Wattisham Triathlon 2015

Four years ago I finished my first Wattisham Tri in 1:08:48, the next year a helicopter stopped play and I only managed to finish a few seconds quicker. Last year I got it down to 1:01:42; I was really pleased with this improvement and had convinced myself I wasn't going to be able to better that.

A good result at the Culford Tri (different distances) a couple of weeks ago had started to make me optimistic that I might be able to shave a bit off last year's time.  I'd even started to wonder whether I might be able to get under an hour...

The weather was very similar to Culford a few weeks earlier.  The sky was grey and it was drizzling off and on.  In the induction the Race Director warned us that parts of the course were slippy.  As we set up the transition area the rain eased off, but never felt far away.

As usual I faffed with my transition layout, putting everything in one order, then another and repeated this until I was suitably annoyed with myself.  I noticed someone near me had placed their number belt on the tri-bars bars and rested their helmet on top.  I decided to give this ago to make them easier to get at and leave less gear cluttering under the bike.

For the swim I'd planned to do my usual thing of keeping a steady pace and not pushing too hard, and as planned I started off steady.  A couple of lengths in I was feeling pretty good so started to push harder.
T1 went OK; relocating the number belt and the lid worked well (there was some faffing getting the number the right way around but that was me not the layout) and the harder swim didn't appear to have taken a toll.

A little way into the ride I was starting to feel queasy and needing to burp, but each burp was bringing up bile...  I managed to ride on through this and don't think it held me up at all, but the first few miles weren't too enjoyable.  Around the time the sick feeling cleared the heavens decided we'd be dry long enough and the rain started again.
The runway is a feature of the Wattisham Tri, with you riding all the way up it and then back down again.  It's notorious for having a strong wind which can halve your speed in one direction and double it in the other!  Of the 4 times I've done the event this was the first where that didn't happen, despite the rain, the wind was minimal and I seemed to average around 21-23mph in one direction and 25-27mph in the other!
Towards the end of the ride as I left the airfield and joined the road back to the sports centre my back wheel skidded massively on a wet bit of road!  I somehow managed to keep upright but swung out far too wide onto the other side of the road just as another rider was heading towards me!  Fortunately he was still about 40ft away and I was able to get back over to my side without impeding either of us too much.  Unfortunately, just as this happened the Race Director was driving along behind the other rider and he gave me a proper drill-instructor-type shouting at...  I worried that this might get me a time penalty but tried not to think about it and just pushed on with my ride.

At Culford I suffered bad cramping as I tried to change my shoes in T2.  This time I suffered a little but not enough to hinder me.  As I set off running I realised I still had my helmet on and had to double-back to leave it with my bike, I'd guess this cost me 10-15s.

I'd used my Garmin 500 to track the ride as usual, but I'm not normally able to track my run, this time I'd used a TomTom Multisport which did the job well enough, but in future I need to spend some time setting the metrics shown on the screen better.  The main metric I wanted to know was my current average pace, unfortunately it was showing it in kph rather than mph so I struggled to translate it.
Run went well, the ground had held up despite the rain and I didn't suffer any cramping (legs or diaphragm).
The watch was telling me that it was going to be close to being under an hour, which helped spur me on and I gave everything I had up the final straight!

As I crossed the line the announcer shouted my name and that my time was under an hour at 59:30!  At that point no other competitors had gone that quick and if I'd had that time last year I would have been 2nd overall!
For a few minutes it was all quite exciting but soon enough reality kicked in and other competitors were coming in under the hour too. 

Finished in 00:59:30!
7th of 244 overall and 3rd of 27 in category (40-44).
Swim (300m) + T1: 00:06:24
Bike (20km) + T2: 00:34:05
Run (5km): 00:18:59
Results here.

I was approx 3m 20s from 2nd overall and 4m 30s from 1st.

I was 25s from 2nd in my category and and 4m 30s from 1st.

