Llanelli Sprint Triathlon Race Report: Coached Athlete Vickie Woodsford
A few coached triathletes did the Llanelli Sprint Triathlon last weekend and one of them was endurance athlete Vickie Woodsford. Vickie has been a coached athlete for quite a while, successfully concentrating on running (she has completed half marathons and marathons, and even conquered the Everest Marathon), but she has now moved into the world of triathlon. Vickie would be the first the agree that there have been quite a few nerves about this move into triathlon, mainly as she sees swimming as her nemesis! Anyway, lets hear what Vickie had to say about her first triathlon race:
I entered Llanelli sprint on a whim, as I wanted to capitalise on a training day I went to, in London, whilst my new knowledge was fresh. I managed to talk my mate Angela into coming with me and so the date for my debut was set!
Race day alarm set for 4.02am! I'd learnt my lesson with the stress of racking at mumbles duathlon, we weren't taking any chances, I was arriving in plenty of time! I showered, put my make up on, dried and straightened my hair. Yep all that and the first thing I was going to do was get in the sea! Madness, I know but that's what I do before every important race, its the routine that gets my "game face" on.
Registration done, racking done, time to wrestle the body into neoprene. This is not easy when you're incredibly nervous, its a little like trying to push fat, ready to burst bangers back into their skins (I imagine anyway)! Race briefing, couldn't hear a damn word of it, ah well, it'll probably be fine!
As we sauntered down to the waters edge, that first buoy looked so very far away. I was starting to panic, I was close to tears again and was pathetically grateful that I had Ange by my side. Then I put my feet in. "Its ok. It actually feels quite warm". The relief was overwhelming and I immediately calmed down immeasurably. We treaded water for 10 mins or so and then the claxon went. My plan was not to get into the maelstrom, stay in clear water and swim my own race so I counted to 5 before setting off. Surprisingly I started overtaking people almost immediately which gave me a little boost. I still wasn't pushing, I wanted to control my heart rate, control my breathing and make it through this leg of the race. For me the whole point of this race was "not to drown" and get over my (very real) fear of mass start swimming. Congratulating myself on reaching the 1st buoy I started to relax a little. Then onto the 2nd. The wheels fell off for a minute or 2. The 2nd buoy was a tight turn which bunched us all closely together. The windmill of thrashing arms smacking me on the back and legs resulted in a brief moment of certainty that people were actively trying to dunk me. Head up, breast stroke time. Catch your breath vic, regain some sanity and plough on! There was a pontoon in the water so I made a little deal with my inner quitter. She was allowed to breast stroke until the end of the pontoon, then she had to shut up, MTFU and swim for it. Deal struck and stuck to, finally the end came into sight. As I climbed out of the water, I caught sight of the Team Whittlefit gang, yelled "I'm alive, I did it" and then got down to business! Now it was time to race.
Into T1, fat suit off and started looking for my bike helmet. Chuffed to bits, chatting to Ange and a certain Mrs A (uber triathlete extraordinaire) whilst I got my bike gear on. Out on the bike. Time to make up for my swimming. I pushed and pushed and pushed those pedals round. I was absolutely flying, convinced I was invincible on a bike, some sort of cycling legend in my own lifetime. Then we hit the turnaround point and it dawned on me that I hadn't developed super powers but had in fact been pushed along by a significant tail wind that was now a significant head wind! So much for my plan to coast a little in the 2nd half and save my legs for the run!
Into to T2 and it was immediately apparent I had gotten it all wrong. My legs didn't work. Running is supposed to be my strength but I even had to walk to my racking point! Still push on dear, no one wants to hear you complain. It wasn't pretty. I still have nightmares about that (not bloody flat) millennium coastal pathway from my years of running llanelli half marathon and the turn around point at 2.5km looked like 25 miles away! The pain was akin to the dying stages of a marathon, the really depressing bit before you rally because the end's in sight! It was a matter of survival. I let 2 women pass me and couldn't have cared less. That's not like me at all! Huge cheers from the Team Whittlefit gang, the Tates and the end was nigh! I finished, I was done, I was broken but I am a triathlete!
Time was unimportant but I'll take a top 20 female finish in my first attempt!
My first triathlon wasn't physically the hardest thing I've ever done but it was up there with the biggest mental challenges. Just getting into that water was, for me, huge. I'm very glad I did it and though I doubt I'll ever love the swim leg, I won't let it beat me. It was a big step on the path to my half ironman race and one which needed to go well!
As always thanks so much to the support of Team Whittlefit. Getting up at 6am on a sunday to support me & Ange was above and beyond! Thanks to the lovely Lindsay for all the pics in this post and of course to the Boss himself who must have been proud to hug me when I was that sweaty!
Onward to Blenheim in 3 weeks!
Keep Trucking
V :)
Well done Vickie on your first triathlon! And an open water triathlon at that! This is the start of Vickie's triathlon journey as she moves towards her 'A' race of the season, a half Ironman triathlon (a 1.9km swim, a 90km bike and a 21km half marathon run) in Zell am See, Austria at the end of August. I have a funny feeling there may be more entertaining and inspiring race reports coming up from Vickie!
