Northumbrian 70.3 Triathlon, 19 Jun 2022

Waking up at 03:50 am on Sunday morning was a shock to the system, but necessary to allow time to travel to the race venue at Kielder Lake and manage to eat a small bowl of porridge before the early start. Fortunately, we had racked our bikes the day before so there was not too much to prepare in transition upon arrival. However, I was a bundle of nerves! My biggest concern was surviving the swim. I had attended a mini water acclimatisation session on the afternoon before the race and the water temperature was a mere 13.7 degrees. I came out after a 500 m swim mildly hypothermic! On race day the water was 13.3 degrees! I was terrified of how I would fare in the swim and whether or not I would be able to recover from the shock of the cold on the bike, especially wearing so few layers. After the race briefing, we were given a chance to go into the lake and acclimatise to the water. I made use of the time to slowly enter the water and dunk my head under. Boy, it was cold! I tried my best to remain calm and turn my nerves into excitement.

We were set off small waves and I was in the third group of people to enter the water. Here we go! Having practiced swimming in the lake the previous day, it wasn’t such a shock that the water was very dark and it was very difficult to sight even the person in front of you. I managed to draft a few people around me for a bit, but soon realised I could be swimming a little faster and it wasn’t long before I had caught up with the wave of competitors ahead of us. It was cold, and my face was numb, but the swim generally felt pretty good. I managed to draft a number of people and slowly make my way further towards the front of the pack. The hardest parts of the swim were when I was between the waves of people and having to close the distance whilst swimming in quite choppy water. The first of the two laps went by quickly, the second was more difficult as I began to feel the cold more and my muscles weren’t responding so well.

I was delighted to exit the water and to have made it round in one piece. I took my time to find my balance again on solid ground and jogged into transition to start to prepare for the bike. T1 took some time as my hands were still numb from the water. In particular, tightening my cycling shoes was such a chore.

The bike course began with a climb and I was grateful for this as it helped to warm me up a little (although I don’t think my toes properly warmed up until about 50 km into the cycle). The roads were fantastic, very smooth and surrounded by beautiful scenery. In the first 20-30 km I found myself catching a number of people, particularly on the climbs. I passed a number of sheep along the way too, which I found very amusing. The bike leg went out for about 20 km along a long main road from the lake to Kielder, then looped round, and back on the same road to return into transition. Some of the climbs were long, but none too steep. The descents were epic! I managed my fuelling well and I was really pleased with my performance on the bike. All my training had paid off as I managed to finish 1st female on that leg.

Coming into transition, I was in a good place. Just the run to go… I started out feeling tired from the duration of the swim and bike, but strong enough to know I was in a good place to finish. I made my way onto the course and I had only run about 500 m before I lost my way. The yellow arrows I had been following for the duration of the course confused me. There was a T junction ahead and the main path continued around a very tight bend onto a gravel path that doubled back on myself. However, the yellow arrow ahead was pointing in the opposite direction and indicating a narrow path closed off to the public. With no-one ahead of me to follow, I headed in the direction of the arrow. It felt strange that I was running alone such a long way and that the traily path began to get narrower and more overgrown as I went on, but it seemed too late to turn back, so I just kept running. It was plausible that I was going the right way as I could see the transition area ahead. But it wasn’t long until I realised I had in fact gone the wrong way, and looped back on myself, only adding a kilometre more onto my run! Nooo! I could now see people ahead of me to follow and pushed hard to close the distance. I passed the first female on the course to re-claim my original position. The run was two loops of a forest track adjacent to the lake. It was hilly and this was tough. My strategy was to keep sipping on gels every couple of kilometres to keep my energy levels high and make it to the end. Although my first lap was pretty strong, I began to really struggle on the second lap and my pace began to drop. The small group of runners I had been following for the majority of the first lap began to pull away from me. I was getting light headed and started to get pins and needles in my arms. I think at this point I was on such a sugar high that I was becoming hypoglycaemic. Every climb was a struggle and I was counting down the kilometres to the end. Although this was the case, I saw it as a good sign that no-one was over-taking me and I was still first female on the course. I cannot describe how pleased I was making my way back to the transition zone on the final lap and down the hill to cross the finish line! There were times on the run when I really doubted whether I would actually make it to the end because my body was not responding well to the huge sugar rush.

Second female overall?! (Somehow the first female had gone wrong on the route and not done the full out and back through transition on the second lap so I didn’t see her make up the time on the run). But no complaints, because I had a great time and was really pleased with my performance – especially pushing through the hard parts of the race in the cold water and on whilst on the second half of the run. The bike course was stunning and I highly recommend this event!

Jennifer Carter