Outlaw Triathlon Race Report - Trevor Batey
For me, the journey to the Outlaw began in Nov 16, some 9 months ago. Being a triathlon obsessed perfectionist, I felt that I’d had a disappointing 2016 season,where I knew that I didn’t perform to my potential and, having questioned my coaching setup, realised it was time to face the inevitable and make the tough decision to move to a new coaching regime.
As it was, I knew Mark Whittle, WhittleFit founder, from my days of racing for thr RAF Triathlon team and following a period of discussion and consultation, was given the opportunity to work with one of his triathlon coaches, Lawrence Cronk.
I then set myself one single A race goal for 2017 and that was sub-10 hours for a long distance triathlon. This was a mad obsession that I had to satisfy, my only previous attempt had failed at IM Austria in 2012, where I came in at 11:09:46, but the truth was I never really understood or respected the long distance race and wasn’t properly trained. I don’t count IM Wales 2014 (12:22:43) as it’s not a course renowned for quick times! I knew I had the fitness and ability to do this but what I didn’t have was the structure, guidance and support to get me there – that’s where WhittleFit came in.
I didn’t expect much at the start, baselining my FTP on the bike after a complete 6 week break post-2016 racing and a long illness over the autumn. However, I then set a new FTP best – a huge positive and a possible sign of things to come?
It was then a case of settling in for a winter’s training, just re-building the base fitness and ticking over for 5 months before early season racing in Apr/May. Once the race season starts, time seems to accelerate and I found myself following the stepping stones of C and B races that I was using to gauge fitness and build race speed and confidence. Into this mix came the increase in training and for long distance triathlon the inevitability of long distance training rides and runs – oh the joy! The stark and inescapable truth of it is, you cannot scrimp on training volume when it comes to long distance racing. No amount of quality will make up for the need that you have to be completing 4-5 hour rides and 2-3 hour runs on a regular basis in the build up to the race. Someone once said to me “the race only starts at 13.1 miles into the run” and they were right. It’s here that the training pays dividends.
There were times along the way when self-doubt crept in: long rides where I wasn’t quick enough or seeming to generate the required power – even ones where I cracked, came to a standstill and had to phone for a lift home. And the long runs where I struggled to maintain a consistent pace. However, they were part of the process and it’s about how you respond to these events in the long term that matters.
When it came to the Outlaw, and the sub-10 goal, I had set a time range for each discipline: 1:05 Swim / 5:15 Bike / 3:30 Run and 5 mins for T1/2 – this would give me 5 mins spare to play with. Although that sounds a lot, it was actually quite a small margin of error. Racing is also a mixture of luck and judgement and I was extremely fortunate that I had 9 months of solid and consistent training, completely injury free and no more than 7 days total lost to any form of illness; I personally think this was one of the key foundations to being able to achieve my goal.
I had chosen the Outlaw specifically because it was a course that could deliver a quick time, in terms of bike and run being flat and fast, and so providing the best possible opportunities to make my target. I was delivered to the start line in the best possible shape physically: injury and illness free – the first part of the jigsaw was complete and now it was down to me to fill in the rest of the pieces.
Swim: The swim course was very simple: up and down the rowing lake at the National Water Sports Centre. I positioned myself to the right of the sub-60 pen, so I could avoid the fight for position and simply follow to the side and then drift in. This meant I had clear water and was able to follow feet without any fighting for position. Of course this was the first time that I experienced my goggles leaking, what perfect timing! Luckily it was no more than the seal being slightly out and I took the decision to pause and re-set, which was all it needed. I was able to get into race cruise mode very quickly, going out easier, before upping the effort for the return leg. Checking the time as I emerged, I saw I was out 1:03, under my target and giving myself an extra 2 mins spare. I was very happy with this. A quick T1 and the out onto the bike.
