The Rubicon Middle Distance What a race brief

How many sports would you find yourself sat in a paddling pool with two professional athletes??

I'd like to wager not to many, yet, here I am sat with Joe Skipper and Amy Forshaw talking about the sport we all love and about how hard it is for a professional triathlete to make any money in the sport.

Joe and Amy are the winners of today's race the Rubicon 70.3 triathlon at Newby Hall. it is organized by www.functionalfitnessevents.co.uk. You can camp the night before and there is food on in the form of tuna pasta bake or spaghetti bolognaise. It is an event I am encouraging my pals to do as an end of season race next year!!

I spent the evening here at Newby Hall in the trusty tent with the laptop and the 5th season of Breaking Bad for company. On awakening this morning we have been greeted with perfect weather, no wind or rain, in fact there is hardly a cloud in the sky. We have the autumnal chill in the air but we are at the end of the season!!

The race brief is given by the race organizer who is obviously a triathlete and very entertaining to boot.

"If you get past on the bike observe the no drafting rule. If all of a sudden you feel 33% faster or fitter it is because you are drafting!! WE DO NOT DRAFT"!!!! are one of his many lines. It is quite possibly the funniest race brief I have ever heard. (Sorry Mr Laithwaite).

We are then marched from Newby Hall some 1200m to the swim start in the very cold, very smelly River Ure. As I'm approaching I hear bagpipes in the distance. Due to the lack of sleep and dodging a serious amount of cow s*%t I confirm what I am hearing with another competitor.

The beauty of today's race is the fact that we are doing a downstream swim. Bonus!! this simply means I get to drown for a shorter length of time at a faster pace than usual!!!

Bang on time the hooter goes and off we pop. The river as I said earlier is cold and really smelly. The best way to describe it is brown with essence of cow poo, lets just say you don't want to drink a glass full. This proves difficult for me due to being an average swimmer at best. That said, I jump out of the river in a time of 33 minutes, a PB!!!

The bike for today has been described to me as very fast. This is something I intend to push hard on after venturing into the world of time trialing over the last couple of weeks. To say I have enjoyed them is an understatement and they will be a big part of next years training program!! The main thing at the moment is training for Kona, and all the races really are training sessions. Today is all about seeing how far I can push on the bike without completely wrecking my run performance. I have an idea after completing a 100 mile Time Trial in 4:15 and having to peel myself of the bike. The day after sitting up in bed was an effort.

As described this is a fast course and I seem to be popping along at a good lick. I pass Amy Forshaw smiling her head off as usual. Now I know that Chrissy Wellington if famous for Smiling all over the Kona course but I have met Amy at Wales, UK and now here and believe me she make Chrissy look miserable. She can be in the pain cave and still be grinning her head off, top girl and originally from Lancashire GET IN!!!! any way there I was going well, or so I thought, when Mr Fogarty flew by in the opposite direction absolutely flying and making the whole think look effortless, we acknowledge each other and get on with it. Due to my lack of swimming prowess nobody passes me on the bike and I put in a time of 2:15. Mr Fogarty, 2:03, like I said flying!!!

Again the run today is pretty quick. I would describe it as rolling, but only slightly. It's a mixture of trail and road which keeps it really nice and my word its hot. The good thing about the run is the volunteers are taking pity on us all by giving us the water bottles from he bike course. Everyone is covering themselves in water in an attempt to stay cool and a lot of people are really suffering in the heat. As for me the first 3 miles are a real struggle mainly due to the pace I did on the bike, but, as the race goes on I grow into it and keep a decent pace and pass a few more athletes. About a mile from the end I can see a guy just in front of me but cannot catch him. I did however run the fastest mile of the race which shows I an in pretty good shape.

I cross the finish line in 15th position overall and 2nd V40/45. My time is 4:19:23 which is the fastest of the season.

Today really is a good day. The type of day that you realize every day is a gift and not a god given right!!!. I bid Joe and Amy goodbye and wish them good luck with the rest of their season, they reciprocate. Best sportspersons about, triathletes, fact!!!

So that was the Rubicon. The next blogs will be a bunch of Diary reports from Kona Hawaii. To say I'm excited would be an understatement!!!

Hope you are all enjoying the off season, catching up with friends and spending time with your long suffering families. Remember, we only race because they support us, so spoil them!!!!

Take it easy everyone.

 

Joe D