Helen PBs and Podiums at Outlaw Half Nottingham

After a very nervous week of the obligatory ‘weather watching’ and bemoaning the wind and rain forecast for Outlaw half Nottingham, the weekend finally arrived with an improving forecast – fingers crossed.

Route was recced in sunshine a couple of weeks prior, I was well aware of the bone shaking and bottle killing final section and good to go – until I saw the actual length of transition – huge! Pacing my route from swim out to bike – 650m, bike to bike exit – 250m, I had practiced swift transitions, this was not going to be my fastest – but we were all in the same boat, even the inspirational Tim Don, just not sure he was afraid of little old me.

Early night was planned, didn’t quite materialise as an alarm went off all night – only drowned out by the torrential rain, not the best preparation. Arrived nice and early, into a lovely close car park and off to set transition up, surely a little ‘poo’ will come along soon? 25 minutes before getting in the water – please, just a little ‘poo’…….called to the start – oh no, never had this problem before, I still hadn’t been, let’s hope the Imodium does the trick for the next few hours!

A super slick entry into the water, much quicker than Outlaw X in September, and away. The swim was just awful, headwind up the lake, absolutely could not get into a rhythm and now my bowels wanted to go! If I hadn’t known which way the wind was blowing I would have sworn the bouys were being blown away from me and could have quit 100 times, the bank was so close – finally reached the turn and managed to get onto someone’s feet for the return section.

Out of the water and a glance at my watch confirmed my worst fears, way off target pace at 44:23, almost a personal worst, not a great way to start the bike. 2:50 was my target from Paul and having arm warmers already on under my wetsuit saved time, gilet on, banana stuffed into my face whilst running with the bike, Paul’s words of ‘keep moving’ reverberating around my head. The rain was holding off and the road mostly dry so head down, get onto the drops and go. I wasn’t feeling it in my head, but the miles still ticked steadily away and before I knew it Oxton Bank was next, onwards and upwards……..and ‘David’, I passed him heading up (amongst others), then he flew past me on the descent – grrrrrr, so I passed him on the next short hill, only to then be overtaken again. As I caught him again I said ‘how long are we going to do this for?’ Not realising it would be the last time as I shook David off and continued. Sad old me had some of my ‘competitors names etched into my brain, I had now passed three of them – all got in the water before me – yippee! Nutrition was going in and we were heading for the turn onto the bottle killing section – now to get Imodium number two in without falling off, something not practised, but nailed, gel followed and then back towards T2 and a traffic jam! So many riders at once we didn’t even reach the dismount line, and I had hit 2:50 – a huge bike PB for me and something I never thought I was capable of.

Into transition – toilets on the right caused an internal argument, proper loo or ‘wing it’, proper loo won and also gave me chance to get sleeves and gilet off. Still managed T2 in a respectable time and ran out whilst putting on my cap and hydration vest (keep moving!).

Now my head was a mess, I had fought off the desire to stop in the swim , now my pace for the run was erratic, headwind up the lake, wiggly sections, rutted grass and me desperately hoping my groin niggle would put in an appearance so I could justify stopping, but knowing I would disappoint myself, my husband and Paul if I did - one mile at a time and steadily they ticked by and the finish was in sight and nobody was on the carpet – I had it to myself – smile for the camera?

And after all that – the ‘poo’ never arrived – thank goodness!

By now I was sure I had missed my target of top 5 and my dream of a podium, so was surprised to be greeted by a husband telling me I was third in my AG, and not far behind second, I didn’t feel in any way elated as I had hated so much of the race having an internal battle all the way.

This is where we move on and learn, looking at other posts, it would appear the swim was tough/long for many so I was not alone, and I did a race bike PB and a race run PB so an overall PB of 23 minutes, most people would be ecstatic with that and most women would love to produce those bike and run stats, I had set high expectations and maybe choked a little on the day?

Hindsight and time has allowed me to wait for the trophy before writing this (trophy still not here) and reflect on the hard work that went into that result, I didn’t have the best of days, but I finished, did a great time, would qualify for GB if I didn’t already have a rollover and now need to make small adjustments ready for Cotswold Classic 70:3 on 11thJuly before some well earned rest (then Outlaw X in September)

And none of this would be possible without Paul’s consistent and progress focused (data loving) coaching, his belief in me has given me a bike split I could only dream of and secured my run despite an injury and no consistent running in the preceding 5 weeks – thanks a million! And my long suffering triathlon widow of a husband……..