Back to racing!! Damn it feels good to be pinning a number on again after all the cancellations and postponements over the last 18 months.

The gauntlet is my third middle distance triathlon (fourth if you count the DNF at Ironman 70.3 Mallorca in 2019). I signed up for this one after Ironman 70.3 Staffordshire was postponed to July 18th. I am doing Ironman UK on 4th July so I wanted to get in a middle distance tri as a tune-up race before doing the full distance.

My training for this one hasn’t been ideal with pools being closed until 12th April and missing 17 weeks of run training over the winter. I managed to string together 10 weeks of proper run training going into Cholmondeley. The bike training has gone well and to be honest, my swimming has improved quite a lot despite only swimming 6 times between March 2020 – April 2021.

My plan for today was to swim a 1.9km PB, I felt I could beat my previous best of 36.07 for Outlaw X 2019, I didn’t think I would beat my bike PB of 2:47.16 (also from Outlaw X), the bike route for Cholmondeley is 3 miles longer at 59 miles so it would be a stretch to ride further, quicker. The run was the unknown with all the missed training, I didn’t believe I could run faster than the 1:30.48 from Outlaw X but I did want to have a solid run off the bike.

The main thing I wanted to get from today was good transitions and reacquaint myself with the required gear and setting up a transition. After racing one triathlon in the past 36 months I feel a little rusty, which is the whole point of a tune-up race, right? dust off those cobwebs ahead of the big A race.

Registration & Racking

As with all races, I got my gear and nutrition together the day before and laid it out. I like to do these layouts and photo them not just for the social media likes but also so I can quickly see what I have packed in my bag when I have that last-minute panic that I have forgotten something. Next time I race I can look back at this post to see what I need for a triathlon.

Registration and racking were on the day of the race and was straightforward. We were advised to arrive at the car park 1hr 15min before our start time, each wave would then be held in a holding area until 1 hour before start time where we were let into the registration tent. This kept the queues down to just those in your wave and got us through registration in 5 minutes.

We were given the usual swim cap, bike number and helmet numbers to stick on prior to entering transition. You can enter transition 50 minutes before your start time and have to be at the swim start area 10 minutes before your start. It was all really well managed, socially distant and clean to meet the required COVID guidelines.

We had 2m between bikes on the rack which left plenty of space to lay out your gear.  

When we were racking up it was drizzling and chilly. I had brought my rain jacket and gloves just in case I thought it was going to be really wet and cold on the bike. I was undecided on whether to use them or not right up to the time I got out of the water. In fact, the lake was warmer than the air temperature and a pleasant 18.7’c. My feet had been getting cold standing on the grass waiting for the swim but soon warmed up in the lake.

Swim – 1.2 Miles – 00:34.06

We got down to the swim start 10 minutes before go time, we got a quick brief from the race director, showing us the buoys and route we would swim as well as advising on a few changes out on the bike course, these were just roadworks and one road closure but we were allowed to go through the roadworks and closed road.

They were setting us off in time trial format, one at a time with a 10 second gap.

I was in wave 1 but didn’t feel my swimming was strong enough to “seed” myself towards the front so I lingered towards the back. This was a two-lap swim with an Aussie exit and around 50m on the grass.

As soon as I got into the water I felt comfortable, the water was warm, my feet were warming up and going off one at a time, there was plenty of space to get settled into your own rhythm. All throughout 2021, I have been telling myself to swim calm and not go too hard, keep the breathing relaxed and focus on technique. The first few hundred meters, this went out the window. I quickly found myself breathing hard and having a little panic when I was struggling for breath.

I refocused and settled into my calm bilateral breathing and started catching and passing those ahead. The first lap went by really fast, I remember thinking that I am actually enjoying this, which let me tell you, is RARE! swimming is often something I don’t enjoy and just go through the motions of trying to swim.

As we got close to the swim exit, the swimmers in front had kicked up the mud making it difficult to see, the mud around the edge was quite deep and the legs were a little jelly-like even after just one lap, hence grabbing for the fence as I got out.

The run back around to the start was ok, the legs stayed stable enough to get me around. The next wave was starting to head into the water but we were allowed to run past and get on with lap two.

Having those from the 8:15am wave in the water was good, I had more targets to pick off and that little extra motivation to keep ahead of those with fresh legs coming from behind.

I decided partway through the lap that I needed the toilet when I get out of the water, better to do it in transition where there should be toilets than by a hedge out on the bike course.

