Last weekend saw five club members take on the Outlaw triathlon in Nottingham. The Outlaw is a long course event that is ran by OSB events and is a great event that is well supported and superbly organised – awards year on year to prove it! In action we had Stephen, Colin, Mal, Lisa and Ged. Unfortunately Dangerous Dave was unable to make the start line this time out due to injury but still went down to support the rest of the troops.
It was a very mixed day out with Colin absolutely destroying the course and setting a blistering 9:31 which included a 3:12 marathon!! Simply amazing and he’s in great shape going into Wales in 50 days time.
Ged (12:41), Mal (11:53) and Stephen (10:56) also had great days out. For Ged and Mal this was their first stab at the long course distances and for Stephen this was 11 years since it all began!
Lisa went into the day carrying a knee injury and wasn’t sure how it would hold up. Unfortunately she had to make the call we all dread and pull out during the run. It was the correct call on the day and we wish her well with her recovery. This doesn’t take away from her blistering performance on the swim (57mins) where she was 2nd female out of the water. Incredible stuff and some way up on her very modest estimate of 65mins!!! She will be back!!
Here is Ged’s race report that he’s kindly penned for our reading pleasure!
Outlaw 2017 – a virgin’s tale
The weekend of 23rd July, Outlaw 2017, had finally arrived – the sporting focus of my year, although my long-suffering wife Debbie did point out that it was the complete focus of my year! She just doesn’t understand….. Training hadn’t been perfect, is it ever? Injuries, illness work and life in general have a habit of getting in the way of it.
Let me take a moment to set some context before I get into it. In June 2012 I had a disc removed and the two vertebrae fused together and it knacked me up for about a year! Come September 2013 I was looking for a bit of a focus to help get me back to a reasonable level of fitness and a drunken night resulted in three friends (who weren’t runners, riders or swimmers) committing to do a triathlon. Long distance was never a dream for me, not even a thought, it was just something that the super fit did. Several sprints, one standard, one half and joining a club has brought me to where I am right now.
So, back to the race. We’d decided to stay onsite just for convenience and travelled down on the Friday. A bit of heavy traffic meant I was tight for registration but managed to get in before it closed and even saw Mal from the club who was staying onsite as well.
Saturday was to be a chill day but I wanted to have a gentle jog so early doors I headed down to the lake. It was already a hive of activity as the future Outlaws were coming in for their race, great to see the youngsters being able to take part, and I headed off around the lake. By, that lake goes on for a while, Mark Finlay had mentioned it a couple of weeks ago but…….. Used the run to get my bearings for the swim, up for a mile or so, right for a bit and then down for a mile or so – sorted, how hard can it be!
Spent the rest of the morning getting my kit sorted into the bags, then wandered down to get them into transition and rack my bike. I have been known to forget where my bike is in the heat of an event, no such drama for Outlaw, my spot was right next to the entrance – the Gods were smiling on me, get in!
We got new neighbours on the pitch next to us at about 10:30 Saturday morning, Frank with his other half and son – part of the pirate crew. Frank was only doing the bike leg of a relay team and had a hangover to sort out so he cracked open a can of Heineken to help and had a bit chat with me. Dear Lord, it’s not even 11 o’clock and it’s 112 miles you know!!
Race day came, needn’t have bothered setting the alarm as I’d not been able to get much sleep, combination of rain and nerves but at least I hadn’t had to put up with the fireworks of the night before (T20 cricket at Trent Bridge I think). The lack of sleep was a concern, normally I can sleep on a clothes line so I had no idea whether it would make a difference to my race. Have to confess, I wasn’t feeling massively confident at this stage, maybe that was just lack of sleep.
Just a couple of minutes walk down to the lake area and I headed down nice and early, plenty time for me to faff on with stuff that really didn’t need faffing on with. Went to have a look at my bike and to apologise to it, I don’t think it’s actually been wet before and the rain had been pretty heavy the night before. No worries there, bike still racked with two wheels and air in them, that’ll do. Into the change tent next. Last minute I’d decided to wear ear plugs for the swim, I’d not worn them for a while but thought they just might help me concentrate a bit. Bugger, couldn’t find them (see Colin R’s note on being organised), starting to have a bit of panic and then gave myself a mental slap. I hadn’t worn them in training so I’d just have to get on with it.
The marshals started giving time checks so I headed out to the start area and chucked myself into the lake. There was still loads of time to the gun but one thing I’ve learned I need to do on open water swims is give myself plenty time to acclimatise and I wasn’t taking any chances. A minute left and everyone’s getting ready to go, then we’re off and there’s the usual bumping, slaps on heads and toes in noses as people jostled for position. Now, I can’t swim for toffee and haven’t swam the distance before (2.1 miles in training) so I’d decided my best bet was to find a bit of clear water and plod on. I relaxed (see above on acclimatising) and swam on but there were still people around me, change of plan then, find some feet and stick on them. Managed to do that for a while but felt it was slowing me down (I’m a bit confused by this) so moved ahead and found another pair to swim on. Reached the turn and there were still people around me, get in, I was still in this. Took a decision to give my arms / shoulders a rest and breast stroked the 50m across, pleasantly surprised that I didn’t lose any places and then we’re at the turn to head home. Back to front crawl and just a mile or so left to go, nowtsabother. Stuck to my rhythm, trying to swim on feet where I could and even passed a couple of people who must’ve gone off too quickly and then eventually I’m at the swim exit. Pulled, pushed and generally manhandled up the line of amazing helpers out of the water and a big chap at the end told me to get on the ground, “I’ll not get back up”, I told him! I sat down anyway and he dragged my wetsuit off and thrust out a hand to drag me back to my feet.
