Carolyn Hewett Blog : Blenheim Age Group Win!

Blenheim Age Group Win!

What a lovely venue for an age group win! Blenheim palace provides such a stunning backdrop for 5000 people who take part in the event over the 2 days. The swim is in the lake on the grounds which has a tough 400m run uphill to transition. It was tough and I came out of the water feeling dizzy but forced myself to run not trying to getting my wetsuit off until my head had cleared a little. The first transition is a good way to make up some places by really going at it hard as a lot of people take it at a slow jog or walk.

I’m not a huge fan of the bike course at Blenheim and if you have been reading my blog you will know I favour flat windy courses where I can put my Focus Izalco in gear and go. Blenheim requires quite a bit of changing up and down and has some tricky corners which put my handling skills to the test! Throw in some strong winds and a pair of Zipp 808’s acting as wind catchers it made for an interesting ride. I took one corner a little bit too fast and was got caught by a gust of wind which was enough to push me right onto the edge of the road. Queue wobbles and that fluttery tummy feeling that goes over you when you come close to crashing. By some stroke of luck I stayed on but rather than slow me down it made me think “Yeah! I did it, now I’m going to go faster on that corner next time!”

The course has lots of up and down and I was probably pushing a harder gear than was conducive for good running legs. Usually I love riding on a windy course but it was destroying me mentally and I couldn’t get into a rhythm. The bike leg was just over 20km and comprised of 3 loops over an undulating and narrow road. Over the 7km loop I used every single gear on my bike which was anywhere between 53×11 down to 39×23. (I actually have no idea what those numbers mean, The Dutchman just told me that. To me it is the big chain thingy and the small cog thingy at the back and I move the gears around when my legs hurt).

The run wasn’t pretty. It isn’t a record breaking run course so I was never going to post a personal record but I couldn’t seem to pull it together mentally and get going on my weary legs. It really took some serious will power to keep the pace up and I found my thoughts drifting and my pace slowing each time. In hindsight I was hammering the uphill sections on the bike too hard which is OK, because it doesn’t hurt to remind myself that I do need to keep something in the tank, especially with my first Olympic distance race looming this weekend. The other problem was that I somehow ended up in a mixed wave with very few females and I like to race against other women and pace off them. Despite there being so many people I did the run section on my own with the faster guys already well on their way ahead of me and no women in sight!

It was a real buzz running up the finishing shoot to hear the commentator talk about my win from 2 weeks ago and say I was one of the fastest women at the event and was expected to be posting one of the top times of the day. Right you were Mr Commentator. 1st in Age Group and 4 overall. Although at the moment I am listed as 2nd behind Steven Anyon which some Google action has revealed is definitely a man and not an unfortunately named woman.

The race was also a special one for Wiggle as it was the Wiggle Retail Trailer’sx début! The team was offering a great service pumping up tyres, selling more number belts than they thought possible and providing mechanical support to all ages. As you can see from the picture Del, Wiggle’s head mechanic, had a tough customer on his hands there. It was great seeing the team out and I won’t say enjoying the race, they were all far too busy supporting triathletes for that! Congrats to Nick from the Wiggle staff who also competed.