Race Review - ITU Pontevedra - World Age Group Champs
Recce Day
Wednesday was registration, briefing and recce day. We met up with a girl from Forres who was doing her first International, toured the expo and got signed in. Then went to watch the briefing, but had to wait half an hour for a Spanish Unionist parade to stop protesting in the middle of the same square. After the confusing, and slightly contradictory, briefing we went to doing the GB team photo. Taken on the steps of the local government offices which were closed for Labour Day.
Then it was course checking time and the swim recce was invaluable. If I hadn't known about the strength of the current, or the hidden buoy at the top of the course, I would potentially have had a real panic on the swim course. It was the first time I have ever swum in a flowing river and I didn't realise quite how significant the effect of the current would be. I swam the 500m out into the current in about 15 minutes, without working particularly hard, but certainly at what I thought was closer to 9-10 minute pace. I then coasted back the return 500m with the current at a similar or maybe lower effort level, and came back in only 7 minutes.
Also it was crucial to get in and test the water temperature. I hadn't expected it to be anywhere near as cold as it was. It was borderline Scottish. Officially 13.8 degC, I suspect that thermometer was a couple of degrees out of calibration. It took me a good 7 or 8 minutes at a steady pace before I was comfortable in it and even then my feet and fingers were pretty numb.
After drying off we took a walk round the run course just to see what it was like. There was a sneaky little climb at the far end but it didn't seem like much to worry about.
Race day
We arrived in Pontevedra mid-morning so we could get some breakfast and set up transition. Because of the number of races through the day the transition and chip collection was early in the day. Having done all that we took a wander round town and I very nearly got a chance to meet Javier Gomez. I was next in the queue to have my picture taken when the Press guy decided to step in and start their official interview. I did manage to get this close though.
After we headed back down to the course we had a chance to watch the pro races before getting suited up and headed through to the start area.
I was towards the back of the pack as we were fed down towards the pontoon and jumped in. It was still chilly (14.4 deg C official) but I knew it would be fine once we got moving.
Turns out I hadn't zipped my wetsuit correctly and there was a slow leak in through the rear zip that meant it was gradually filling with cold water. The cold wasn't a huge problem, but it was annoying that I had made such a silly mistake after nearly doing the same the day before and Mrs M fixing it for me for the recce.
After the recce I had decided I wanted to start as far left as possible but I was still on my way across behind the field when there was a loud hooter and the entire field turned in to a thrashing mess on my right. I did a quick turn and went straight up to my sprint pace to try and get on to the pack but the 5 or so meters gap just wasn't closing. I thought about settling the pace a little but my pre-race plan had always been to work as hard as possible on the way out to minimise my time in the head current so I pushed on, possibly further than I should have. I was certainly through 300m before I let the pace drop to something more sustainable and through that I was no closer to the pack even though it was getting pretty strung out.
Somewhere around the 400m mark I passed one of the blue hats from the heat in front of us. Having made up 5 minutes on them in such a short time I was actually pretty pleased. And from there I was started chopping quite quickly through the back end of that field. I was starting to feel a bit happier with my swim progress as I approached the far turn and I wasn't just passing blue hats but also spotting white hats from my heat that were around me and seemed to be running low on gas from the hard work in to the current. As I started to cut towards the turn buoy I took a heavy whack to my right leg as someone cut up the inside. That was the first of the green hats from the heat behind passing having made up 5 minutes on us.
He didn't actually seem to be doing that much faster a pace than me (despite having taken 5 minutes out of me in the 14 minute outward leg) and I moved across to try and draft on his wake. I only managed maybe 8 or 10 strokes before the gap grew to the point that I wasn't getting much benefit. As the second green hat came past I moved over to try the same trick again and found another white hat had already grabbed that spot. I recognised the two-piece wetsuit of a Japanese athlete I had seen at the start and moved on to his hip. We did a much better job of staying with the second green hat this time, maybe going close to 150m in their wake before losing ground. The results say those were the only two green hats that passed us while I passed 12 from the blue hat heat.
