Triathlon World Championships - London

A great report on a fantastic pair of performances from Martin:

Triathlon provided some of the most dramatic, noisy and spectacular races in the 2012 London Olympics. When it was announced that the 2013 Pruhealth World Triathlon Grand Final, which incorporated the age group World Championships, were returning to London, many competitive GB triathletes were keen to try and be selected for the GB team. It became even more attractive when it was decided that the course was to be in Hyde Park. The same course used for the Olympics

I was no different and my season would be organised around the various qualifying events taking place in England. I was hopeful of selection for the aquathlon, which comprises of a 1000m swim followed by a 5k run. This was my stronger event and I was pleased to win one of the three qualifying events, which guaranteed my selection.

It was always going to be much harder to be selected for the sprint distance triathlon, which comprises of a 750m swim, 20km bike and a 5k run. The competition was going to be fierce. I decided to try and qualify through the British Championships at the National Watersports Centre in Nottingham. The top seven finishers would be guaranteed selection.  I made the mistake of checking the list of entrants. I recognised lots of names of people who had been winning local events throughout the country. That was daunting enough but on the day it felt worse. Everyone competing seemed to look super fit and have an ultra modern fast time trial bike. The race itself for me was a struggle. My swimming goggles steamed up and I could hardly see where I was going. I also swallowed a mouthful of water and had to stop to calm myself down. Worse was to follow on the bike. When I jumped on the saddle nearly came off. I thought my race was over but pedaled on anyway. The seat was wobbling about, but I just kept going and thankfully it didn’t seem to get worse. As long as I focused on sitting right in the middle of the saddle I seemed to be getting by. Eventually after a tough 5k run I crossed the line expecting to be in about 30th place, but amazingly I’d finished 7th. I’d qualified with a few seconds to spare.

The feel good factor of being selected to compete in two events at London was short lived. With 2 months to go before London I pulled a calf muscle. I still thought it had time to heal and I could still train for the swim and cycle, but I’d given up hope of my running being at its best. That didn’t really bother me as I just wanted to be on the starting line to enjoy the whole experience. Frustratingly the pull was worse than I thought and I only managed my first easy run one and a half weeks before my first event in London. I didn’t even try to fully test my calf at race speed in case it broke down. The main thing for me was to be on the starting line and think I’d a chance to get round the course.

I’d a nice surprise a couple of days before London when my workmate and one of my training buddies Cameron Kennedy, said he had booked the sleeper to London and was coming down to give me some support. Possibly this added a bit to the pressure because I didn’t want him to come all that way to watch me pull up as soon as I started the run. Even warming up just before the first event Cameron was asking how the calf felt. I said it felt OK but inside I wasn’t convinced.

My first event was the aquathlon. The swim was in the Serpentine in Hyde Park. Earlier we were told that there would be no time to warm up in the water prior to the race starting. We would just be in the water 30 seconds before the starting horn sounded. Cameron is a seasoned open water swimmer and enjoys the challenge of beating the elements out doors. For me, unless it’s a scorching day, give me the comfort of a swimming pool. It always takes me about 10 minutes to adjust to the cold, which is just horrible. I couldn’t see myself being ready to race after 30 seconds, but surprisingly the swim seemed to go well. Maybe the adrenalin rush at the start just blocked out the cold. I recognised some people beside me when I got out of the water that I’m normally behind, so I was now sure that my swim had gone well. We then had to run 200m with our wetsuits on into the transition area, where our running shoes had been placed earlier. Running hard on my bare feet was not ideal for my fragile calf.

My only gripe with the whole London experience was that it was not clear where we were supposed to leave our wetsuits once we had taken them off. In the pre race briefing we were told that there would be a box to place them in. However no box appeared, so I just placed my wetsuit beside my running shoes. I was just about to set off on the run when I thought I heard a race marshal tell us to put our wetsuits over a metal rail. So I grabbed my wetsuit, put it on the rail and set off on the run. The race marshal then called my back bellowing “put your wetsuit under the rail” so I’d to run back and replace my wetsuit. This was the same marshal who penalised Jonny Browmlee 15 seconds at the London Olympics, so I’m starting to think maybe Jonny didn‘t jump on his bike early before the mount line. I’m joking as, to be fair, the marshals have a thankless job and it’s not their fault if we are given the wrong information before the race.

I then set off on the run frustrated and feeling hard done by. The one good thing about that was I’d completely forgotten about my fragile calf. I had planned to set off on the run cautiously and push on if the calf felt OK. I was now 400m into the run before I realised that the run was actually going well. From that point on I was just counting down the miles, hoping my calf would survive until the end. I crossed the line elated that I’d got round and it felt like a decent performance. I shortly found out that I’d finished in 11th place. I’d no expectations about position beforehand, but to finish well up the field in my biggest ever race was fantastic. Later I realised that I’d just missed out on a top ten finish by 6 seconds. So maybe the altercation with a marshal cost me a top ten. We will never know, but what I did know was that I had two days to recover for my next event, the triathlon.

The following day both my calf’s had stiffened up, probably due to the lack of running I’d done. I visited the team GB masseur and that seemed to help, along with the reassurance from her that my injured calf didn’t appear to be further damaged. I was trying to convince myself that I had a good performance in the aquathlon and whatever happened in the triathlon would be a bonus. It wasn’t really working, as deep down I knew that if I didn’t get round feeling I’d competed well, then it would still be a bit disappointing. Especially as I had family and friends coming to watch the triathlon, who had never seen me compete before. If I dropped out in front of them it could only be a bit of a damp squib.

From start to finish on the triathlon it couldn’t have gone better. A good swim set me up for, according to my bike computer, my strongest ever bike performance. I’m sure this in part is due to the additional mileage I’ve being doing cycling to work, with my shinny new cycle to work scheme bike. Thankfully my calf had unexpectedly survived the second race. I finished 13th overall and 4th in my GB team.

My races were over. Now it was the turn of the Brownlees. I joined a packed grandstand. Hopefully to watch Alistair complete the World Series with a win, which would give him the World Championship title. Even if he didn’t win surely Jonny would be there to win. Unfortunately it was not to be, Alistair limped home injured and Jonny was a “tactical numpty” to get out sprinted by Javier Gomez from Spain.

The junior men’s World Championship race made up for that disappointment with local boy Grant Sheldon from Blantyre taking the bronze medal behind silver medalist Marc Austin from Glasgow. Those two will ensure Scotland have a strong triathlon team at next years Commonwealth Games.

The whole experience was so much better than I had hoped. It just left me wanting to try it all again next year. This was the biggest ever World Finals with 75 nations taking part. So Canada next year has got a lot to live up to. Special thanks to Mandy and Cameron for their support. There always seems like a thousand things to remember before a big triathlon race and Mandy’s organisation skills are priceless. Cameron, the foghorn, gave the loudest support I can remember. Nearly blew me off my bike. It was also great to have my sister and niece support me at a race for the first time. They actually said “triathlon is a really cool sport”. Yes I’ll agree with that, even if you do compete in a naff trisuit.

I was now looking forward to the closing ceremony in Trafalgar Square, with the after race party in Tiger, Tiger until 3am. I went back to the apartment to get ready when the rain came on. I’m definitely getting passed it, a night in suddenly seemed more appealing than Tiger, Tiger.
Martin