Culford Sprint Triathlon, 8 Aug 2021

This was my first triathlon since Covid lockdown so there was a lot of mixed feelings however my aims were to participate and finish, have a confidence booster and assess current training status (having had a bit of a knock from my previous triathlon)

The swim was the part I was most anxious about - I took it steady freestyle relaxed and blowing a lot of bubbles, first lane fine next lane was the challenge I had bit of a long stop hence was overtaken by a few swimmers (no dramas) and continued with the swim in blocks of 50m and covered the distance quite efficiently.

T1 quick out of pool long-ish run to transition felt quite comfortable bare foot running feels quite natural, I was quite thorough in transition to follow the rules - helmet first, number, shoes (no socks) bike last etc and clipped in fairly promptly once over the mount line.

The bike felt quite good - I was on my TT bike, on aerobars pretty much all the time and felt quite confident. A bit of wind on the course but didn’t really notice, it was a fairly flat 3 lap course with a foot down stop monitored by marshals. My aim was to gradually increase pace each lap and not overdo it at the start. I think I did okay there and kept count of laps!

T2 again quite thorough bike securely racked, helmet off, trainers on (no socks), out on run quicker than T1. Legs were initially primed for run from bike so felt good.

Run felt strong at start - possibly went off a bit quick (easy to do) however and tired quite quickly. I still kept a strong technique but the legs were getting heavy however no niggles/issues so happy there.

Next triathlon: Felixstowe – 10th October 2021 (super sprint – pool based)

Goals: reduce swim time 8.00 or below continuous, consistent with pacing on bike – get on aerobars sooner organise gears quicker, even pacing on the run, better organisation in transitions, recovery strategy and nutrition

Many thanks to Tim (Catenary Coaching) for cycling/running coaching definitely noticing improvement in these areas and Swim Smooth for swim coaching.

Sara Brown

Library picture