St Neots Standard Triathlon, 10 Sep 2023

After finishing placement and spending the summer at home I wanted to aim for one more triathlon to finish off the season. I decided to give another standard a go and signed up for the St Neots standard triathlon which was also a world age group qualifier. Over summer I had plenty of time to train and was keen to see how the day panned out.

Considering that it was at the beginning of September, the weather was almost as if it were the peak of summer, with temperatures of 30+ degrees on the day! I turned up to a very busy race venue and some very hot weather. I picked up my race number and racked my bike in transition before meeting some of the other Catenary Coaching athletes which was lovely.

The race start times today were a bit later than usual (this meant that there was a bit of a lie in!) however this also meant that by the time my start time of 8:50 rolled around, it was already fairly hot. With the hot weather came the optional choice of wearing a wetsuit. I decided to wear mine as it I like the extra buoyancy. As you can imagine in the hot weather it was a bit of a sweaty one getting it on. I left it as late as possible as I didn’t want to overheat before the race began.

Before I knew it we were being called into the water. We had a few minutes to acclimatise and get into position. I fully utilised this time, flushing my wetsuit and getting my position near the front of the group. Then off we went! I hadn’t done a mass start in triathlon for a while so I was a bit nervous when everyone was pushing and shoving for positions. It was like being in a washing machine! Along with putting up with the pushing and shoving I also had to deal with the weed! It was obvious that they had cut them before the race and I spent the first 200 meters or so grabbing weeds off my goggles. Still, I held my own and around 500 meters into the swim the group settled down and I found myself getting into a comfortable rhythm. I was in a small bunch which was good as I had a few people to draft off every now and then. Before I knew it we were at the turn buoys and heading back down the river. The way back felt a lot quicker and once the last turn buoy was in sight I pushed the pace to reach the ladders ahead of the others. Overall I was really pleased with my swim and how I handled the mass start.

Then it was a quick transition. My wetsuit came off quickly before shoes, helmet and sunnies were on. Then it was out to the mount line and onto the bike. The route started in the town before heading out to some long flat roads which were great to start pushing the pace. I had a solid first 10km of the bike ride. I was riding with a few others around (but not drafting!) and found that I held a good pace that I was happy with. Then we hit the first hill and I fell off the back of the group. I found it hard to pick the pace back up once we got to the top. The short sharpness of it just took the wind out of my sails and from then on I just seemed to struggle. I had trouble finding a comfy position on the bike as well as struggling with motivation levels as people passed me. It felt like I was going backwards! By this time the sun was well and truly blazing and in the last 10km of the bike I started to struggle with the heat. I came into transition feeling hot and bothered with a 10km run to go. By then my main goal was to enjoy the race and finish.

The 10k was probably my worst run to date! I really struggled in the heat, with no shade or breeze in sight. The later start time meant by the time I was running it was almost peak temperature of the day. I found it hard to get a good effort going. I stopped at all the water aid sessions around the run course and took full advantage of the water they were providing.  It was a two lap course, and by the end of lap one I was ready to finish. Lap two I was in full survival mode and just wanted to get it done. Finally the finish line and over the timing mat! I was so grateful to finish and survive the heat. The best part of finishing was when I got ice cold water sponged over me - a great way to cool down! Post race nutrition was provided by Lizzie and her amazing cookies 😊 followed by cooling down in the shade by the river. It was an enjoyable event and congrats to my team mates for 1st and 2nd in the age group.

Ceri Davies