Strathclyde Paratriathlon

I was travelling up with my brother Phil on the Friday to the lake district first as he was going to be staying there to do Hellvelyn Triathlon on the Sunday. We was there by about 5pm and and had arranged to meet up with Christine, who was the coach at Ashford Tri before moving to the lakes. She was taking an open water coached session in a river at the mouth of Windamer, beautiful setting and a brilliant but very tough session. The current was very strong but it was really good practise and good to be coached, we did draughting practise, sighting and a set to see how many laps we could do round some buoys in 5 minutes. Really good to see Christine again:).

On the Saturday morning Phil dropped me off at Grange-Over-Sands train station. I was pretty loaded up with my bike and bag with me but the only good thing about the swim being cancelled was that I now didn't need my wet suit or crutches. I arrived in Motherwell at about 4pm, booked into the hotel which was only half a mile away, dumped my bags and headed over to Strathclyde Country park to register.

I joined one of the C1 guys, Dave on the Cycle course for one lap to get a feel for the cycle course and saw how difficult it was for them in the chairs it being very undulating and felt more up than down hill! It was good for me on the bike though, I like a hilly bike course:) I headed back to the hotel which was very posh, so great to be staying there by myself in a massive big bed knowing there was a wedding reception going on that evening. Lots of pretty girls all dolled up, it was so hard not to go down for a drink! I went straight to my room though, put the paralympics on the tv and had my pasta and tomatoes that I had brought with me, rock and roll.

Race Day

I arrived a little late not getting there till 7am, I still had plenty of time to set up in transition as it didn't close till 7.35am but like to get things sorted allot earlier. It was now just a case of waiting till the race start at 10.20am. I had breakfast at 6.30am but new I would need to eat again so had another coffer, banana and a big cookie at about 8am. At 9.30am started to do some warming up with James Smith who is in C3 and has CP, it is good talking and learning about how different disabilities affect you and gives you more of an understanding of the amount of thought and work they have to put in!

1500 meter run

The only other person in C5 was Matthew Emmerson the British Champion, for lots of reasons the turn out was very low. The run started and I tried to hold ground with Matt but after about 500 meters he had pulled away. I finished the run in 00:06:31 which was a little slow for race day but not to bad. T1 was good though and didn't have any problems getting my cycle shoe on which can sometimes be a problem getting it onto a prosthetic foot and did it in 00:00:51.

21K Cycle

A very undulating course and some long climbs considering it is only a sprint tri course and made it a gut buster. It was 4 laps so you new what to expect each time and the only flat part was on the turn around point and as you came back past transition. I was really pushing to try and catch Matt but on each lap we was passing each other on opposite sides of the road at about the same point! It was a little disheartening on the last lap seeing him at the same point and as it was closed to traffic I had really chanced my luck on the turn around points at either end of the course! I was really laying my bike into the corners and just hoping the tyres would hold onto the road. I was hoping to be a little quicker but 00:38:28 was okay and I was pushing hard. T2 was brilliant and did it in 00:00:43, very quick in anyones books!

5K Run

Since the amputation I have done no run hill training at all so when they said the paratri was going to be 1 lap back round the same course as we cycle my heart had sank a little. I felt good though when I went out on the run and felt strong going up the hills but just lacked a little technique as I haven't practised but just tried to really lean in and drive back with my legs and drive with my arms. On paper there was no way I would catch Matt on the run but that doesn't mean to say I wasn't going to try and anything can happen. So when I passed him coming the other way at about the same place again I still had belief that anything can happen and to keep driving up the hills. As in T2 the camera crew were there taking lots of close ups which I found quit motivating and with the motor bike just infront of me on the run allot was trying to pass it every time it crept infront:) Matt crossed the line first again but I was closer to him this time than I was 3 months ago at the British Paratriathlon Championships! My run time was 00:24:27 which I am really happy with as it was allot of hill running and this is something I can work on over the winter.

Overall time 01:11:01

Summary

Overall really happy with my performance, it has given me areas to work on and I will be so much stronger again when I next race. I am still knocking massive chunks out of my run times every week but will just need to put some hills in now to cover all bases. On the cycle I think I just need to gain more speed when I go over the top of the hills sooner there is a habbit to rest. You can always be quicker but was very happy with my transitions and my training programe is obviously working:)

Matt was the deserved winner and the stronger guy on the day, well done Matt and good luck in the worlds next month!!!

Thanks to my mum, dad, brother and friends for all your support!!!