aberfeldy – Jenwaar

Aberfeldy Middle Distance Triathlon 2017

This year’s race was now organised by Dirty events (previously live active sport) so the race course was slightly different and no longer the Scottish Championship race. The swim was exactly the same in Loch Tay. The bike course was essentially the same cycling over Schiehallion and around Loch Rannoch but instead of cycling to Aberfeldy to finish the bike course, it took you back to Kenmore. The bike route was a little short at 90Km (usual middle distance is 91Km). The run route was completely different: a three lap course around the grounds of Taymouth castle. Perhaps they should change the name of the race to Kenmore triathlon as the race no longer goes to Aberfeldy!

I headed up to Kenmore on Saturday afternoon with Sam via Sterling. Sam bought a new bike at Velocity 44 in Sterling. We just made it to race briefing for five. After briefing we checked in our accommodation at Kenmore hotel (few hundred meters from the start). In the evening a few of us from Edinburgh triathletes had a pre-race dinner at Taymouth restaurant.

Sunday morning my alarm went off at 5.15am. The hotel put on an early breakfast for athletes. I unusually felt hungry, so had two slices of toast and my usual pre race breakfast of porridge and green tea. I had breakfast with my friend Cat and then headed back to the room to take my bags, kit and bike to transition.

This race has a split transition, transition one and two were only a few hundred meters apart so I dropped my running kit at transition two and cycled with my bike to start for transition one. I lay out my kit in transition one with my bike and walked to the start.

I met up with a few club members at the start and donned my wetsuit. We had a quick team photo altogether before the start. The weather was perfect, it was warm, sun shining and everyone was in good spirits. I genuinely felt good and was aiming to push hard on the swim to get a good swim time.

I was in the first swim heat so headed into the water. Last year I remembered the water was really cold. This year I was pleasantly surprised, it felt warm when I got in. It was 15 degrees, I think it was about 12-13 the previous year. My plan for this race was to swim fast, then pace the bike and run. The swim start was between two canoeists about 20-30metres from the water’s edge. By the time I swam to the start, the siren went off and the race began.

Swim (1900m / 1.2miles) 34minutes 34seconds

I started swimming and my positivity and optimism of the race diminished. I felt nauseous as soon as I started swimming. The water wasn’t particularly choppy but I felt every motion. I got around the first buoy trying to ignore my stomach, but after the buoy the pack got quite brunched up. I thought it wasn’t too bad until I started burping and tasting my breakfast. I had a couple people drafting me, by my side and on my feet. Suddenly I had what felt like a blow to my side and hip then uncontrollably I vomited, and moved over from the pack. I didn’t really stop and slowly continued to swim (avoiding vomit) breathing every other stroke but after 150metres I vomited again. I thought about stopping but I managed half the swim so carried on. I did feel better after but the feeling of nausea remained. I continued my swim at a much slower pace and hoped for the best.

Swim to Bike transition (T1) 3minutes 58seconds

When I got to the marina and was so happy to have finished the swim. I jogged up to transition and sat down to get changed. I was so relieved to be out the water but also annoyed at myself for eating too much at breakfast. I didn’t even look at my swim time as I knew it wouldn’t be great. I felt much better being on land and headed out on the bike.

Bike (90kms /55miles) 3 hours 12minutes 40 seconds

I started the bike well, trying to make up the time I missed on the swim. The weather was sunny and warm which also helped! My nausea just wouldn’t shift; I found it difficult to take sips of my drink never mind food. By the time I was over Schiehallion and commenced cycling into head wind around Loch Rannoch my energy levels were low. I felt like everyone was overtaking me at this point. I ate and drank slowly.

When I was cycling on the other side of the Loch I felt much better and ate as much as I could before the climb back up Schiehallion. I was overtaking other athletes up the hill and managed to pick up pace again. I really enjoyed the dissent back down to Keltneyburn. I narrowly avoided a crash when another athlete just overtook me and judged the corner ahead wrong. Luckily when she fell she slid to the side otherwise I would of gone straight into her. I checked she was ok and continued my race. I found out later she only had bad bruising and road rash grazes across her face, nothing too serious. I got back to Kenmore to transition and was ready for the run.

