Mumbles Sprint Triathlon

It may seem a little odd to do a sprint tri in the middle of my ironman training but there was only one reason I did this one - so that Copenhagen wouldn't be my 13th ever triathlon. I couldn't find any other suitable Tris to do but this one was fairly close to Cardiff and I could incorporate going home to West Wales for the evening.

Another early morning start (4am - poor Dan) and despite it being pretty light outside, large ominous clouds loomed.  The recent weather has been damn awful and it was looking like today would again be another battle with the elements. A good hearty breakfast of porridge, half a bagel and coffee and we were ready to go. 

The journey there was blighted by heavy showers and I wasn't particularly looking forward to getting out of the car.  Despite a few more showers, transistion set up was nice and leisurely and I soon got into my wetsuit. 

After what seemed like the longest pre-race briefing ever (seriously, the guy practically went through the whole course) it was finally time to get into the not-very-inviting looking sea.  I'm not a fan of salty water but I figured this was more useful practise for the lagoon at Copenhagen.  My intention was to position myself towards the back of the deep water start and hope for fairly clear water but it would soom become evident that this was not going to happen.  The hooter went and the washing machine started.  It seemed to take ages to get into any sort of rhythm.  I battled through breast-strokers, got kicked in the ribs, whacked on the head, got blocked off between two guys who swam into eachother and swam straight into a guy who'd stopped dead at the buoy turn.  It was fairly frustrating but I do find the whole fracas quite fun and refuse to stress about it.

The run to T1 can only be described as torturous.  Running with cold bare feet on rough concrete really is one of the most unpleasant experiences.  I swore and grimaced alot, as did others around me (Dear Race Director - please consider some matting!).  I couldn't be bothered to rush T1 so I sort of dried my feet, on went the socks, shoes and rain jacket and I trotted out to the bike course.  As soon as I'd clipped in it started to rain again but it was a short lived shower.  We soon hit a hill, albeit a baby of a hill compared to what I was riding up last week.  It was enough to get the heart pumping and despite getting overtaken by a lot of guys I did pick off a fair few ladies (and some gents).  I felt strong.

Me on the bike, being a wuss, with my rain jacket on.

The route continued on undulating roads and there was a nasty surprise of a hill where a lot of people were pushing but I managed to grind and zig-zag my way up.  A quick blast along a moor then it was back down to the Mumbles sea front.  On the final stretch, a guy in surf shorts on a heavy looking hybrid bike overtook me.  Well, I wasn't having this at all so I turned on the afterburners and promptly overtook him back.  He then got annoying and came up behind me declaring 'oooh the race is on'.  He passed me again and I rolled my eyes.  The end was in sight and I didn't want to get beaten by a guy in surf shorts so I put the hammer down and got to the dismount line first, much to his disappointment. Ha, small wins...

Another rather leisurely transistion and it was time to run.  I remember the days when running off the bike felt like I'd suddenly contracted a bout of elephantitis in my legs.  These days, I make a point of running, sometimes for only 10 minutes, off almost all my rides and it has paid dividends.  I'm a bit slower at running high tempo this year but I felt comfortable for most of this 5k.  I ran most of the run a little bit behind a guy wearing a Tenby Tri suit.  I (very, very) gradually caught up with him in the last kilometre and we both upped the tempo to the finish.  I was just relieved I hadn't gotten a stitch, which had happened in the last few high tempo runs I'd done.

I think I have my raceface on, under that sportsnaps caption...

 And so my 13th Triathlon was done in 2 hours, 6 minutes and 2 seconds without any dramas, punctures or falls.  Phew.  Now onto number 14...