My splits from the two laps with pretty much identical, just 3 seconds faster on lap 2. We all love a negative split.

On exiting, the legs felt more steady than on the first lap. Now for the run into transtition.

Decent swim today, really pleased to have gone 2:01 quicker than my previous best 1.9km swim. I felt confident I could beat that time based on my pool swims and backed it up in the race. Now to break into the 33’s.

T1 – 4:17

After the swim, I needed the toilet but there were no toilets in transition, must be some kind of COVID rule otherwise it would be a silly decision not to have toilets in transition. I had to climb over the barrier and use the toilets by registration as you enter the event village.

Once back in transition, it was smooth. Wetsuit off, feet dry, socks and bike shoes on, helmet and sunglasses on then quickly unzipped the trisuit to pull up my heart rate monitor which had slipped down when escaping out of transition for the toilet.

Quick jog out of transition to the bike mount and off I went. 5 minutes later I remembered to lap my watch to begin the bike leg oops.

Bike – 59 Miles – 02:52.57

The bike route was roughy three 19.6 mile laps with a couple of tasty hills 3/4 of the way around each lap giving just over 1,000ft of gain per lap.

My goal was to hold the power around 280w on the flats and up those hills, not push hard to get over the inclines, just hold steady consistent power then use the downhills as some relief.

The first lap was pretty uneventful. I spent the majority of the lap by myself, couldn’t see anyone in front or behind me. I did have a few moments of wondering whether I had taken a wrong turn but kept meeting up with the marshal points which gave the reassurance I was on the right path.

The legs felt good and I had to keep checking myself, keep the power at 280w, no higher! save something for the third lap and the run, we don’t want to go out hard and blow.

My fuelling plan was to practice what I will use for Ironman UK in two weeks time. I had a flapjack which I would take a mouthful every 20 minutes and SiS Electrolyte gels (Salted Caramel). I typically take a gel every 45 minutes but today I wanted to test out every 35 minutes thinking this would give me more for the run.

I stuck to the plan on lap one, I stuck to the pacing plan and all went well.

On the second lap, I was meeting up with those from the latter waves getting out on the bike so I wasn’t alone. The problem now was these people had 20 miles less in the legs and I started to get into that race mentality, chase after and pass those ahead.

The first 7 mile drag I went out a bit too hard so I slowed and dropped my power back to 270w to compensate.

I came to one junction where the marshall held me to allow a few cars to come by, a bit of time lost there but it’s just one of those things when racing on open roads.

Around 5 miles down the road I got held at another junction, again, nothing you can do about it but it was getting a little annoying after a clean non-stop run on lap 1.

The legs were still feeling ok, the road was drying up from the earlier rain and my decision not to wear the rain jacket and gloves was looking like the right call. It was actually feeling a little warmer now.

The hills the second time around felt like they had an extra 50ft and a few % extra on the gradient but I was up and over them with no issues. Going past about 15 riders on the first climb and another 7 on the second climb.

No more issues on the return to the castle grounds and on to lap 3.

The third lap was more congested with the standard distance athletes now out on the bike loop as well. I was more disciplined this time around, not racing these guys but still catching and passing them whilst maintaining my planned 280w.

Again, I had to stop for a car at a junction. This was the third and final time I had to stop so it wasn’t too bad, getting out on the bike early meant I had a clear run on lap 1 but 3 stops on the next two laps cost me some time but not a huge chunk.

The third time around, the hills felt fine, my legs were feeling pretty good really. I was up and over the hills without any issues. Again, passing quite a few people from the standard distance and those on their first and second lap of the gauntlet.

Over the last 5 miles, I switched my focus to the run. Less pushing the power, more spinning the legs at a higher cadence to flush them out ready for the half marathon.

So, as expected, not my fastest middle distance bike split but to be just 5:41 off that PB despite riding an extra 3 miles and 3 times the elevation gain at Outlaw X, I am really happy with that time. Fuelling went to plan and I held the power I planned to. My average watts across the 59 miles were 258w, taking into account the downhills I am pleased with that power average.

The weather dried up and made for a nice ride out in the countryside. There was more road traffic on lap 2 and 3 as the day went on, I did lose some time as a result but nothing too crazy.

T2 – 2:11

Transition from bike to run went smoothly, better than usual in fact.

It was only a short run from the bike in down to my racking point. I quickly hooked the bike up, took the helmet off and swapped for the run cap and swapped the sunglasses. The shoes came off as you would expect. I always opt for laces on my running shoes, I like to have a more secure feeling that I just don’t get from elastics. In my mind, that extra few seconds tying the laces to gain the comfort of a good solid lockdown is worth it.