At this point the finish turn was approaching and a bit of a melee was happening where it turned back upstream and a concertina effect was going on. I decided my new Japanese friend being half a length ahead on the inside of the bend wasn't going to benefit me any when we arrived there so I put in a quick 10-stroke push to get past him and move to the inside. As we arrived at the turn it was a bit of a choke point on the inside line but I had space and sightlines to go a little wider and avoid the mess. That was only half as smart an idea as it sounds as it put me on the downstream side of the exit steps and they were congested with the current forcing everyone downstream at the exit. A bit of shoving was required to make a space.
The climb up the wooden steps wasn't pretty. They were slimy with marine growth on them after a few days in the water and the slightly grippier carpeting didn't start till they were clear of the water. Even on the carpet, freezing cold feet weren't great to grip with and I had a bit of a slide. Fortunately on my weaker ankle and managed to catch myself on my good leg without any damage done.
I was out of the water 35th out of 44 in my age-group and 69th of the 95 in my heat.
I managed to unzip my wetsuit one-handed while removing my goggles and hats with the other. I even managed to get my suit down to my waist whilst also remembering to let go of my handful of headgear half-way up my sleeve so that they were safely jammed in the sleeve and tucked away to avoid any potential penalty.
It was a long way through transition and when I arrived at my spot I was vaguely pleased to find several other athletes and unattended shoes around me. After arriving in a deserted transition in Ibiza I was worried about being close to last out of the water again but this time I seem to have done a better job. The GB athlete next to me was faffing and while he was already putting on his shoes when I arrived, we left together.
The lack of baby powder in my shoes meant my wet feet stuck in both of them and it took two attempts at each to get them on. I didn't realise that I had also rolled a bit of the tongue in my left shoe and while it certainly felt tight and was pressing on the top of my foot, it wasn't until after the finish line that I figured out what I had done wrong. All in though, I was still pretty good through transition. I was 26th in my age-group for transition and that was enough to move me up a place from 35th to 34th.
My plan for the run was similar to the swim. Work hard on the uphill and then try and relax and stride out on the downhill section of each lap.
That plan didn't go well though. I struggled to get into my running and was making no ground. The Japanese athlete went flying past. The GB athlete who I left transition with just eased away. At the top end of the first lap a Spanish M40 came past and I tried to stay with him, but just couldn't find a better pace. On the second lap it was getting a bit messy trying to figure out who was in which race as there were 6 different races on the course by that point.
I did manage to pass the odd M40 (3 of them according to the results). My run time was 32nd fastest for my age-group.
I don't think I got lapped by anyone from my heat but certainly some of the athletes from the previous heat came past and on my second lap I was being overtaken by faster athletes from the heat behind (although the results suggest that many of them were on their first lap at the time).
This is the full extent of in-race photography as Mrs M had located the beer tent and forgot to take any others!
But I did then get this beauty with Ravachol the event mascot on my way to my post-race massage.
The more I look at the results, the more frustrated I get. The Japanese athlete that I came out of the water ahead of, then went on to run almost exactly my predicted run pace and ended up 28th. The 20th place I was targeting when I wrote my plan for the season totalled out almost exactly on my target times.
Even to equal my 23rd place from last year I only had to find 4 seconds from my performance in Denmark. And with the screws out of my ankle and a more focussed training schedule that should have been simple. It is difficult to compare courses as all four swims have been vastly different and the current in Pontevedra definitely affected the swim times, but there is no real excuse for my run performance.
The International fields are definitely getting tougher. The top GB athlete from my previous International races has gone from 2nd (Bratislava), 5th (Fyn), 3rd (Ibiza) to 11th this time. I am still almost exactly 7 minutes behind him at every race. I was 11th GB (again).
