World Standard Distance Aquabike Championships, 19 Oct 2024

I only entered the qualifier for this race in June 2023 on a whim just to see whether I was good enough to qualify after recovery from my joint replacements. This was when I signed up with Tim to help me get stronger and fitter.

It's been staring at me in Training Peaks for a long time it seems. My training hasn't gone to plan at times - just as I started feeling good I went down with viruses which put back my training. Once again, I felt strong coming up to race time and then a cold hit so missed the last week of training.

We travelled to Torremolinos by ferry to Spain and then drove all the way down with a stopover near Madrid. Torremolinos exceeded my expectation - the beaches were lovely! I was able to get a practice swim in, after I registered and did my retail therapy in the expo I’m glad I practiced getting in and out of the water as there was a drop very close to the edge which I found quite tricky getting back up, not being the most mobile. After that I just rested and enjoyed the sun and the lovely beach restaurants in the evening.

We were all ready to head to transition for racking on Friday evening when we had an email cancelling the overnight racking as it was too windy. In some ways this was better as it meant I could ride my bike to transition in the morning rather than have to walk the 2k. I spent a sleepless night worrying they would ban disc wheels, and also that the sea would be choppy meaning I would struggle with the swim as many in the older age groups had for the sprint tri.

Race day dawned: I was very nervous struggling to get breakfast down. I cycled to transition in the dark, with plenty of time as my race didn't start till 11.05. All went smoothly and I had a lovely chat to the other ladies in my age group, quite a few of whom I had raced with in the Euros in June.

Soon it was time to join the pen for the race start. This was my first sea swim in a race. I was a bit slow getting in but once I was away, I absolutely loved it. I did struggle to step up to get out of the water and it was a long slow jog off the beach up and over a bridge into transition. I was overtaken by quite a few people which always annoys me. (More jogging practice needed). I had a good transition, my wetsuit came off much better than usual, glasses on hat on, feet shoved in shoes and headed out. Got on the bike well and I was off.

Oh my goodness was the bike course manic, a 13k loop, 3x over meant there was a huge number of people out on a crowded course. So much for a non-drafting race. A guy crashed coming the other way and slid across the road right in front of me at the beginning, I managed to swerve round him thankfully. I was mostly terrified on the bike, I never looked at my Garmin or fuelled or drank, I was so busy concentrating on everything around me. It felt hard to get a good steady pace going. I did make up three places on the bike still, even though I felt I could ride it quicker with clearer roads.

Then it was over - I was back in transition, myself and a couple of others in my age group walked the 600m to the finish line all together with the spectators hi fiving us as we went. I think that made my race being able to have a proper finish line experience. I was 17th, I think initially I was a bit disappointed it wasn't higher. Doing some maths I was 31% slower on the swim than the winners and 12% on the bike. I still think I can improve my bike and I'm going to work really hard on the swim. I've qualified for the World's in Australia next year so let's get training! 

A big thanks to Tim for dealing with my total inability at VO2max workouts - I got there in the end!

 Julia Dolman