My heart rate monitor chest strap came undone whilst on the bike, never had that in my 5 years of wearing one, the hook had somehow slid up and just undone itself. I spent around 1 minute messing around getting that back on and in position. I wanted the heart rate data from this tune-up race, otherwise, I would have just chucked it in the bag and gone without.

There were four others in transition with me, two overtook me whilst sorting the chest strap and the other two just got further ahead.

Run – 13.1 Miles – 01:27.06

The run was the big unknown. I knew I could run the distance, I have got up to 20 miles in training and up to 5 miles off the bike but with so little run training over the last 9 months, can I run a fast half marathon off the bike?

The run course was three 7k laps starting on grass then heading onto a dirt trail before running across two fields onto a tarmac estate road for 4k. Then it went back onto grass and up a steep hill through the woods, back down a steep hill and on grass through to the start of the next lap/finish on lap 3.

With the run being half on grass and after the overnight rain I was expecting to be slipping quite a bit. In the end, it turned out ok, the grass wasn’t slippery or muddy. I had a decent grip even in the Nike Vaporfly Next% so I could push on.

My plan was to head out on lap 1 at 7:00/mi pace and see what the course was like. Will the hill trash my quads either on the uphill or downhill section.

I quickly settled into a comfortable pace and went straight past those four who were in transition with me plus another 5 within that first mile. It felt easy, the legs felt good and the heart rate was down in zone 2. I was running at 6:30/mi but made the decision to go with it and see what the body had in it.

I held that pace up to mile 4 where the hill was, slightly dropped the pace in that mile but it wasn’t as bad as I was expecting. Don’t get me wrong, it was a steep hill giving around 90ft of gain and I would much rather it wasn’t there. The downhill was steep and I felt a little out of control coming down there.

The first lap went by quickly and felt comfortable. This was when I checked my elapsed time to see where I was. 4hr 4mins and I had around 9 miles left to run, roughly just under 1 hour if I could maintain this pace.

The second lap was more of the same, holding that 6:30 – 6:40 pace and feeling in control and comfortable. There were two water tables on the lap, the first was 3k in where I took a cup of High-5 on each of the 3 laps. The second table was around 5k in where I took a cup of water on each lap.

They also had gels and bananas but I was carrying my own Maurten Gel 100. Each table was self-service, the volunteers set out the cups on the table so you can grab and go, reducing the touchpoints and contact with people.

My fuelling plan with the gels was to take one every 30 minutes which is my plan for Ironman UK and at that pace, it works out one gel every 4 miles. Today, as I was going at a faster pace I decided to take the gels based on the distance (4 miles) rather than the time, this would mean I get that carb intake sooner at 26mins, 52mins etc.

On just starting the third lap I heard the announcer at the finish say that the first gauntlet athlete had finished! I still have a full 7k left but had counted four people in front of me at the switchbacks. Nobody had come past me over that first 14k. I didn’t know what position I was in but figured at the very best I was in fifth, most likely a lot lower than that as people will be further around the course.

My pace stayed pretty consistent on lap 3, with no real drop off or fatigue which was a very promising sign. The hill on the final lap had been lingering in my mind, at that point it was just 1k left to go so I went harder up the hill, came flying down the other side, almost tripped but just about caught myself.

It was a downhill run into the finish now but I could see a bunch of other runners probably on the 10k or half marathon run event, just in front of me. I wanted to get past all of them to make sure nobody was in the way of my finish photo, it’s all for the gram…. plus targetting them and running hard to pass them helped my pace over that last stretch.

I crossed the finish line in my second fastest half marathon ever, not just in middle distance triathlon but standalone half marathons too, only The Big Half 2020 was faster than today and that’s after a 59 mile bike, running on grass, trails and a big hill. VERY VERY promising run leg. Needless to say, that was 3:42 quicker than the Outlaw X run.

Finish – 05:01.43

In the end, I just missed out on a sub 5 but went 2:36 quicker than my PB. Really pleased with that time. Yes, I would have liked to go under 5 hours but given the longer bike and hills on the bike and run this was a tougher course than Outlaw X, so to go faster today felt really good.

What felt the best was racing again! It has been so long since I raced a triathlon and has been 3 years since I raced one fully fit. Hopefully, I can get to one soon where I have had no injuries or niggles in the months prior and can really push that PB down to sub 4:45