Sunshine N sore feet at the Outlaw
After trashing my feet at the Beaver 70.3 I headed south again 7 days later for the Outlaw 70.3. Question was, would the feet hold up?
After the Beaver 70.3 we hooked up the trusty Duckworth caravan and headed to Nottingham for the Outlaw 70.3. The race has a great reputation and I was advised to race there by one of my mates Paul Norris from the National Fire Service Triathlon team. I have to say that 'Nozzer' wasn't wrong. This is a fantastic event, well organised, well priced and on a great course. I would go as far as to say that it is the best 70.3 I have ever competed in and that includes the 70.3 worlds in Las Vegas, although Nottingham didn't quite have as good a night life!!
I wasn't the only guy from the North doing the event obviously, there was the usual sprinkling of Tri Preston athletes, COLT and Tri Clan guys n gals. I also had a good mate there in Mr Chris Rainford (more on this legend a little later!!).
We pitched up at the campsite adjacent to the race start and registration tent, again, another good point about the race. On registering, I was entertained by the British Triathlon World Champs Qualifiers and as it turned out it was a triathlon festival weekend. The friday held the National Emergency Services Champs. The Fire Service pretty much cleaned up in this event GET IN!!!!
After registering, I was walking back to the caravan talking to a competitor who had just finished one of the sprint races. He gleefully told me all about the joys of the swim venue. I was advised to stay to the centre to avoid getting tangled in weed and to keep my mouth closed to ensure I didn't get a gob full of Goose poo!! God I love swimming!!
The evening prior to the race, Mr Rainford came to the caravan for a brew and to provide yours truly with some light entertainment. It turned out that one of his pals from the fire service had stitched him up big time!!
In the fire service you can generally get put up for the night at various stations should you be traveling around various parts of the country. Chris Is a well known guy and got in touch with a pal of his to see if he would oblige.
"I can do better than that mate, I know a great B&B who will put you up for free", and with that he gave Chris the address. Chris travelled down and found the aforementioned "B&B" only to find out that it was his mates mum n dad. Chris being Chris was treading on eggshells all weekend so as not to inconvenience his hosts for the evening. What chris's mate didn't expect was the photos now doing the rounds on the National Fire Service facebook page, of him as a kid in a pair of reindeer antlers, I really wish I worked on his station!! Nice one Chris!!
The morning of the race started with me trying to protect my feet for the day applying New Skin, Compede, a layer of Micro Tape and a layer of K Tape. Even then I wasn't sure if I would be able to compete, as I had worn flip flops all week, in an attempt to heal my feet. On the bright side the weather was perfect, sunshine and very little wind.
So at 06:30 I was off in a pretty cold, weedy but clean lake. The best thing about the swim is the wave start. I had plenty of space and a very uneventful swim, except for the last 200 meters or so, when the water quality deteriorated due to the goose poo and everybody in the wave decided to come and swim with me!! However, a 35 minute swim, I'll take that all day long!!
I pottered through T1 and had to spend a little time re applying some K-Tape. Then the moment of truth, could I even tolerate the cycling shoes. Simple answer, yes. They rubbed a bit but not enough to stop me giving it a go. So onto the bike course, and what a bike course!
The bike course at the Outlaw is fast. That's not to say that it's flat. I was surprised to see 1500 feet of climbing on the Garmin though. Again things were going really well on the bike and due to my lack of swimming prowess I was passing people all the time. About 30 miles into the ride I passed the only competitor I had left in sight .
"Jesus, I'm going backwards" he said.
Me being me, told him to keep going as there was a long way to go. And with that carried on. About half a mile down the road, a car was sat at a junction waiting to pull out. I acknowledged the driver to thank him for waiting and carried straight on. Problem was he was hiding a turn left sign. I carried on for about a mile before I came to a give way junction, which luckily joined the course earlier in the route. This was obviously frustrating, but, something I have learned in my short time in the sport, is that there is no point getting mad and trying to reduce the deficit immediately. This is a recipe for disaster. I simply turned round, put the error out of my mind, ate, drank and got my head down for the rest of the ride. I had a small technical issue in the lass 5 miles when the headset on my trusty DA started to come loose. Again a 2:34 ride, getting lost and having to slow down somewhat for the last 5 mile wasn't too shabby.
So the moment of truth, would the feet take a half marathon. Running in my socks through T2 was ok. I racked the bike and gingerly put on the trusty Hoka's. I had, had a lesson on applying vaseline into socks and trainers from Katie Hewison during the week, after she took pity on me and my bird brain idea to race with no socks at the Beaver. I have to say it worked a treat, so, if you read this Katie, I owe you one big time! I have to say that the trainers didn't bother me in the slightest. My thoughts, GAME ON. I had one thing on my mind, smash myself to pieces on the run.
The first 3 to 4 miles I found my feet but was passing people all the time. I used my usual nutrition of Hi 5 gels, Salt Sticks and Coke. The only down side of the run, is the fact that some of the tracks are narrow and it can be difficult to pass people, especially when more people from later waves join the course. On the plus side there are plenty of aid stations that are well stocked with nutrition and volunteers. I saw chris on the first lap and he had as usual smashed the bike. The two laps of the course went brilliantly for me, no issues with the feet, the nutrition plan went well even working hard and the weather was great. The only thing I didn't enjoy, was the last person I passed approaching the finishing chute not accepting the pass and insisting on a sprint finish. Thankfully I held him off. The half marathon split was 1:26 and the finishing time was 4:41, position 41st overall. Without the various issues I am sure I could go back and run 4:25/30, but, I'm not complaining as I didn't think I would even be competing earlier in the week!!
And what of Mr Rainford. Well the old stalwart did it again. He accomplished his goal of going sub 5 in a time of 4:57 and as usual knew somebody involved in the event, the MC who ran over the line with him. As I found out later, this was an apology of sorts. It turned out that Chris's mate the MC, was a firefighter he has known for some years. As chris entered T2 the MC announced.
"Ladies and gentlemen please hide your kids faces, the ugliest man in triathlon has just entered T2" You've gotta love that!!
A massive well done to Paul Hawkins on winning the event in a new course record time and to anyone who finished bravo!!
So, 7 weeks to Ironman UK. I hope all your training is on course and you're all fighting fit. Take care my friends
Joe D