At this point, I’ve no idea where I am for time and my biggest concern was that I didn’t make the swim cut off. I knew there were still people in the water so I headed into the change tent to crack on because no-one was telling me not to. Got my kit sorted and had a jam sandwich, probably a bit too long in here but I overheard one of the marshals telling another competitor he was at 1:43 and I think there was such a sense of relief that I just chilled. Won’t be doing that again!
Out on the bike then, just the 112 to do but I’ve never ridden that far before (108 in training). Debbie had came down to catch me out of the swim and I heard her shouting and saw her as I picked up the bike – bit of a bonus as she doesn’t like getting out of bed early. Plan was just to go steady away, keep an eye on my heart rate and don’t worry about anyone else’s race. Settled into a nice pace and kept a steady cadence, one chap clearly didn’t like me passing him as he kept breaking his neck to get back in front of me but then kept slowing down again!! Stuck with my steady pace but then around 35 miles the HRM packed in, common with Garmins apparently and it’s been dodgy for a few weeks. Never mind, still had the average pace to go with so I plodded on and passed the guy from earlier for the final time around 50 miles. Fuelling / fluids were going okay and I didn’t feel I was taking too much out of myself. I think I might have seen Colin Robson at one point, to be honest though, he was going so fast it could’ve been anyone in a slightly blue tri-suit wearing an aero helmet. Around 80 miles I started feeling the aero position, I’d adjusted it the week before (I say I, what I mean is I sat on the bike and Tony Gladstone adjusted it), I know, I know, rookie error but it had to be changed. I remember passing through the pub area at Car Colston, felt all growed up like I was in a proper race, people shouting encouragement and ringing cowbells – tremendous. The rest of the bike was fairly uneventful, I was just having to spend less and less time on the aero bars the closer I got to the end. And then I’m into T2, not quick but within my (quite broad) target parameters.
Bike taken off me to be racked and I shuffled into the change tent. A bit more rapid in here than T1, to be honest though, I needed the toilet so I wanted to get out quickly before I had an accident. Grabbed my second sandwich and started the legs moving. Saw Dave Robinson, a right boost but I bet he was jealous of my jam sandwich. Settled into my pace and then started to get a sense of the heat, the sun was beating down and I just hadn’t realised how warm it was when I was out on the bike.
Even though I’ve never ran this far previously, (19 miles in training, is there a bit of a trend here?) I felt really confident, it’s just putting one foot in front of the other isn’t it? Pace felt comfortable and I got a hello from Lisa heading back from her first loop looking really strong – later found out that injury had put an early end to her day. Plodded on steadily and then saw Mal finishing his first loop, claimed he wasn’t having much fun but he looked like he was having a ball. And then it was the sights of Nottingham, a pleasant run along the river, past the City Ground (which needed a good clean btw) and out to the turn point which seemed to take forever to come. Back to HPP and the loop of the lake and I caught sight of my mate Gary (see para 2 re drunken commitment). I’d started the day with three goals, first was to not miss the swim cut off, second to finish and the other was to finish ahead of him. Goal 1 nailed, another goal in sight. He’d been five minutes quicker on the swim, we were the same on the bike but he hadn’t chilled in T1! Kept my pace steady but I was gaining on him…. I managed to catch up to him without striding out any and it was good to have a bit chat. He spotted Colin, heading back to his car with bike in tow, shit he must’ve been quick (turns out 9 ½ hours quick!). There was someone else shouting near the same spot, if you’re reading this, apologies for missing you – I must’ve been right in the Zone! We ran past the finish line together at around ten hours thirty and had a big cheer and smiles from our families, just a half marathon left to go – surely it was in the bag now.
We ran together for a bit of craic for a while and then he started to drop off a little, I cracked on, enjoying the support, high-fiving the kids, thanking the volunteers and hitting all of the ‘power-up’ signs I could. Loop 2 went as well as I could’ve expected, saw athletes from Suncity and Coalfields and we gave each other a bit of encouragement as we went. Tried to keep my pace steady but, even though the sun had gone behind the clouds, I recognised I was starting to flag by about 20 miles or so, bonus though, my Garmin HRM had started to work again!
Steady away and then I’m heading down towards the Grandstand again, more cheering and shouting from the families and I’m onto wristband three, just the final loop of that f***ing lake to go. Feeling confident by now so I even gave a feed station a miss, I’d pretty much used everyone up to that point, well you pay your money don’t you, and who would’ve thought crisps and jaffa cakes would be fuel for athletes.
Let my legs stride out a bit for the last few hundred metres, I’d been pretty rigid with trying to pace as I just didn’t want to blow up or for my body to break but this was it, last little run and I’m in the finish chute – shouting jubilantly at the marshal and showing her my three bands. I loved running down that chute, Debbie and the kids had worked their way down and I milked it with them – sure no-one was judging me.
So, long distance triathlon done and, overall, I’m really pleased with the time. To be honest, I felt more drained after ADIL last year but I put that down to being better prepared for this event – the seven Ps drummed into me at HMS Raleigh in 1991 really do make a difference. I was surprised that I didn’t have any dark moments where I thought I wouldn’t make it (so no thoughts of Triathlon X Graham), nailing the swim gave me the confidence and, after that, it was just down to the 7 Ps and a bit of luck.
If I can do this (see para 2), I’m sure anyone who has any sort of inkling to put themselves through the training can give it a go, you just gotta put the miles in.
Finished on 12:41, I’m sure I could go faster……..