Posted on May 03, 2017 by Jenny Cromack
Sunday 30th April was ‘THE DAY’, the day I’d been training for since finding out last November that I had qualified for the European Triathlon Union, Standard Distance Duathlon Championships in Soria, representing Great Britain for my age group (35-39 years). I must have bored everyone to tears about this race and my prep for it, so here is my final blog about the actual race. For reference, the standard distance is a 10k run, 40k bike, 5k run.
If you have read my previous blogs you will know that when I started doing triathlons about two years ago, qualifying for an age-group race was one of my targets, so first target achieved!
My training has been pretty intense, sometimes training up to 14 hours per week whilst still running a business and not seeing much of friends or family as training became number one priority. If you had asked me 6 weeks ago whether I would do try to qualify again, I seriously doubting whether I would…..the training and lack of free time were seriously taking their toll, and I was TIRED (a tired Jenny is almost as bad as a ‘hangry’ Jenny). As the event approached, the hours of training were stripped back, to focus on short, intense workouts and everything, all of a sudden, seemed much more manageable. I could do this!
Anyway, enough of the before the race, let’s move on to the race itself….
We arrived in Soria, which is a small town, about two and a half hours drive away from Madrid, three days before the race. The ‘we’ being my lovely family who had come to cheer me on. Joel was obviously with me, he needed to see whether all those hours I’d prioritised training over spending time with him were worth it! My parents had flown in from Cyprus, and my brother and his family had all flown over too! As I was in the ‘zone’ during the race, I didn’t really acknowledge their support and so they probably don’t realise how much, at the time and still now, it really meant to me that they were there to cheer me on, especially in the horrendous weather conditions!
The elites ran on the Saturday and on the Friday night there was an opening ceremony where all of the GB athletes were paraded through the town square, with the local people and supporters cheering! It was pretty surreal and a great atmosphere, if not a little cold! And the age-groupers for GB were out in force!
In the lead up to the race I was feeling in pretty good condition. I had a slight niggle in my left hamstring, but nothing major. I’d felt pretty light and strong in my training runs, and like I was getting stronger on the bike. I know the bike is still my weaker discipline, especially compared to most of the other women in my age-group, but I planned to just give it my all on the bike. I’d practiced plenty of brick sessions and the most important thing was to focus on running my own race.
The Weather
I had been studying the weather for about 2 weeks leading up to the event and race day looked perfect! However, about 5 days before, things changed….each day on the forecast the winds became stronger, and on Sunday it was forecast rain and thunderstorms…..brilliant! No other day, just Sunday!
As it turns out it was cold, windy and wet on Saturday, and I was hoping that this would mean the bad weather forecasted for Sunday had moved forward a day and I was positive that Sunday would be good weather wise…..how wrong I would be!
On the day, the sprint races started from 830am…..it was due to be cold, but not wet, and I think it’s fair to say, the sprinters did have the more favourable weather conditions. My race started at 11:40am. As I racked my bike up in transition at around 10am, the sun looked like it might be peeking out from behind the clouds, it was windy but if the temperature remained the same and it stayed dry, it would be ok. I put a spare cycling jacket in my transition box in case, and decided that I’d run in arm warmers (oh so 80’s) and a short-sleeved base layer under my tri-suit (I was a bit disappointed about this, I wanted to look like a pro just in my trisuit only, but knew I’d be cold on the bike if I didn’t wear a base layer).
As I started to warm up, it started getting colder, there were a couple of rain showers and the winds really began to get up. The metal barriers near the start line were blown over, the inflatable starting arch was blowing around everywhere…..the weather looked like it was taking a turn for the worse.
Run 1 – 10k
I set off on the first run feeling strong. I have a tendency to set off too fast worrying about keeping up with the faster runners, then die towards the end of the first 10k (not recommended!) This time I was determined to ignore what everyone else was doing. From studying the form of the other ladies before the event, and also knowing that I wasn’t one of the fastest finishers in my qualifying race, I knew I wasn’t in the run for a top 3 spot, so this took the pressure off. I just wanted to complete the full distance in a good time, and enjoy the event!
The first run was four 2.5km laps through a park, so plenty of opportunity for supporters to cheer everyone. Four laps through a park seems quite simple, but the laps zig-zagged through the park….uphill, downhill, uphill, downhill, uphill, downhill, across the park then downhill to start again. To be honest, the uphill sections weren’t too bad, only taking around 2-3 minutes on each one. However, after 3 laps, it start to tax the legs and lap 4 was pretty tough!
