Thruxton Mass Attack Standard Distance Duathlon - 04/10/20

I count myself fortunate in 2020 to have enjoyed an off season, when so many have not had an opportunity to race due to COViD. Having raced Hardman Ireland at the end of August, coach told me to chill, enjoy some free time and reflect on new goals for 2021 and winter base training would commence in October. To be fair, I kept training ticking over with leisurely sea swims, desultory cycling and running with no distance or pace in mind.

As triathlon has been an important part of my life, I feel it is important to support the sport and every year I try and marshal at least one event and as some events have been able to go ahead in the second half of the year I volunteered to marshal at the Southampton Fast Twitch Triathlon. On a beautiful sunny day I was stationed on the run and it was great to see so many triathletes enjoying the opportunity to race in a safe, socially distanced manner. As a thank you and prid pro quo the race organisers granted me a free entry into a race of my choosing and I decided that as I had never done a competitive Duathlon I should have a go.

The Thruxton Mass Attack Standard Distance Duathlon at the Thruxton Motor Circuit on 4th October was ideal, a chance to race for fun with no expectations, get some cool bling and sign off the off season before the first block of winter training was programmed to begin the following day. Of course, the reality is that there is no such thing as racing ‘just for fun’ I was keen to finish as high up the standings as possible and I messaged coach for his thoughts on pacing the first run of 3 laps 11.3k) 10 laps (38k) bike and second 1 lap run (3.7k). Coach, I think was joking when he messaged back sub 4 min pace for Run 2 but he has always had more confidence in my running abilities than me, but with the pacing strategy dialled in, I felt confident that I had not lost much in the way of conditioning to race hard for the duration.

The weather forecast in the days before the race was not promising, Storm Alex was whipping up a storm and on race day heavy rain and gale force winds were anticipated, and the decision whether the race would go ahead was only confirmed by the organisers the day before. In consultation with coach, I decided that I would go with the TT bike but change out the deep set race wheels for the training wheels to ensure less twitchy handling in the wind, as the motor circuit at Thruxton is very exposed and wind would be a factor.

In view of the COVID restrictions and the need to socially distance, there would be no mass start for the first run and competitors were set off at 15 second intervals according to race numbers. Luckily for me, my race number 13 meant I was not hanging around and I was soon off on my first run and despite the surge of adrenaline and a sub 4 min first k, I settled into my race pace and picked off 6 of the competitors who had started before me. The circuit is very flat for the first half and then there is a significant incline on the second half which unfortunately was when the full effect of the gusting wind assailed you making forward progress hard going. Midway through the second lap I was overtaken by a runner and in total on the first run I was overtaken by 4 runners. Given the nature of the event and the staggered start through the three laps more and more competitors for both the Standard and Sprint distance races were joining the course and there were always targets to chase down and overtake, whilst trying to hold back from running too hard.

A straight forward transition and I was out on to the bike leg, cautiously at first the slick wet conditions caused me to hold off attacking the corners on the fast sections and the windy hilly part of the course slowed progress to a relative crawl. By Lap 3 I was confident of my line ms and the conditions and I was going full gas. Lap after lap the course became more congested, progress a constant whirl of overtakes whilst being overtaken and weaving in and out of traffic. The action was frenetic and as laps blurred into one another I was glad to have my Garmin as I was not quite sure which lap I was actually on towards the end.

Given the wet conditions, I decided to have a second pair of running shoes in transition which I pulled out of the weather proofed bag and put on my freezing sodden feet and flew out onto the last lap. Initially, my feet felt like blocks of ice and running was uncomfortably hard but I just set my sights on the runners in front of me and tried to reel in as many as possible. Turning into the wind, the incline meant I had to push hard as I felt the fatigue sapping my energy, my pace slowing noticeably but I kept overtaking runners to the finish. Down the finishing chute my race was run, and although I was satisfied that I had executed the race as I had hoped, I had no sense of how I had done as everyone was basically doing an individual time trial.

When the results were posted online I was pleased to learn that I had finished 18th overall and 2nd in the 55-59 Age Group