Box End Standard Triathlon, 5 Sep 2020

Box End Triathlon, the first (and probably last) triathlon of the very strange season we have found ourselves in this year!

I only entered the race a few weeks ago as a few other Catenary team mates had entered, and I had a severe case of FOMO and a massive need to race having been consistently training throughout the summer following my elbow injury but having every race to date cancelled. I was really lucky to get a last-minute place after contacting the race organisers – thank you Active Training World!

In line with the Covid-19 guidelines, the race was being run in a socially distanced TT format with few spectators, no prize giving, and all participants encouraged not to hang around after they had finished the race. It was certainly going to have a very different look and feel to a normal race but I was just super excited to get back racing regardless. 

​Aside from having to bring your own pen to write on your race number onto your hand, and the obvious social distancing rules applied around the event, registration didn’t feel too different to normal. In transition we had more space than normal between bikes on the racks which was good! 

For the swim we had to wait in a holding pen just outside of transition and were gradually called over to queue to enter the lake. We were then set off at 20 second intervals, fastest to slowest, based on our predicted times we gave when we entered. I personally loved this – it meant there wasn’t a washing machine start or any fighting to get around the buoys on the turns. I guess the only downside is you do lose the ability to draft and potentially get a faster swim time.

The lake itself was lovely – crystal clear water which also tasted nice! Due to the TT format, the distance had been shortened so we only had to do one lap, which suited me with my wonky elbow! Overall, I was fairly pleased with my swim and came out 3rd in my AG going into T2 (although obviously didn’t know this at the time due to the staggered start!).

The bike course was quite technical with lots of turns, junctions, roundabouts and little lumps and bumps so it was quite hard to get the speed and power up and frustratingly I got stuck behind dawdling cars at a mini roundabout on both laps. Overall I was about 20w off my target average power, which at the time I was a bit disappointed with, but talking to other athletes it sounds as though that was fairly common due to the route profile and conditions. But regardless of that, the bike is always my favourite part of a triathlon and it felt so good to be back out whizzing around the roads chasing people down.

Coming off the bike and going into the run I had moved up to 1st in my age group and 6th overall –  this is where the staggered start format is possibly not so great as I had no idea that this was the case at the time. 

Prior to the race I knew the run was going to be harder than any other triathlon run I have done before, as it was all on grass and wiggled through a little wood at the end of the lake. Normally, I love off road runs and do prefer to train out on bridleways and footpaths as I find them much more interesting than plodding along on tarmac.

However, I am not so sure I love off road running on jelly triathlon legs that have not raced for almost 12 months! It was hard! The thick grass sapped any energy I had left, and each hill felt as though it was pushing me closer and closer to calf and hamstring cramp. Definitely not my fastest 10k and frustratingly it pushed me down to 4th overall in my AG and 14th overall.

Would I have pushed faster had I known I was in 1st place coming off the bike? Who knows? Hindsight is a wonderful thing. But to be honest, with such a strange year so far, I wasn’t really expecting to get in a race at all in 2020 so I am just super grateful to have been given the opportunity and I probably should remind myself that at the beginning of the year I couldn’t even bend my elbow let alone do a triathlon and finish 4th in my AG.

The cherry on top of the cake today was being able to see my fellow Catenary athletes smash their races too, with Megan and Emily finishing 4th and 6th overall respectively, plus coach Tim supporting (and taking pictures) throughout! All in all, an ace day out!

Helene Wright