Bike to run transition (T2) 1 minute 35 seconds

Transition two, was quick in and out. My only problem was that there were no toilets in transition. The bike route also doesn’t have toilets at the feed stations. I didn’t want to expose myself on the bike or run. When I started my run I had to go off course to use the portaloos, I was pretty desperate at this point. It is also against the triathlon rules to get naked during the race and will be taking this up with dirty events.

Run (Half marathon 21kms/ 13.1miles) 1 hour 52mins 44 secs

After my toilet dilemma I started the run well, I felt the best I had all day. I had a planned pace and tried to keep it up. The run was actually quite similar to Edinburgh Ironman run route, three laps and one big hill. I really enjoyed the new run route, spectators were able to cheer you on and the route was much more interesting, a mixture of road and trail. By the third lap my legs were goosed. I couldn’t keep the planned pace my legs were very heavy and sore.

The last three miles were a real struggle, however I think everyone else around me was the same. All the smiles and enthusiasm from other club members and competitors had gone. I tried a sprint finish but my legs didn’t have it in me. I was so relieve once I finished!

Finishing time- 5hours 45mins 32 seonds 70.3miles (70.3)

Overall I was disappointed how it went but also pleased I managed to complete it. I really liked the new run route however my Garmin did clock up 13.6miles! I had a great time with fellow club members and the race was well organised. This is still one of my favourite races in such a beautiful setting. I still somehow manage to get a faster time than last year but the course had changed. On reflection essentially never do anything new on race day! I usually find it a struggle to eat in the morning so I thought eating a little extra wouldn’t do me any harm, I was so wrong!

Last week I finished my last triathlon this year at Haddington Sprint triathlon, a week after Aberfeldy. The race report will be coming soon. My next big race is Loch Gu Loch on 30^th September. It’s my first Swimrun event which I’m completing with my friend Lisa. We race as a pair and complete thirteen open water sections and twelve trail run sections. In total we will swim 7.4km and run 47.4km. I do love a challenge and very excited to try a new event!

Jenwaar

I’ve been lacking in blog posts recently apologies. Sadly, my Granddad suddenly passed away four weeks ago and my husband broke his wrist during a bike race (on the same day).

My Granddad has always been a big part of my (and my family’s) life especially over the last few years as we’ve lived so close by. I got my sportiness from my Granddad. He had always been into sports, competing when he was younger playing football, golf and badminton. He was a coach and umpired many matches. He also umpired the Badminton for the Edinburgh Commonwealth games in 1970. In his later years he took up the role of the spectator. He supported me during my first half marathon four years ago in Glasgow, and watched me in London at ITU triathlon last year. He always thought I was mad completing in triathlons! He will be so sadly missed!!

Sam is making a good recovery, is now back to work and now doing some light exercise.

As a result my training and blog writing two weeks prior to Aberfeldy was sporadic and somewhat lacking.

Saturday afternoon Sam and I drove up to Perthshire, checked into our beautiful AirBnB accommodation overlooking Loch Tay. I then went to register for the triathlon, go to race briefing and drop of my transition two bag. In the evening we went to an Italian restaurant with some friends from Edinburgh triathletes for a good carbohydrate load.

Sunday morning 4.45am alarm, triple checked my kit, ‘evacuated’ and had my usual race day breakfast porridge with blueberries, banana and cup of green tea. I was surprisingly relaxed; I hadn’t put any pressure on myself this race. I’ve had a lot of trouble with my ankle and not been running (maybe 5-6 times in the last two months) so all I wanted to do was complete the race and not worsen my injury.