2014 Times
Swim + T1: 00:06:39
Bike + T2: 00:35:12

Run: 00:19:51

Wattisham Triathlon 2014

Written long after the event so only highlights.

Beforehand
Training had gone well.  Extra core work (mainly planking) to attempt to combat diaphragm cramps I'd previously had on the run.

Swim
Was overtaken on the 7th length of the swim - I'd put an accurate swim time so was very surprised when this happened!  This gave me some focus for the rest of the event and helped me to push on when I was flagging.

Bike
On the ride I caught the bloke who passed me and we swapped places several times.  I eventually kept in front and got back and out of transition about 30-60s ahead of him.  This was the first time I'd used tri-bars in an event, they definitely worked well and I'll use them again.
Last year I'd been held up on the ride by the Police helicopter taking off so was happy not to have a repeat of that this year!

Run
The run went the best it ever has in a Tri.  No repeat of the diaphragm cramps I usually get and I was able to run well.  The bloke who overtook me in the swim passed me about a 1/4 of the way around the run, but as he was in Hadleigh Hare's running club gear it was to be expected that this would be his strongest discipline.

In the end I came 15th overall, 5th in age cat!.  Best result I've ever had by quite some margin!

Swim + T1: 00:06:39
Bike + T2: 00:35:12
Run: 00:19:51

Total: 01:01:42

Family came to spectate this year (Mum, Dad, Wife and daughter) this is the only event of mine that any of them have ever been to!

Wattisham Triathlon 2013

Having enjoyed last year's attempt at Wattisham Tri I thought I'd give it another go this year and see if I could improve on last year's performance.

As a brief summary, the event is held on Wattisham Airbase and involves a 300m indoor pool swim, a 20km bike ride (including twice up and down the runway) and a 5km run.

Last year I'd only been running a few months so was quite happy to be able to complete 5km never mind tackle it quickly, also my swimming ability was only notable by the fact that I've reached my mid-thirties without drowning...  While I'd been biking competitively for a few years it's all been on mountain bikes and I'd only bought a road bike specifically for this event so was still fairly new to that discipline too.

Since last year's tri I'd kept up the running, getting involved semi-regularly with the local ParkRun, but hadn't really gained any pace.  I'd also spent a lot of time on the road bike, almost favouring it over the MTB (Oh god, what have I become!?!) but I'd hardly swum at all.

Training

Training-wise I started swimming occasionally over winter as an alternative to riding and running in the cold, in mid-March I took out a swimming pass for Crown Pools and started to go much more regularly.  Most lunchtimes I'd nip over from work and do 3 lots of 12*25m lengths.  I also started to try different techniques from the Swimsmooth website - position in the water, breathing on alternate strokes, etc.
Swimming was undoubtedly my weakest of the disciplines but is also the shortest part of the tri so even if I improved a lot I wouldn't be saving much time overall on the whole event.  I found learning the breathing techniques very hard, while I'd manage it fine for a few lengths, I'd be struggling for breath after a while.
Last year the swim leg had killed me and led to me being unable to focus at the start the ride which spoiled my supposedly best part of the event.  I resolved to just being able to do the swim in a similar time as last year but not be as ruined by the time I got out of the pool.

March was also when I started to take the running a bit more seriously too, getting out for 3-4 runs a week and trying to get to ParkRun whenever possible (although ParkRun isn't strictly a competitive event it's very useful for gauging yourself against other runners).  And by April I was doing quite a few rides followed by runs.

As for the bike, I ride pretty regularly as it is, so I just focussed on the road bike rather than the MTB and rode whenever possible.  I've a local 12mile loop so rode that and as motivation I tried my best to pick off some Strava segments on there.  In addition I did a couple of large back to back rides from my in-laws' to my parents and back again (see earlier post) covering around 150miles in 2 days.

The Big Day

After all the hanging around from last year I had resolved to arrive later this time but itchy-feet syndrome on the day meant I got there about 11ish, a whole 15-20mins later...