Wednesday was registration, briefing and recce day. We met up with a girl from Forres who was doing her first International, toured the expo and got signed in. Then went to watch the briefing, but had to wait half an hour for a Spanish Unionist parade to stop protesting in the middle of the same square. After the confusing, and slightly contradictory, briefing we went to doing the GB team photo. Taken on the steps of the local government offices which were closed for Labour Day.
Then it was course checking time and the swim recce was invaluable. If I hadn't known about the strength of the current, or the hidden buoy at the top of the course, I would potentially have had a real panic on the swim course. It was the first time I have ever swum in a flowing river and I didn't realise quite how significant the effect of the current would be. I swam the 500m out into the current in about 15 minutes, without working particularly hard, but certainly at what I thought was closer to 9-10 minute pace. I then coasted back the return 500m with the current at a similar or maybe lower effort level, and came back in only 7 minutes.
Also it was crucial to get in and test the water temperature. I hadn't expected it to be anywhere near as cold as it was. It was borderline Scottish. Officially 13.8 degC, I suspect that thermometer was a couple of degrees out of calibration. It took me a good 7 or 8 minutes at a steady pace before I was comfortable in it and even then my feet and fingers were pretty numb.
After drying off we took a walk round the run course just to see what it was like. There was a sneaky little climb at the far end but it didn't seem like much to worry about.
Race day
We arrived in Pontevedra mid-morning so we could get some breakfast and set up transition. Because of the number of races through the day the transition and chip collection was early in the day. Having done all that we took a wander round town and I very nearly got a chance to meet Javier Gomez. I was next in the queue to have my picture taken when the Press guy decided to step in and start their official interview. I did manage to get this close though.
Apparently one of the other guys on the podium is French pro Bozzone who finished second behind Gomez in the Long race at the weekend.
After we headed back down to the course we had a chance to watch the pro races before getting suited up and headed through to the start area.
I was towards the back of the pack as we were fed down towards the pontoon and jumped in. It was still chilly (14.4 deg C official) but I knew it would be fine once we got moving.
Turns out I hadn't zipped my wetsuit correctly and there was a slow leak in through the rear zip that meant it was gradually filling with cold water. The cold wasn't a huge problem, but it was annoying that I had made such a silly mistake after nearly doing the same the day before and Mrs M fixing it for me for the recce.
After the recce I had decided I wanted to start as far left as possible but I was still on my way across behind the field when there was a loud hooter and the entire field turned in to a thrashing mess on my right. I did a quick turn and went straight up to my sprint pace to try and get on to the pack but the 5 or so meters gap just wasn't closing. I thought about settling the pace a little but my pre-race plan had always been to work as hard as possible on the way out to minimise my time in the head current so I pushed on, possibly further than I should have. I was certainly through 300m before I let the pace drop to something more sustainable and through that I was no closer to the pack even though it was getting pretty strung out.
Somewhere around the 400m mark I passed one of the blue hats from the heat in front of us. Having made up 5 minutes on them in such a short time I was actually pretty pleased. And from there I was started chopping quite quickly through the back end of that field. I was starting to feel a bit happier with my swim progress as I approached the far turn and I wasn't just passing blue hats but also spotting white hats from my heat that were around me and seemed to be running low on gas from the hard work in to the current. As I started to cut towards the turn buoy I took a heavy whack to my right leg as someone cut up the inside. That was the first of the green hats from the heat behind passing having made up 5 minutes on us.
He didn't actually seem to be doing that much faster a pace than me (despite having taken 5 minutes out of me in the 14 minute outward leg) and I moved across to try and draft on his wake. I only managed maybe 8 or 10 strokes before the gap grew to the point that I wasn't getting much benefit. As the second green hat came past I moved over to try the same trick again and found another white hat had already grabbed that spot. I recognised the two-piece wetsuit of a Japanese athlete I had seen at the start and moved on to his hip. We did a much better job of staying with the second green hat this time, maybe going close to 150m in their wake before losing ground. The results say those were the only two green hats that passed us while I passed 12 from the blue hat heat.
