Review of 2012

As a triathlete, my year ends in September... that's when the racing is done and I need to start planning for next year.  So, the end of my third year - how's it gone?

My biggest concerns for the year were:

• Have I bitten off more than I can chew (Snowdonia Slateman Triathlon)
• Have I reach my maximum speed... 2011 felt like a good year, and I didn't feel any fitter/faster now then I did then

Snowdonia Slateman
This was one of those races that inspires them moment you hear of it, so although I didn't sign up until Jan 2012, I was committed to do it from early 2011.

So why the concern?  The race has an immense run up a mountain... this section of the race is so iconic that the picture appears on all of their literature.  Despite being from Yorkshire, I don't live near any mountains, and the few steep hills I'm aware of don't really come close to mountain (fell?) running.  I admit that I had a host of ideas that would take me to some mountains to train on, but it never happened... running at lunch is easy, but taking a day away from the kids to find some mountains is a bit selfish.

The feeling of poor preparation was made worse when they sent through the race pack.  This made the cycle rout sound too hard too... with descriptions of sever descents followed by technical corners.  This sounded way out of my skill set.

Finally, all the reviews of the previous years race centre on the horrific weather... as the race is set amongst the mountains, it seemed feasible that I could expect the same this year.

So I was please to find that the weekend was warn and sunny, the ride wasn't anything like as bad as the literature had me believing, and despite having to walk up segments of the run (I swore I wouldn't, but when people were walking at my running pace I gave in) the run was really enjoyable, and left me wanting to run up more mountains; and of course to do the same race next year.

Finish time 03:02:45

Had I peaked
Lets face it, when you take up a sport in your mid thirties you know that age is against you.  That, combined with the fact that I hadn't noticed any significant breakthroughs in training (my running didn't recover to pre-winter pace until August, after a piriformis strain).  So I was overjoyed to find that all my repeat races (Tadcaster Sprint, Leeds Xpress (sprint) and the Leeds Triathlon (standard) were all faster than last year.

So is there any more speed in me before I start falling apart?  On my last race I was faster in everything apart from cycling... that includes both transitions.  The run felt comfortable... and I'm sure I could give a bit more.  The cycle shouldn't have been that slow, so could be better (I was slowed by a red light a bus and a lorry).  The main breakthrough though was the swim...

I set off with a crowed instead of starting near the pack and I held my own swimming shoulder to shoulder (on both sides) with other racers.  Yet half way to the first bouy I had a panic attack, started treading water and looking at the safety crafts waiting for a rescue and picturing abandoning the race at this stage.

Well the kayaker didn't come to save me, so after what felt like an age I tried again.  This time reverting to breaststroke to get moving... even this was hard.  Despite feeling like an imminent  promise, I didn't drown and after the first bouy I was back to freestyle and feeling like my usual self.

The 1500m swim and run to transition took me 30min 27 seconds... my fastest yet.  So, assuming I can swim without panic next time; I expecting a 25 min swim potential... which'll make a huge difference to my finish time.

Here's to a faster 2013!