I felt like the first run went ok, I’d have preferred it to have been a bit faster if I’m honest, but for once I ran my own race and wasn’t worried about being towards the back or not being as fast as the others, which is a big step for me! I felt like I’d ran my own race and just focused on what I needed to do.
Interestingly, some of the other competitors have said they felt the altitude at Soria affected their running times, and most had slightly slower times than normal so I’m using this too!! In all honestly, I didn’t really think about the altitude, I just know I was working hard regardless!
Bike – 40km
The transition from run to bike went well, I decided I was warm enough in base layer and arm warmers so didn’t bother with a running jacket. It was a good 200-300m of running from the transition area with the bike to the mount line. Eventually I was there, clipped in making the way up the first hill on to the course (how cruel are course organisers putting a hill in after transition!). There is something quite exhilarating about getting clipped in and joining a group of riders whizzing along which gives me butterflies when I think about it!
I had done a recce of the course on the Friday with a team of other age-groupers and I didn’t think the course was too hilly, being from Yorkshire, I’d described it as ‘undulating’. There was a couple of short steep climbs, and one long drag in the middle and another towards the end of each lap but the recce had filled me with confidence that the hilly routes I’d used in training would come in useful. That was until the wind hit me! I’d not really paid attention to the wind on the first run, but as I cycled round the first bend to the main road the wind hit me! WOW…..it was strong, and I was cycling on the flat at that point…..this did not bode well for the uphills!!!
In a nutshell the winds were horrific and slowed everyone down. The bike course was 3 laps of 13.6km and I reckon 60-70% of each of the laps were into strong head or cross winds. Put it this way, there were points when I was cycling downhill into a head wind and instead of going at 40mph like I was when there was no wind, I was doing about 10 mph! My slowest speed for the race was 7mph, due to the wind, not just because I was going uphill!
During the first lap, I was a little cautious of the wind, worried I might get blown off my bike and I’ll be honest, for a fleeting moment, I considered not continuing I was that scared. But I wasn’t going to come all this way to be beaten by the wind, so I got a grip! Yes, I’d get a slower time, but I was going to complete the course, no matter how long it took me so I braced my core, got my head down and gave it my all. With each lap, the wind became stronger and as I cycled into a head wind on lap two the rain came! The sunglasses I had on were not serving the purpose they were meant to, but at least it meant I could see as the rain lashed against my face! When I was on lap 3 I did think that the organisers may stop the race it had become that bad. I remember at one point, just screaming out loud at the wind ‘come on you (insert swear word here!), let’s have you!’ I wasn’t going to let it beat me.
At the turn around the point of each lap, we had a section of about 5km where there was no wind…bliss. This section also had a great long downhill section where I managed to get to a speed of 41mph. I’m normally a chicken coming downhill, so this is pretty fast for me! However, the wind picked up on each lap for the last 2km back to the town centre before starting your next lap, just what you need as you also hit an uphill section!
Needless to say the bike took longer than expected, adding a good 10 minutes on to my target time. It also massively took it out of my legs too. I got off my bike (I’d love to say gracefully, but it never is!) and ran/hobbled down to transition with my bike as my legs were like lead and my left hamstring started moaning a little.
Run 2 – 5k
So, onto the final run section. In training I’d done some great brick sessions where I’d gone for a run after my bike session and I’d felt like I was ‘flying’. Oh, how different it was on race day! The niggle I had with my hamstring was masked by the lead-feeling in my quads, something I’ve never experienced before, but probably due to working so hard on the bike.
Anyway, I pushed on….it was windy and tough, but the cheers and shouts from my family really kept me going (they were a very cold, soggy bunch of supporters by the end!), as did thinking of all the lovely messages of support people had sent me before the event. The final run was 5k, 2 x 2.5km laps around the park with a downhill finish for the last 200m. I did my best to finish with a sprint and passed the finish line in 2:55.
My target time was between 2:35-2:45, so my finish time was way off, but given the horrific weather conditions on the bike I’ll take it! I’m writing this blog a few days after the event , and to be honest, I’m still a bit disappointed with this (those who know me well will understand this, I don’t like not doing what I set out to do!). BUT I am proud to say I’ve achieved my goal in taking part in Age-Group race for GB and pulling on a GB tri-suit. Will I do another? Well, the experience of the whole event was amazing, so I’d like to think I will…..when my legs start working again!
One final thing to say, one of my aims from my posts and social media hype about this duathlon was to inspire others and show them that anyone can achieve their goals. After all, I’m just a lass from Leeds…..if I can do it, anyone can!