At this point the finish turn was approaching and a bit of a melee was happening where it turned back upstream and a concertina effect was going on. I decided my new Japanese friend being half a length ahead on the inside of the bend wasn't going to benefit me any when we arrived there so I put in a quick 10-stroke push to get past him and move to the inside. As we arrived at the turn it was a bit of a choke point on the inside line but I had space and sightlines to go a little wider and avoid the mess. That was only half as smart an idea as it sounds as it put me on the downstream side of the exit steps and they were congested with the current forcing everyone downstream at the exit. A bit of shoving was required to make a space.
The climb up the wooden steps wasn't pretty. They were slimy with marine growth on them after a few days in the water and the slightly grippier carpeting didn't start till they were clear of the water. Even on the carpet, freezing cold feet weren't great to grip with and I had a bit of a slide. Fortunately on my weaker ankle and managed to catch myself on my good leg without any damage done.
I was out of the water 35th out of 44 in my age-group and 69th of the 95 in my heat.
I managed to unzip my wetsuit one-handed while removing my goggles and hats with the other. I even managed to get my suit down to my waist whilst also remembering to let go of my handful of headgear half-way up my sleeve so that they were safely jammed in the sleeve and tucked away to avoid any potential penalty.
It was a long way through transition and when I arrived at my spot I was vaguely pleased to find several other athletes and unattended shoes around me. After arriving in a deserted transition in Ibiza I was worried about being close to last out of the water again but this time I seem to have done a better job. The GB athlete next to me was faffing and while he was already putting on his shoes when I arrived, we left together.
The lack of baby powder in my shoes meant my wet feet stuck in both of them and it took two attempts at each to get them on. I didn't realise that I had also rolled a bit of the tongue in my left shoe and while it certainly felt tight and was pressing on the top of my foot, it wasn't until after the finish line that I figured out what I had done wrong. All in though, I was still pretty good through transition. I was 26th in my age-group for transition and that was enough to move me up a place from 35th to 34th.
My plan for the run was similar to the swim. Work hard on the uphill and then try and relax and stride out on the downhill section of each lap.
That plan didn't go well though. I struggled to get into my running and was making no ground. The Japanese athlete went flying past. The GB athlete who I left transition with just eased away. At the top end of the first lap a Spanish M40 came past and I tried to stay with him, but just couldn't find a better pace. On the second lap it was getting a bit messy trying to figure out who was in which race as there were 6 different races on the course by that point.
I did manage to pass the odd M40 (3 of them according to the results). My run time was 32nd fastest for my age-group.
I don't think I got lapped by anyone from my heat but certainly some of the athletes from the previous heat came past and on my second lap I was being overtaken by faster athletes from the heat behind (although the results suggest that many of them were on their first lap at the time).
This is the full extent of in-race photography as Mrs M had located the beer tent and forgot to take any others!
I did manage to grab this pair from the pro versions as well but they aren't any better.
But I did then get this beauty with Ravachol the event mascot on my way to my post-race massage.
The more I look at the results, the more frustrated I get. The Japanese athlete that I came out of the water ahead of, then went on to run almost exactly my predicted run pace and ended up 28th. The 20th place I was targeting when I wrote my plan for the season totalled out almost exactly on my target times.
Even to equal my 23rd place from last year I only had to find 4 seconds from my performance in Denmark. And with the screws out of my ankle and a more focussed training schedule that should have been simple. It is difficult to compare courses as all four swims have been vastly different and the current in Pontevedra definitely affected the swim times, but there is no real excuse for my run performance.
The International fields are definitely getting tougher. The top GB athlete from my previous International races has gone from 2nd (Bratislava), 5th (Fyn), 3rd (Ibiza) to 11th this time. I am still almost exactly 7 minutes behind him at every race. I was 11th GB (again).
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