I made it down to Loch Tay with just enough time to check my tyre pressures, rack up, get my wet suit on and also get bitten by a few midges! I saw a few friendly faces from Edinburgh Triathletes, managed a quick team photo and we were called to the start.

The start was in the water between two buoys, the water temperature was 13 degrees, pretty cold and clustered start! Once I got going the temperature was no longer a problem and I was able to swim away from the main group. The swim route was one lap and in a triangle. This race I felt my sighting was better, maybe because I was in the first group and there were less competitors in this race. My garmin statistics say otherwise, I swam an extra 200metres and my swim time wasn’t great for me (34minsmins 33secs) so I was a little disappointed.

I got out of the water feeling a little dizzy and ran up to transition one to my bike. I had to sit down to take off my wetsuit and put my cycling gear on. When I was ready the dizziness had passed and I ran out of transition, and started cycling. Transition time 4mins, 28secs.

The cycle route went ok; the weather was beautiful which helped. I felt alright going up Schiehallion, however I found cycling around the first side of Loch Rannoch quite hard. There was a strong head wind, my legs were pedalling but I felt like I was going slowly and lots of people were overtaking me. Once I got around the other side of the Loch and had the couple of gels and jelly babies I had kicked in. I felt stronger and my pace was better. Going back over Schiehallon wasn’t too bad either; I think I was just looking forward to the long dissent back down. I found the last 10miles after the dissent from Keltneyburn to Aberfeldy a struggle, lucky it was fairly flat and made it back to transition two in one piece. My bike time was 3hrs 15mins 7secs, pretty pleased with that as it was quite a hilly course.

Picture credit: live active sport

Transition two was fairly uneventful, apart from my dash to the toilet, I needed to go for an hour on the bike and there were no toilets at the feed stations. I didn’t want to expose myself to follow competitors on the bike route. Transition time 2mins, 35secs.

So the run was hard, very hard! My legs felt tired right away. Straight out of transition we ran up a small hill and I honestly thought ‘was I going to complete this?’ I ran past Sam after the hill, shouting and cheering, which spurred me on. The course was a there and back along a quiet road, with the occasional car passing. It was now 11am, the sun was shining and it was 18-20 degrees! Lucky I remembered to put my sunscreen on in the morning. My plan was just to make it to the end so I decided to walk at the feed stations (under a minute each time), take on a little water each time and have at least two gels during the run. My tactics worked quite well, I managed to run past a few runners. The course was quite undulating, I was aware of my ankle (not painful) between mile three and five which then subsided. At mile eight my legs felt like pure lead. At this point I started to see fellow ET’s going the other way, the friendly faces and a few high fives helped me continue on. I was really struggling the last three miles, I knew I would finish but I was so tired and frustrated that my legs were heavy and sore. At this point I was constantly looking at my watching checking the total distance. I made it to the finish and even managed a ‘sprint finish’ through the finishing tunnel. Run time 1hr 52mins 38secs. I knew my time wasn’t going to be any good due to the lack of run training however I finished and my ankle held up.

Overall it was a successful race, I finished uninjured and it was a beautiful course and day. Total time was 5hrs 49mins 22secs. I was 5th in my age group and 14th female overall. This race was never going to be my best due to the build-up, my recent training and my ankle injury. Taking the pressure off the race did make it more enjoyable. Not to have that constant stress of finishing in certain time or being disappointed at the finish if you didn’t. On reflection I need to still work on my open water swimming and sighting, be quicker in transition one and hopefully get back to regular running again.

Next challenge is the Scottish half marathon on 18th September. Since Aberfeldy my ankle has, so far, been ok and I have been running twice a week. It’s so frustrating that I’m not at my usual fitness but I’m so glad to be running again. This next race I will be doing with friends; my aim is to finish uninjured so I won’t be pushing for a personal best or a particular finishing time.

Jenwaar

Tag: aberfeldy

Aberfeldy Middle Distance Triathlon Race Report 2017

Aberfeldy Middle Distance Triathlon