Stowmarket Triathlon, 22 Sept 2019

On Sunday, I completed the Stowmarket triathlon, which was only my second triathlon of the year and also my second adult triathlon.

The swim went well, I came 3rd lady overall in the swim leg so was quite happy with this and surprised as I felt really slow during the leg. The swim seemed to be over quite quickly, which was nice as it usually seems like you are just counting down the lengths and not enjoying it.

Transition 1 went awfully. I think I would put it down to a lack of practice in general. I firstly found my bike ok, then I went to put my cycling shoes on, but someone had moved my stuff around, which was annoying. I then went to put my race belt on and then realised I had forgotten to tighten it so had to do that in transition.

The bike course had an awful surface, and quite a few hills in it but I still was pleased to get the fastest female bike time and 6th fastest time overall. During the bike leg, I didn't have any HR data, as my HR monitor isn't waterproof for the swim, so it was hard to tell how hard I pushed. It was tricky to save some energy for the run when the bike is my strongest discipline and wanted to give it my all to make up time.

Transition 2 went ok, but I can see room for improvement with a bit of practice. The run really let me down, but that was expected as I don't train for running anywhere as near as much as cycling or swimming. I probably do on average 5k a month. The run course had a mixture of terrain; gravel, grass and concrete but was mostly flat. It did take a while to get into the run, with jelly legs but they soon sorted themselves out about a mile in. I think I placed the run well considering the lack of training. Over the winter I would like to work on my run a bit more which will help me to save time overall.

Overall I came 4th Lady which I was pleased with but also annoyed as I was in 2nd before the run. I look forward to the Peninsula Triathlon in a few weeks which will be my last race of the season. This should be a good one as the distances suit me well, with the bike leg being a lot longer than most triathlons which will give me an advantage to make up more time on the run.

Izzie Johnson