So as you might (or probably not) remember I got COVID-19 at the start of April which totally flattened me. Over the month of July I started doing longer rides and hour long runs, as well as as much swimming as I could fit in, and gradually my fitness started to increase. I went into the quarter distance of MidnightMan thinking, it will be what it will be, I'll swim, bike and "run" and see how I get on.
The swim
The swim was my first mass start for three years. I wasn't really looking forward to this because I am not a big fan of mass starts, but actually it was absolutely fine, no washing machine dramas, I think someone did try to swim over my legs but I just kicked them away. As the water was 24.5 C it was no wetsuit for the quarter which was not an issue for me as I prefer to swim without my wetsuit! As we were waiting for the start, someone asked me where the red buoy was (the only buoy you have to turn left instead of right) so I told them it was round the corner out of sight. I believe this was Ron, who I ended up attempting to draft near the end of the swim. In my swim coaching I had been learning about timing your stroke to the other person's stroke so I was doing that on our way in to the finish. I have had the most horrible coldsore this week and it had turned into a big scab, and let me tell you trying to breathe out of your mouth in the water with a painful scab on your lip is not fun!
The bike
My transition went far better than usual, probably thanks to not having to faff around with taking my wetsuit off, and I set off on the bike with much cheering from the fabulous marshalls. A big thank you to them for cheering me on every time I came past! MidnightMan is a race with many many dead turns. I am not the greatest at these but at least this time I managed to do them all without having to put my foot out! It was a very warm night with a bit of a headwind as we went out onto Bob Dunn Way (oh Bob Dunn Way, I have not missed you!). They have had to cut the bottom loop short so we had to do 6 laps for the quarter distance. Let me tell you that was more than enough. I really felt for those who had to do the long distance of 26 laps. With four dead turns on every lap, and a nasty corner to get out onto Bob Dunn Way, it would be a lot. Every lap I would go past the main turning into the Bridge, where there was a truck trying its very best to block traffic, with one person trying really hard to drive over the grass so they could get through 😒. I would also go past a family who had these giant round glasses full of some green cocktail - I like to think it was mojito but who knows? I noticed on about my third lap that they were looking a bit empty so I told them it was time for a top up and the next time I went round they proudly told me that they'd got a top up 😂. We also had some idiot on a quad bike come down right the middle of the cyclists - seriously mate I mean... really? I had to stop half way to refill my hydration as I was so thirsty I'd drunk a whole bottle in about 45 minutes. Did I mention it was warm? I also had to tell both Sophie and Duncan that it was 6 laps for the bike... this is why you listen to the race briefing guys and not turn up just before the race starts hoping to wing it!! I kept looking out for Stuart, but every time I went past the transition point he'd disappeared. I got good cheers from the lovely marshalls though!
The run
I'd come into this race with the full intention of walking the run if I absolutely had to. In fact I only walked a little bit just after transition and then I spent most of the rest of the run at a "comfortable" jog. It was dark by this stage and kind of cooler - thankfully! I was very glad of my hydration pack that I'd put on at transition, so I could drink whenever I needed to. I still felt like I was overheating and was a bit jealous of the guys who had just taken off the top of their trisuits (although I'm pretty sure that's a DQ in the BTF rules!). I'd met not-Stuart in transition at the start of the race, and I called him not-Stuart because he'd introduced himself to me and then said that he could have been Stuart as that was the name of the person between us and that was the name I remembered 😂. Anyway I checked afterwards and his real name was Sean, so sorry not-Stuart/Sean for not remembering your name. I high-fived not-Stuart every time I saw him with a "Boom" for full effect. Dimitrij also came past me at full speed on his way to coming second in the half distance. My final lap included helping some guy out who decided to leave his bottle of water on top of his car (!) and the faster runners from the half distance coming past me with barely a "well done". Someone did say well done to me on the way out on my second lap and I think my response was "aaaauuuuhhh" clearly trying to form words at that point was hard work haha!
I feel proud of myself, but also know that I have a lot of work to do in order to be fast enough to finish Cascais in October. I'd like to thank Coach T, for making sure I didn't stay a blob on the couch post-Covid. And of course my lovely husband Stuart for giving up his evening to (apparently) cheer me on. Although he did walk with me on my first run lap back to transition. Finally, thanks to John for running the MidnightMan for the past 10 years and doing his very best to make it a great experience and very inclusive for everyone! Oh AND I wasn't last! In fact I came second in the female veterans over 40 group, out of three 😀
No comments:
Post a Comment