Bike: The Outlaw is a 3 loop course: one southern loop, one northern loop and then the southern loop again. On the day, we had a huge slice of weather luck on our side. Heavy rain and finished around midnight and by the time the bike started at 07:00, the roads were drying out. This was helped by cool and overcast conditions to start before warming up nicely and never getting too hot. Most thankfully of all, wind speeds of no more than 5 mph. I was riding to power and knew from training that I needed to start easier for 90 mins before attempting to gradually build the pace. It was a case of let everyone go and catch them on lap 3. I simply stuck to my race plan, eating and drinking as much as possible on the bike – I was going through almost 1.5 litres an hour in terms of fluid intake. As predicted, by the time I started lap 3, I began catching those who had gone out too hard at the start and they rapidly began going out the back. It wasn’t a case of me going quicker, I was simply maintaining a consistent pace and they were slowing down around the 80 mile mark. Even those few extra watts extra at the start were beginning to hurt them now. I averaged 21.25 mph and a NP 207W/IF 0.70 – the agreed race cap for long distance is IF 0.75, which for me would have been 223W, so although I was quite below this, I was comfortable and had calculated that I would be on target, so pushing harder could have had disastrous consequences. I finished in 5:17:40, so used up my spare 2 mins and left T2 knowing that I needed to run 26.2 mi in 3:35 mins – an average pace of 8:12 min/mi and I had done all my training at 8:00 min/mi.
Run: Finishing the bike feeling fresh, I almost made the mistake of setting out too fast. Looking at my watch I saw that I was going at 7:15 min/mi, way too quick. I immediately hit the brakes and brought it under control and back to my prescribed training pace. For whatever reason, my HR monitor didn’t seem to be working so I had to rely on RPE and pace, based against what I did in training. This tactic worked well and I was able to settle into a pace, ranging from 7:55 – 8:05. I hit 13.1 miles in 1:45, so again knew I was on target although there was still a long way to go. It was now a case of sustaining the pace and effort and this was where I really reaped the rewards from the long training runs. The group of 4 that I had been running with for the first half slowly splintered and I continued at my pace, just being metronomic and counting off the miles. Without realising I found myself at 17 mi and then just pushed on to 20 mi, which I hit in 2:40 and still going strong. I could feel the fatigue building in the legs but knew I could hold this. It would have been tempting at this point to push harder but 6 miles is still a long way and it would have been easy to suddenly crack 1-2 miles later, which would have cost me. As it was, I just counted down mile by mile. 21 miles brought me back for the final 2 laps around the rowing lake and as I passed the finish chute, I saw the clock at 9:31 and knew I had 29 mins to complete the final 3 miles. It was only at 24 miles that I was truly confident I could open up without consequence and so pushed as hard as I could.
As I hit the red carpet, it hit me that I had done it – and with 5 mins to spare! The sense of satisfaction and achievement was huge. Sub-10 is a massive target when it comes to long distance racing and it is not easy to achieve. It relies on a combination factors all coming together at the right time and for me, I was fortunate that this happened at my A Race and I could ask for nothing more.
Could I have gone quicker on the day? Yes, I could have pushed more on the bike or the run but neither would have been sustainable and the entire race would have fallen apart. My training was specific to my sub-10 target, not 9:44 or 9:30, so to try and race to a pace I hadn’t trained for would have been folly.
Could I go quicker in the future? Yes, but only if I train for it. Long distance training and racing is a huge commitment and sacrifice and I have been fortunate that my support network has been there with me every step of the way and personal circumstances have enabled me to have the time to train. This won’t be the case in the immediate future and I wouldn’t want to start a venture unless I could commit 100%. So for now I am officially ‘retired’ from Long Distance Triathlon…..until next time!!
Result & Splits:
- Swim: 1:03:27 (1.43/100m)
- T1: 0:02:57
- Bike: 5:17:40 (NP 207w)
- T2: 0:02:23
- Run: 3:28:40 (7:57 min/mile pace)
- Pos Cat (M40-44): 5 of 196
- Pos All: 34 of 1013
- Pos Gen: 28 of 801
