National Emergency Services Triathlon 2012

National Watersports Centre, Nottingham - 25th May 2012.

Second triathlon of the season but first in open water. I raced here last year and really enjoyed it. A national event with competitors from all the emergency services including the police, fire service, ambulance and rescue services such as the RNLI. 

The course is as flat as a flat thing that has been incredibly well flattened. The swim is 750m in the rowing lake starting and transitioning at the Western end of the shallow rectangular stretch of water filled with copious amounts of pond weed and goose crap. The bike is 12 miles around four laps around the lake transitioning at racking separate from T1 at the South Western corner. The run is 3.1 miles or one lap of the lake with two off road trail sections with a very small climb in each. 

This year Matthew (spoken of in earlier blogs) and I returned to compete for a second time. Having beaten Matt last year he was out for revenge. Our respective training plans spoke for themselves however. He had no chance and I made that clear to him. In the interest of fairness as Matt does not really have a voice of his own here I should perhaps point out that Matt narrowly beat me in our other two head to head races (Leeds Xpress and Tameside XL) last year. He ending the season 3:1 in the lead in our personal league of results. 

Matt and I have been competitive with each other since my first triathlon in 2010. It was his challenge made two weeks before Tameside XL late in the 2010 race season which I could not resist. I had quietly harboured an interest in triathlon for years but put it off because my front crawl was terrible (I breast stroked my way through my first few races). Matt had boasted to excess about his fitness and I saw (and was sucked in to) an opportunity to try and beat him with little or no fitness of my own. He beat me which was in reality inevitable. My only wins against him have come at the Nottingham event which being flat and in open water favours me. Matt is a great runner although heavy and flat footed but he swims badly. Have in your mind the image of someone who is all strength and no style and I will have mentally depicted my friend. Competition with him  certainly makes the races more interesting. Representing the police added some interest but I was entering independently and not as part of any police triathlon club. Perhaps I should be looking to start one. 

Joining us was Matt's colleague, Ray, seemingly drawn into a challenge as I was. This was his first time in a triathlon although he was fit from involvement in various other sports.


Race day arrived. The weather conditions were reasonable. Sunny but with a wind blowing down the course. Similar to last year. Which would make for a slow start to the cycle lap followed by a fast return. The wind was not going to affect the swim or the run. Arrived in plenty of time but still found a long queue at registration. Furnished with race number and freebie bag I headed for transition. Access to a large area including both transitions and everywhere in-betweene was restricted. So I left Vicky at the spectator area, tiered seating right next to the finish. The best course for spectators was the comment received from VIcky. 

A busy transition area pre-race.

Numbers looked good, around two hundred judging by the racking. In light of which numbers there was to be three waves setting off four minutes apart. The men split in two groups going off first and second, followed by the ladies. In the heat of the sun and in my haste to get into the wetsuit I added several more holes to it. 

Acclimatisation not absolutely necessary as water temperature quite high.

The swim was pretty tough. My own fault going off too fast, again. Being my weaker leg I can't resist the ever powerful and instinctive urge to rush through it as quickly as possible.

My stroke was in tatters, arms and shoulders tight, and lungs burning with the effort. Sighting suffered as a consequence and I drifted to the left a few times. I struggled on trying to forget my frustrations at my inevitable and predictably poor swim tactics. The conditions were otherwise good. The wind seemed not to have an affect and the water was a pleasing temperature. The swim route was a three sided box (a popular public order training term) completed in an anti-clockwise direction. At the second turn I had settled into a more relaxed stroke and felt good. Arriving at the finish of the swim leg I eased over the cobbles and was surprised to feel reasonably steady on my feet jogging up the exit ramp into transition. Had a bit of a fight shedding the suit and that was the swim done with.

Just leaving the racking area heading for the exit of transition.

I opted again to put the cycling shoes on in transition rather than clipping them into the pedals as favoured at elite level. Time savings somewhat marginal for me I think but will try again when I get around to upgrading to a pair of try specific shoes. My shoes having three straps and no heel loop to attach a rubber band to and grab hold of make for a rather awkward process. The drawbacks of the unsophisticated non pre-loaded method is running with cleated shoes and the occasional fumbled clipping in. 

A slow start, struggling to clip in.

Starting into the wind the outward stretch of the cycle leg was a steady push followed by a fast return with a following wind. A lap consisting of two long straights with four ninety degree left hand turns completed four times over. The surface conditions were good being dry with no lumps or bumps to speak of just a few wandering geese to dodge. The only slow section being around the back of transition with a narrowing approach and a dusty surface with a few grids and drain covers scattered about.
  

Approaching the section around the back of transition.

It was certainly worth using the time trial bars on the bike as the course was fast. I was able to take quite a few places. The bike is typically my strongest leg. I did lose a few mind to some strong riders. Having pushed too hard on the bike last year I held back a little this time and finished with energy in the legs. I racked the bike without incident and headed out on the run.

Heading out of transition.

A slightly different route this year, the run started inside the perimeter wall instead of going up and around the boat sheds. This made for a flat start around transition to the short  trail section with a small rise.

Reaching the turn onto the short trail section.

The run was then a single clockwise lap of the perimeter road. It was stiflingly hot. Not much more to say about running along a tarmac road. I lost a few places early on but gained a few back towards the finish. The only break from the tarmac was a short ninety degree dog leg presumably to bring the run distance to that of last year. After which the finish was within sight and I pushed on for what felt like a sprint for the line but may not have looked like one to the crowd assembled at the finish. 

The closed knees a tell tale sign of fatigue.

The winner on the day was Martin Cain in a stunning time of 56:54. I finished ninety second places back in a time of 1:14:06 (15:35/1:27/33:04/1:17/22:45) reducing my course personal best by 3:19. As an added bonus I was once again the victor in the personal contest of friends with Matthew who finished in a respectable time of 1:16:03.

Visit www.onestepbeyond.org.uk for more information and results.