This year I knew a few people doing the race, Simon who is a regular, and 2 friends who are first timers (get me sounding like I'm dead experienced at this) Karen and Mags.  Also a few other friends were spectating, Ian, Clare, Andy and Laura, and Bim, it's great to have people cheering you on and I find it makes a surprising difference to your motivation when you're flagging.  It also means there are photos to remember the day by, thanks very much for those :)

Once signed in (number 161), my free banana eaten, my race numbers stuck to the bike and race belt and my free t-shirt stowed in car (never to be worn).  I then went to set up my transition area; Karen had kindly bagsied me a spot near the swimming pool exit and I set up everything as best as I could, given the strong wind and forecast downpours.

Following the induction meeting (very similar to last year, although the line about Lance Armstong had inexplicably been changed to Bradley Wiggins, can't imagine why...), there was much hanging around and faffing, although having a few friends there to pass the time with really helped.
The race began at 13:00 with competitors setting off at 30s intervals.  Your start time is based on your estimated swim time with slower people going first - I'd estimated 6m 30s (by the end of my training I was getting just under 6mins) so didn't start until 14:21...

The Race

Around 14:15 I took my place in the queue by the poolside.  Once in the pool I was braced for a 10s countdown which never seemed to come.  The person ahead of me had completed 2 lengths (much longer than 30s) and the guy who starts you off was having a chat with someone else.  My brain starts to play tricks on me at times like this and I became convinced he'd told me to set off and I'd not heard him; this is ridiculous as he'd have told me again...  He eventually gave me the countdown after what seemed like centuries and off I went.
Last year I'd started the swim as hard and fast as possible and burnt myself out by the 5th length, this year I was determined to pace myself.  The swim was, fortunately, uneventful and I wasn't overtaken.  The only items of note are that the water tastes more saline-y than in most pools (I'm sure there's a joke about squaddies in there, but I prefer not to think about it) and I'd forgotten how deep the Wattisham pool gets (prob 30ft).

My goal of not knackering myself on the swim worked and although a little groggy I managed a swift transition and got away on the bike in what felt like a good time.

The winds were really strong making the cycling tough at times.  After skirting around the perimeter of the air-base you head onto the runway and hit a solid wall of wind.  A mile and a quarter later you do a U-turn and the wind noise instantly disappears and you absolutely fly back down the other way!  Looking at my GPS stats, I was averaging around 15mph into the wind and 30mph coming back the other way!

The race involves 2 laps of the course and on lap two I was struck by an unfortunate event...

Wattisham is a working air-base and you're advised in the induction that where necessary you have to give way to site traffic, as I flew along the top of the base with a tail-wind assist I saw another cyclist stopped in front of me and a marshall waving frantically at me to stop.  Having slammed on the brakes and come to a complete stop I learned that there'd been an emergency call out and that the police helicopter needed to take off...
The other rider complained to the marshall that this was affecting her time and could he contact the timing people to have it taken into account.  Unfortunately the official timing equipment isn't able to measure delays such as this and you just have to accept it.
To be fair, police emergencies obviously take priority over people messing about on bikes, but it's frustrating none-the-less.
At this point it looked like my goal of beating last year's time was over..  

My Garmin showed that I was stopped for 1m34s but adding on the time it takes to stop and get back up to speed, and for auto-pause to realise you've stopped and started I think it's fair to say it was the best part of 2mins.

While stopped I slumped on my bars, not even looking around so I don't know how many people were affected by this stop, I'd guess 4, maybe 5.  My new target became just to do as well as I possibly could...

Once underway again I chuntered under my breath into the runway headwind and giggled like a girl up the runway tail-wind and made it back to the transition point without any other incidents.
A quick swap of footwear, removal of helmet and flip of race-belt later and I was out for the run.

