Carolyn Hewett Blog: I won the Timex Women’s triathlon!

11

I won the Timex Women’s triathlon!

WoooHoooo!!!! I did it! I won the Timex Women’s triathlon last Saturday. It was a tough race and I had some really speedy girls snapping at my heels which kept me moving and racing hard!

Due to last weeks warm weather the water temp had reached 23.5 degrees out at Dorney Lake so the organisers banned wetsuits which was a bit concerning for me given that the swim is my weakest leg. Terry has been training me to go out hard in the swim and stick with the lead girls to reduce the number of places I have to make up on the bike and run. I had on my new Pearl Izumi tri suit which I love despite saying some time ago I would never wear a one piece tri suit :) Having the tri suit reduced the drag of a shorts and top and I went out hard at the start, a little surprised at my own pace and how good I felt. It was relatively easy to get some space and I could see 4 girls ahead of me so I latched on to some feet and tried to hold my position. I couldn’t keep hold of the lead 3 but managed to keep with the number 4 girl and went past her with about 100m to go, coming out of the water in 4th place.

Into T1 for a speedy turnaround and onto the bike to try and pull the 3 girls back in. I was having some problems getting my feet clipped in and quickly realised the reason was because I was still wearing my cleat covers! Stupid mistake that cost me 20 – 30 seconds and yet another addition to the ever growing list of things to do before a race. I did some acrobatics on the bike to get them off and throw them to my 3 girlfriends Antoinette, Corinna and Megan who were there to cheer me on and be official photographers! Once I got going I was feeling great. In the past I have had issues with counting the laps on this course so I had stuck 6 Powerbar Ride Shots to my bike frame and as a little treat had a power shot after each lap and at the same time keep count. I was pretty sure I was in 1st place coming off the bike but it was hard to know because there are people on the course from other waves. Judging by the 3 girls I had gone past and where on the course I passed them, I figured I had maybe a 2 minute lead.

Another speedy transition into my Pearl Izumi Streak running shoes that are as light as a feather and onto the run for 3 out and back loops. I asked my posse if I was in first place but they too were having problems distinguishing between people in my wave and those from earlier waves. Another spectator shouted at me that I was first, so I took his word for it and tried to inject some speed. I was feeling sick and had a cramp which was making it difficult to keep the speed up on the first lap. I slowed down for 50 or so metres to try and clear it but decided to just try and run through it, all I could think about was those girls who would be hitting the run course right then and now was the time to build on my lead! At times like those when I am struggling, I start singing Eye of The Tiger in my head. I know, I know, so cliché but it really works! :)

My cramp was caused by eating too much on the bike. I had the 6 Ride Shots to count off the laps, 500ml of Gatorade and and 2 gels. The last gel was only 10 minutes before I started running and it was too late, I should have eaten it earlier. I was trying to give myself a boost for the run but all I did was make myself feel sick! It was too much food packed into about 50 minutes.

At the first turnaround I could see Susie (who came 2nd overall) and Helen (who was 3rd) coming for me. Each time we passed each other Susie and I made eye contact which spurred me on despite wanting to throw up! We both knew she was gaining on me but I was determined to hold on. I was getting faster just knowing how close she was and each lap I knocked a little bit of time off as I started feeling better. I really went for it in the last mile and was huffing and puffing like a freight train probably scaring all the other girls as I went past! My last mile was a 6 min one and usually I can just manage to make that on the track, without the previous 1 hour and 33 minutes of hard racing in my legs!! Physically every part of my body was screaming for me to stop but mentally I was focusing on getting to that line. To get through it I kept my eyes on the arch going over the finish line and kept thinking how each step was bringing me closer to the end and hopefully further away from Susie and Helen!

I got to the turnoff having done my 3 laps and I broke my own rule of never looking back and had a sneak peek because there was no way I was going to win a sprint finish and it would have broken my heart had I saw Susie and Helen right there on my tail. I crossed the line in 1:39:04 and promptly collapsed onto a vacant chair. I didn’t have long to wait as Susie crossed the line 56 seconds behind me closely followed by Helen a mere 9 seconds behind in 3rd place for our age group.

Unfortunately I had to wait 24 hours to find out the official results as there were problems with the timing system and results from all age groups couldn’t be reported immediately so there was only tentative celebrating on Saturday :) I was very happy when I logged on yesterday to see my name at the top of the list in 1st place. This was my first ‘A’ race of the year and I had achieved my goal. Bring on Bedford Classic distance in 2 weeks!

Happy training.
Cx