Blenheim Triathlon,

Well that was a horrible weekend. Saturday was the Mazda Blenheim Triathlon at Blenheim palace just outside Oxford. I did this event last year as my first ever triathlon and had a great time, the weather was good and the course fantastic. I remember enjoying the cycling course so much I didn’t want to get off for the run. Unfortunately this year was totally the opposite.

Last year it took ages to get to the site as the traffic was so bad, this year we decided to all leave early but this meant meeting at 6.30 for a 7am get off, which meant I had to get up as 5.45 to ensure I have time for a leisurely breakfast and was not rushing too much.

The weather forecast had been for rain in Oxford all week and unfortunately that is exactly what happened, it was horrible. I had waterproofs to cycle down in so that was not so bad. As it happened the trip to Oxford also wasn’t so bad. I didn’t have to drive my car as I’d agreed to drive a minibus back after the race so I got to sleep in said bus on the way down. It kept raining all the way there though and the field we parked in was quite a soggy mess by the end of it. The weather seemed to have put quite a few people off so the traffic was not too bad and we ended up having two hours to waste. It just seemed to get colder and wetter as time went on and I put my wetsuit on just to try and keep warm. Eventually it was time to rack up the bikes and get down to the swim start.

After the safety briefing we all got in the lake, the marshals told us it was warm in the water, and surprisingly it was, the problem was that as soon as the swim was over we had to peel off our wetsuits and keep going in damp tri-suits with a cutting wind and rain and no hope of getting dry. There was a 400m uphill run from the swim exit to transition and I was so cold by the time I finished this that I couldn’t get my wetsuit off or my bike shoes on. I eventually managed it and even passed some other people on the way but it was hard going, the wind was in your face for a lot of the race and the wind chill and damp made it really hard to keep going, at least for me. The only plus point was where woman told me that;

“You sure have nice legs”

This cheered me up for a bit. Unfortunately the legs, nice or not, were not working that well. I actually considered pulling out at several points but I decided I should keep going. The three laps of the course passed very slowly and it was not much fun, eventually it was back to transition and the run.

The run was only 5km but it was still wet and cold and I still couldn’t get my shoes on I was shivering so much. Still I got going eventually and though I was very slow I didn’t stop and made it all the way round. However, on finishing I discovered that Oxford had won both the men’s and the ladies Varsity match :-( and that I had come quite close to last, though luckily not quite, there were a few (younger) people behind me. I have one thing I always try and do at a race, whatever type, which is to try not to be last and to beat somebody younger than me. So far so good in that respect so far.

As this triathlon is sponsored by Mazda there was a Mazda publicity building near the start and I went in to warm up with free coffee and tea, there were chocolates and fruit out as well. As a Vegan I couldn’t have the chocolate, which was annoying but I did get a few bananas and a free Mazda mug which is quite nice. One woman took pity on me saying I looked particularly miserable and cold and bless her she went out and got me a space blanket to help keep me warm for the walk back to transition to get my bike.

Once I had got all my stuff on I was still wet and cold but not quite so bad. Unfortunately the Vegan thing meant I couldn’t join in with the others getting burgers etc to warm up but that was OK. We got the stuff loaded up and then I got to drive a minibus back to Cambridge via a quick stop over in Oxford. Well, I say quick but we got stuck on the ring road for a while. Driving the bus was cool. I’ve never done that before and although I was a bit nervous it seemed to go OK. It’s funny really, I’ve been more involved in clubs and sports stuff with the student clubs in Cambridge than when I actually was an undergraduate. The undergrads here are really cool and treat me like an equal, not the old timer I sometimes feel like (especially with the hair issue) so it’s all good. I hope we might be able to get a few more people to help the club out next year and do a few more events as a club.

Once back in Cambridge I put my bike back together and went off home for a hot bath and a big feed. It had been a hard day and I knew my time was rubbish but it could have been worse and I did feel that I had earned my nice new Cambridge University Triathlon club hoody and T-shirt, which is good as it took me long enough to sort out the order and distributing it was a nightmare. I still have stuff left in the lab that people have not picked up. Still I am still thinking that I like Triathlon as a sport and I’ve already entered another one (at Olympic distance) in July. It’s only over in Bedford and includes a river swim, which will be a new one.

I hope you all had a good weekend?

Oli

Sorry

Hi everyone,

OK, OK I know I’ve been rubbish at updating recently. I’m sorry about that. It turns out keeping a blog is harder work than I thought and I’ve had a lot on at work and with training recently so have not had as much time as I had hoped for it.

I ran to Ely from my house near Cambridge station this past Sunday, it’s a good 18 miles and goes through some lovely country side. I tacked a bit on the end and ran round the town for a bit to get my total training time up to three hours.

I also did the Great Manchester run last month. This a 10km, a distance I don’t do very often in races at least. Manchester is my home town so I always enjoy this race. This time I had my Dad and my youngest brother and a lot of friends from school doing it so it was a lot of fun. I had wanted to finish in under 45 minutes for this, which is the target I just missed out on last year. In the end I got a new PB of 00:43:12. I was fairly happy with this though I think I could have done better if I had rested up a bit more before the race and pushed a bit harder during it. Still there is always next year.

Pictures are at

http://media.greatrun.org/index.php?page=search3&st&race_id=46&runner_no=421

This weekend is the Mazda Blenheim triathlon, this was the first triathlon I ever did (last year) so I’m looking forward to going back. I’ll be in the Cambridge team again so hopefully we can beat the dark blues of Oxford. I’ll try and get a race report online when I can.

Till next time

Oli