This is a slightly delayed race report from the Bridge Triathlon Super Sprint back on June 22^nd , as I combated Glastonbury and illness, and prepared the new site.

I’d entered the Supersprint at Dartford for two reasons; I hoped I could work the short run distance into my recovery from ITB issues and it’d be a good first race for my brother. Afterwards I had a quick look at previous times and realised I could also do quite well, which would be nice.

Race day

We were running about 30 minutes later than I wanted be when we arrived. I hate arriving without much time to spare as I don’t like to rush laying out my transition, figuring out how transition will work and generally getting organised. In the end, we had plenty of time, but in the rush I did manage to set my Garmin up wrong, meaning it thought I was running for all 3 activities. Annoying, as min/mile pacing is no good to me when I’m on the bike.

Swim – 400m, 13:23.20

I was pleased with the swim. I’ve had some swim coaching over the winter and it helped my confidence in the water. This let me think more about tactics, so for the back part of the “out-and-back” course I found a pair of feet for a draft back to the bank.

T1 – 01:35.75

My T1 was pretty quick and uneventful. The combination of Bodyglide and cutting the wrists and ankles of my wetsuit last year help so much!

Bike – ??km, 18:30.65

Having mounted my Garmin on the bike, I discovered I’d set it up wrong it was more or less useless, giving me min/mile which is not what I’ve trained with. The strategy then became “go as hard as possible and remember to drink”. I got the first part down ok, with my Garmin later revealing I’d averaged 19mph, which is good for me.

Remembering to drink was harder, and warm Gatorade wasn’t helping. Over such a short race, this probably didn’t have much of an effect, other than to give me a headache for the rest of the day. If I move up to Olympic distance or beyond, then I’ll need to get this sorted though.

The distance for the bike is unknown due to course shortening. My Garmin measured 9.2km though.

T2 – 01:00.25

I lost time here by running past my racking spot and dumping my bike into someone else’s – who also has orange shoelaces – position, and then having to get the bike back off the rack and into the correct position. In the confusion, I also left the Garmin on the bike, so I had no idea how my run was going. This was no good and needs to be done a lot better in Hamburg.

Run – 3.3km, 15:17.00

By leaving the Garmin on the bike, this became another “just run as hard as you can”. Assuming the course was measured correctly, then it is under 7:30/mile, which I’m pleased with considering I’ve only been back running for a few weeks after over 4 months injured.

Total time: 49:46.85

Position: 4/21
Garmin Connect: Swim T1 Bike
Full Results (pdf)
I’m happy with how it went, and with my 4th position. It’s annoying that just a tighter T2 would have put me on the podium, even if it was only a small race. The fact that I had no pain from the run was also a really good sign, and now I can look forward to the rest of the season.

My brother also had a great race, finishing in 16th, 01:06:05.55, which was great for a first time effort and has given him confidence for his real challenge at the London Triathlon. He is using the London Triathlon as an opportunity to fundraise for the Stroke Association, and can be sponsored here, in memory of our Grandfather.