Shropshire's Race Winner

Shropshire middle

I didn’t really know what to expect going into the Shropshire Middle distance triathlon. It was my first time racing back to back weekends and ultimately just wanted to test the body to see how it could cope. Also, with the lack of races in 2020, it was just a great feeling to be back to normality again.

The week leading up to the race had gone well I thought. I think I had recovered quite quickly from the Challenge Championship and coach Paul just gave me a few workouts to keep things ticking over, after all you can’t gain any fitness in just a week.

Onto race day and the swim got cancelled the day beforehand because of blue-green algae that suddenly bloomed. Bit of a nuisance as I wanted to see where my swimming was after an awful swim the week before but it worked in my favour as it’s my weakest discipline. As a result, a 5km run replaced the swim and my plan was to be strong but stay reserved - you can’t win the race then but you can certainly lose it! I finished the 5kms in 17:06 which turned out to be more than a minute behind the leader. I wouldn’t consider myself to be a quick runner over the short distance so was just trying to minimise the loss and focus on a quick transition so I could work it back on the bike.

I started the bike in fourth and it only took about 5kms to reach the front of the race. My initial race plan was to attack the bike hard and see how long I could hold ~300w, however once I reached the front of the race I went into race mode instead and sought after the win. I rode pretty much the whole bike with Tom Garbett and even with a few surges I couldn’t lose him - great riding! In the end I clocked a 1:57:11 for the 78kms.

Tom led into T2 so I just wanted a quick transition and to be out on the run. It turns out my transition times were the fastest on the day and had a combined time 18 seconds faster than the next best - every second counts after all. Looking back, it looks like I had about a 25-30 second lead going out onto the run which I think benefited me quite well as the pressure wasn’t on me to go chasing, I just stayed in a good rhythm at a pace I knew I could hold.

There were a few U-turns situated on the course which were good indicators of where other people were. After the first lap I worked out I was about 30 seconds ahead so I just had to remain focused and keep the nutrition in. One hindrance was the lack of feed stations on the course. The race instructions said there was one feed station which you’d pass twice on each lap. Whilst this was the case you passed the feed station twice within about 100m so meant you were without hydration for the next 5kms. If I had known this was the case I definitely would have worn my hydration belt so ensure I was keeping topped up with electrolytes. Anyway, it was the same for all competitors but perhaps something to look out for in the future.

Each lap went by pretty quickly and I could see my lead growing. From strava, my 5km lap times (minus the first lap) were 18:48, 19:04 and 18:48 which I’m very happy with considering the hills on the course and it shows I didn’t fade.

One thing I’ve focused on a lot this year is race day nutrition. It’s definitely been a work in progress but I’m finding the optimum intake for myself to ensure I’m fully energised but not too much to cause any issues. During the race I consumed 11 gels and 1.5L of precision hydration/energy equating to about 120g of carbs per hour - way more than I used to ingest.

In the end I managed a 1:15:05 for the 20kms winning the race in 3:30:40. Well done to Tom Garbett and Dan Harbige for rounding up the podium, definitely kept me pushing to the end!

Also, a massive congrats to coach Paul who won his age group by about 7 minutes!

Now time for a few days recovery and then one final block before either IM Lanzarote 70.3 or IM Sardinia 70.3!