3rd Race : 2014 Blenheim Palace Sprint Triathlon

Map for 21014 Blenheim Palace Triathlon

 Pre-Race

So I had decided to return to Blenheim Palace for my 3rd race but choose to step up a distance to sprint. It was good to return to the scene of my 1st race as I knew what to expect from the course and the organisation. I stayed in the same hotel as the previous year so even knew the route to venue and where to eat the day before the race. The morning of the race dawned fine but overcast and muggy. The weather forecast wasn’t good. Thunder, lightning and heavy rain in the morning followed by sun in the afternoon. With my 11:40am start time anything could happen weather during my wave. I got there early, racked my bike and went to watch the early super sprint wave. At this point it just started raining. By 10am the sky had gone dark and the rain was torrential, I was fearing the worst for the conditions I would encounter. As I decide to go and sort out my transition area and get my wetsuit on the sky was brightening and the rain was easing. By the time I got down to the swim start there was sun poking out from between the clouds.

Swim – 750m

So I was familiar with the swim start and course. I did the same as the previous year and move out to the less busy far side of the swim start. As I was now swimming much better than the previous year I was hoping to swim at a faster speed this time round. The lake is deep and clean which I like as when I don’t know where the bottom is I don’t worry about it. It took me a few minutes to find my rhythm but when I did I started motoring along and really enjoyed it. On the sprint swim course it’s 1 long drag down to the far end of the lake with a single turn back towards the boat house and swim exit. As I exited the water I was very happy with how the swim had gone.
Swim time – 16:18

Transition 1

Transition 1 is a hard at Blenheim as it involves a 400m uphill run to palace courtyard where the bike are racked. I got the top half of my wetsuit off and started jogging up the hill. Almost straight away both my calves started pulling so I slowed down and took it easy the rest of the way up my bike. I found my bike and removed the wetsuit with no problems and was off towards the mount line. My calves were still not happy but I hoped they would calm down on the bike leg.
Transition 1 time – 5:48

Bike – 19.8km

 It’s easy to get going on the bike at Blenheim as the start is downhill. As I got into my cycling rhythm my calves calmed down and I was able to concentrate on going as fast as I could for the 3 laps of the bike course. As fast as could go was not as fast as I wanted to go. My bike training had not been fantastic in the build-up and started to show after the first lap. I got into a bit of a battle with a few other riders on the second lap where they would overtake me on the fast flat sections and I would catch them on the hilly bits. As the lap finishes on a fast flat section they managed to get away from me on the third and final lap. I wasn’t happy with how the bike had gone as made it to the dismount line but later when I looked back at the time it was ok.
Bike time – 47:38

Transition 2

Transition 2 was as smooth as I could have hoped for. I found my rack position, got my bike away and got my running shoes on in no time at all. As I started running towards the transition exit my calves were good and I had no worries (apart from the 2 lap run).
Transition 2 time – 2:19

Run – 5.7km

In my 1st 2 races the run had been where I felt worst. As I had done much more run training I was hoping for this run to be different. My 1st aim was to catch and overtake the guys who had dropped me on the final lap of the bike and hopefully pass them. With it being a 2 lap run I was happy I had plenty of time for this to happen so just ran at my own pace. Within a few minutes I noticed I was catching the 1st of the guys I wanted to pass and was soon passed him. I also passed the 2nd one before the end of lap 1. As lap 2 started I was feeling good and continued to pass other runners. I have no idea if they were from my wave but it was good to be doing the overtaking and not being overtaken. I finished strongly in the final straight and was over the moon with how the run had gone. All that run training had paid off.
Run time – 32:20

Afterwards/Recovery
When I finished I has a rough idea of my time based on the time on the race clock at the finish and my start time. I was over the moon as it was around 1 hour 45 minutes. When I got my text with time on it was 1 hour 44 minutes and 20 seconds! I had been hoping for under 2 hours. I grabbed some food before loading the car up and setting off on the 4 hour drive home. By the time I got home I was knackered and aching a bit but was happy. The next morning when I woke up both my calves felt like I had been shot in them. This lasted a week and was cured by much stretching and massage.

Time breakdown
Swim – 16:18
Transition 1 – 5:48
Bike – 47:38
Transition 2 – 2:19
Run – 32:20
Total – 1:44:20