Cowman - rookie's view
Personal account of Robin Dowswell.
Well my first ever 1/2 after 14 years in the sport of Triathlon. Shows what a slow developer I am.
SWIM: I got in the water for the vet mens start and heard Boothy announce 3 minutes to go. Testing out my slightly leaky aquasphere goggles I just swam out in the balmy waters. Must have been 90 seconds later when I turned round to see the massed ranks of my competitors in a line about 100m away. Oooops! I swam back hoping I'd get back in time before the start. On arrival I asked "How long to go". 10 secs was the reply. I turned round, started my watch which already had 37:-- on it and off we went. My normal tactic of keeping to the left and watching others with my default right breathing technique got me to the first bouy in the top 15 or so. I continued making up places and then encountered the black hats of the previous seniors wave. It took a while to get used to the traffic, but I soon realised that it was best to head straight for the bouys and push the weaker swimmers out of the way. Cruel, but it definitely improves your time. I got out the water and ran through to the far end of transition and picked up my bike. So far so good.
BIKE: I got onto the bike smoothly and cycled out to Olney where I saw the marshall was JD. Horrible job marshalling in Olney - I did it last year. I was overtaking the previous wave and got a good rhythm going until the road to Horton where I caught 2 other riders who then seemed to stay with me. It rained hard for 30 minutes and after Chicheley Hill I worked to lose the remaining rider of the 2 who had been riding at a similar speed. I did the first lap in about 57:30 and then missed a water bottle at the feed station. I figured I could eke out the remaining High5 in my 750ml bottle for another lap and then take a water bottle with a gel on the final short lap. On the road to Horton I got caught by the two riders who'd been around on lap one. By the time we reached Stoke Goldington I was unable to keep them in view and my legs were showing ominous signs of tiring. I struggled "big time" up Chicheley and tried not to think about the 3rd lap. I did the 2nd lap in about 63 minutes and then did the smaller lap pretty much on my own until Lathbury, while struggling with tired thighs. A few more cyclists passed me after I passed the Hermanator. With the following wind from Chicheley I managed to get back to some sort of speed and reached transition determined to make the most of my position in the transition area.
RUN: I put on socks, but other than that it was a swift deadly transition and with Marcus cheering me on loudly I moved my rock solid legs out onto the 4 laps of torture? I hoped that they would ease up with the new tpe of exercise. Up through Emberton was a struggle and then I stopped for a much needed leak. It took a while but was worth it and I got my legs back to a certain extent. I had a strategy of eating a caffeinated gel on the way down to the caravan park and then a cup of water at the nearby water station. It seemed to work and I continued past marshall Kleanthous at the top of the park and then through the transition area. Marshall Trevor Hook by the Emberton Park entrance kindly informed me about my lead over other TMK athletes, telling me Campbell was 8 minutes behind. The 2nd lap was OK although I got passed by the Jameson (brothers) flying by on their way to 1st and 2nd overall and a 72 minute clocking. The 3rd lap seemed harder and the rock solid legs developed again. As I passed the Hermanator on his run. He asked me if I was on my last lap. Now that would have been nice. The last lap was more like an Ironman shuffle as I struggled to keep pace with the slower runners on the course. A number of vet men passed me and I could do nothing about it. I managed to keep moving however and was glad to finish and complete my 1st Half Ironman.