Much like last year my chest/stomach hurt like mad for the 1st 2km.  I ran through it as best I could but there must be something to do with being crouched on the bike that compresses my diaphragm so that it's uncomfortable when I start to run.  Once the pain eased I found my pace and even managed to sprint a little along the finish straight (note for next time, ignore the water station, you end up wearing 90% of it, if not more!).

Having finished, I wandered resignedly over to the results screen to find I'd actually managed to beat last year's time (1h 8m 48s), by a whole 11s at 1h 8m 37s!

This put me in 61st (of 258) overall and 17th (of 27) in the Male 35-39 category.

If I assume the stop cost me 1m 50s, this would have put me 49th and 11th, respectively, instead.

Last year my split times were as follows;

• Swim + Transition: 00:08:20
• Bike + Transition: 00:38:07
• Run: 00:22:20
• Total: 01:08:48

This year's split times are as follows;

• Swim + Transition: 00:07:27
• Bike + Transition: 00:40:35
• Run: 00:20:34
• Total: 01:08:37

My swim has improved by a minute and my run by 2 minutes, and if I'd not had to stop, my ride time would have been pretty similar to last year despite the headwinds.

All in all I'm very pleased :)

Ian Aldis's photos


Clare Bailie's photos

Wattisham Triathlon 2012

I've written this a long time after the event (22/04/13) so it'll be patchy but I wanted to attempt to remember details in advance of the 2013 Tri...

 Beforehand

• I got there mid-morning for the sign on and debrief.
• I was issued number 159 (written on calf) and a start time of 14:20.
• Much faffing ensued between now and the start.
• Met up with Simon Lockwood, he talked me through setting up my kit at the bike racks.
• Further faffing...
• I wore a Nike Pro Combat compression sleeveless top and Altura Stream cycling shorts
• I didn't use any energy bars/gels/etc but did have an SIS Go electrolyte drink on my bike and had plenty of bananas and flapjacks before hand.

The Swim (300m)

• Wattisham Tri has an indoor swim. The pool is divided into 6 lanes, you swim up and down each lane and after 12 lengths (300m) you climb out of the far side.
• Around 14:15 I queued up by the side of the pool and waited my turn.
• I set off too quickly and tired myself out by the 6th lap.
• Plodded to the end but was overtaken on my final length.
• As I climbed out of the pool my legs were like jelly and my head was spinning (mix of tiredness and adrenaline).
• Ran/wobbled to the transition point.
• Very quick dry down
• Socks, lid and SPDs on (socks a proper faff)
• Ran with bike to exit of transition area

The Ride (20km)

• The swim had properly tired me out and for the 1st mile or so I couldn't focus on the road
• I even went off the wide clear track at one point on to the grass verge!
• The off-course moment seemed to clear my mind and I finally found my rhythm.
• The course involves 2 laps of the airbase including riding up and down the runway.
• The runway has a strong wind passing down it, so you fly along it to begin with, then do a hairpin turn at the end into a wall of wind.
• The slog into the headwind was very hard work I kept looking up and seeing a marshall in a hi-viz vest at the end but he never seemed to get any closer!
• Once back at the transition area I dismounted and ran to my transition point.
• Removed my lid
• Swapped SPDs for trainers

The Run (5km)

• Before the Tri I'd been recording my runs on Endomondo and had been getting around 24-25min times for 5km.
• According to a comment I made on Facebook I was suffering significant stomach cramps as I started the run.
• My legs struggled to do anything for the first 1/2mile.
• Grabbed water at the 1st water-stop but ended up wearing most of it.
• After the 1st lap I found my pace.
• On the final straight I somehow managed to sprint the full length of it (200m?)

In the end I was 88th out of 262 entrants or 16th out of 30 in the "35-39 year old males" category.

My split times were as follows;

• Swim + Transition: 00:08:20
• Bike + Transition: 00:38:07
• Run: 00:22:20
• Total: 01:08:48

I'd set myself what I though was a realistic goal of 1:15 and a stretch of 1:10 so very chuffed to beat my stretch!
 
Karen Aldis took a few pics of me.