June was turning out to be such a busy month.  Another Sunday and again the alarm went off at a stupid time.  I was looking forward to this one though so it wasn't so bad.  It was the first time I'd done this particular event and after the Ongar tri last week I'd certainly got the bug again.

We parked up at the leisure centre and after a bit of confusion found the registration area tucked away behind the main centre.  Another strange sight was the transition area.  No racks for the bikes, there were just lines of tape along the floor with the numbers on.  It turned out that the club had been let down by the scaffolding company at the last minute.  Still, they did well with their contingency and it actually worked out well as each competitor had alot more space around their bikes.

I really enjoy the time before the start, there's always something going on, people setting out their transition area and the first few competitors starting.  Soon enough it was time for me to line up poolside.  Knowing that the swim had gone well at Ongar I wasn't so nervous.  Again the swim went well, slow and I was passed a few times but still, it was good. 

I felt as if T1 went a lot smoother and I was off on the bike.  Unusually for me I'd not practiced this route before so was riding into the unknown.  I had been told thought that there weren't any major climbs and it was pretty straightforward.  I remembered to keep the cadence high and concentrated on riding as smoothly as I could.  A first for me though was the fact that the course was quite crowded and I struggled with the drafting rules.

It was very frustrating to get past someone and then after a few mins have them overtake you but not quite fast enough, so leaving you in their draft zone.  The alternative then was to either drop back or try to get past them again.  I was leapfrogging a couple of guys over the whole course.  I did wonder if it was male pride that made them keep putting such an effort in to get past me each time and then have to slow down.

Anyway, it did have the advantage that overall I did a good time on the bike, I got to the point where I had to keep in front because I was fed up with overtaking!

T2 went a lot better than at Ongar, couldn't have got much slower though!  I set out on the run feeling pretty good.  It didn't last.  Within a few minutes my calves began to feel tight and just like at Ongar they soon felt like they were going to cramp up.  I shuffled along as best i could, determined that I wasn't going to stop or walk but it was torturous.  Faster runners went past me like I was having a Sunday morning stroll and I began to get very fed up.  The run was 2 laps around a couple of fields.  The grass in the second field was shorter which helped somewhat but even so I still couldn't seem to shake this stiffness. 

It's at times like this when I get very negative and start to wonder why I do this, that I shouldn't be there and why am I even thinking of doing a longer event when I struggle so much on a sprint distance.  As I'm sure I've said before so much of performing well in an event is in the mind and thinking negatively like this really doesn't help. 

By the second lap though I was feeling a bit better and the closer I got to the finish the better I felt - what a surprise!  I even managed to put a bit of a sprint on to the finish line.  My legs felt like lead but I'd done it!

Looking at the results I was pleased (again) with the bike leg.  I wasn't surprised at the swim time being as I'd done no training and I was disappointed with the run time.  Overall though it wasn't too bad, just got to try harder at the next one!