out informing me that Ben was approx a minute ahead. If he was correct, this meant that throughout the second lap I gained over 30 seconds on him however still finished 27 seconds behind. My finish was strong and I powered over the line to finish my run in 17:48 and overall in a time of 1:03.17. This is a longer time than I was hoping for, but was good considering the circumstances. Almost 500 raced today and I came 12th overall; 3rd in the u20 age category (the same as last year). It was a very good race and I would recommend it to anyone wanting a challenge. I try to see every race as a learning opportunity and today was no different. http://www.triferris.com/index.shtml Post event massage followed by the afternoon spent in my Kurio compression leggings to aid my recovery. As Dad and I are part of the Flying Monk Triathlon club, we joined the rest of the team for lunch at a pub in a small village to celebrate the race today as the club’s annual race. Over half the members raced today and some of those not racing provided team support and marshalling. They’re a brilliant club with athletes ranging from starters to Team GB standard from sprint distance to Ironman and I am very proud to be a part of the team. Cotswold Sprint Triathlon 2015: 12:30- 1:02- 32:43- 00:34- 19:23= 1:06.14 Cotsolwold Sprint Triathlon 2016: 11:43- 1:00- 32:03- 00:47- 17.43= 1:03.17
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Luke CampbellHere will be a monthly review as well as occasional race updates Archives
April 2019
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