Lindsay Smashes Her LM 70.3 Expectations

Coach Paul asked me to write a race report so to quote a line from a famous song, let’s start at the very beginning, because it’s a very good place to start….

The Back Story

LakesMan was born in 2016, the brainchild of an old school friend so I’ve watched on social media as its grown year on year to the point where it’s now become a bit of a cult following. Each year as the triathletes whizzed by my house (seriously, I live between the two bike routes!} I started to wonder…..

and so 2019 became the year I was going to do the LakesMan half!

By June I was confident that I could swim the distance (who cares if it’s breaststroke?), I could ride the distance and I could run the distance. But what I hadn’t realised was just how much preparation goes into “the other stuff” and how it’s not enough to just aim to finish. So I rocked up unprepared with a plan to fail, and boy did I fail!

Coming into T2 at 5:10 the Race Ref told me the gut wrenching news that I had missed the cut off. My lip wobbled as my timing chip was unceremoniously taken off my ankle and the trickle of tears fast became a flood and then a full on ugly cry. I dragged my kit out of transition to the sound of finishers being cheered over the line. I drove home and removed myself from all social media because I couldn’t cope with seeing everyone else’s results. For 2 days I was inconsolable.

After giving myself a stern talking to I re-entered. I bought a book, downloaded a training plan and after watching hours of YouTube I even learned front crawl! By early 2020 I was (a little) more prepared…. but we all know what happened next! For a second time I wasn’t to become a LakesMan.

The Preparation

2020 could’ve gone two ways, but as anyone who knows me will tell you I am one of the most doggedly determined people you could ever meet. I spent all summer cycling, running and open water swimming in Cumbria’s beautiful lakes with a couple of extremely supportive friends and in November I dusted off the book – here we go again!

By February 2021 I came to realise that I needed help. I had stuck to the training plan and I was capable of going the distance but it wasn’t enough. It was going to take a heroic effort and I probably wouldn’t enjoy it. I didn’t want to just finish, I had a score to settle and I wanted to smash it.

Enter Coach Paul from stage left and so began 12 weeks of structured hard graft.

Race Day

After forecasts of rain and wind and temperatures expected to fall back into single figures I awoke at 4.30am to near perfect race conditions. Derwentwater was calm and a balmy 17 degrees, there was only a light breeze and not a rain cloud in sight!

I couldn’t have dreamed of a more perfect swim. My sighting was straight, breathing steady and I came in 6 minutes under my planned time (and 18 minutes quicker than 2019). As I stood up I could hear Coach Paul in my ear reminding me it was a run, not a walk, to T2 and so off I went!

The bike was where I had made the biggest improvements during training and is now my strongest discipline. I was aiming for a 3hr finish and came into T2 perfectly at 2:59. The encouragement from my cycle club and tri club, who run two of the feed stations, definitely helped!

By the time I started my run the little cloud cover had gone and the sun was splitting the trees. Tree cover for parts of the course and multiple switch backs played havoc with my watch GPS signal which made pacing difficult. So I ran to heart rate, which was where everything Coach Paul had taught me paid off. I knew exactly where my race pace HR should be and you guessed it, I came in with my run time bang on target of 2:10.

As I approached the final corner I sprinted past several others, I wanted that finish chute all to myself! I crossed the finish line grinning from ear to ear, in a time that 2 years ago I’d have laughed at the suggestion of - 6:03, 12 minutes under target time.

I am FINALLY a LakesMan!!!