Outlaw Nottingham 70.3, 15 May 2022
In the lead up to the race, I was in a positive mental head space, confident in my ability to go sub 5 hours on this course. I had specific goals for each discipline, and it was just about executing this now.
Race morning, I was feeling good. We left for the race start at 4:45 as planned to get there for 5:00, but ended up queuing for 30mins to park. This left me 20 minutes to get my kit ready in transition, go to the toilet and get to the swim start (about 1km away). Safe to say I was feeling rushed! I got to the swim start and my goggles snapped! I knotted them up, put my swim cap over the top, and hoped for the best.
I was directed to the third pontoon (furthest from the first buoy) which annoyed me, but of course nothing I could do about it. Once I was swimming, I kept telling myself ‘You’re strong. You’re fast. You’re streamline’ to avoid worrying about the goggle and pontoon situation. I came out the swim in a time a little over the planned.
Onto the bike. Well, a screw had fallen out the bottom of my cycling shoe, leaving the cleat wobbling around a bit. There was nothing I could do about this, so I was just hoping it would be ok. Although out of my control now, my mind couldn’t get away from thoughts of my cleat falling off my shoe and having to cycle barefoot. It meant I was reluctant to push too hard, particularly through my right leg and up hills. By the time I got to the last few hundred meters, I felt relieved to have made it back in one piece. I went for a flying dismount and almost stacked it, causing the crowd to wince. Don’t worry, I managed to stay upright… phew!
Now onto the run. Knowing my bike split wasn’t near what I expected (about 8 minutes out), I decided to just settle into a comfortable pace on the run and enjoy myself. I remained focused but spoke to a few people along the way and cheered on others. It was easily the best HM I’ve done off the bike, and this is something I’m proud of.
I finished in a time of 5:05:30. Over target, but a PB nonetheless. Unfortunately, I was just 7s behind AG 3rd, and 19s behind 2nd. This is incredibly close for a 70.3 distance!!
Holly-Mei Jones