Olympic\Standard distance

Remember these? I think there was a thread I might have started about getting sub 2:20?

Anyway, I’ve entered Wetherby on Monday to force me into the wetsuit, haven’t done it for a few years and will probably be cold so really not sure what time I’m expecting. Also got a feeling the bike might be long, nearer to 27 miles but I’ll soon find out.

Even hoping to use the TT bike!

Jeff

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Standard Distance, don’t you have do swim training for those… so they’re not very popular :rofl:

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Tried to enter Southport but was sold out with a month to go, exception as there’s no other Olympics to choose from!

Isn’t Southport a qualifier this year?
Plus…Southport is flat, fastAF and closed roads?

It’s also a pretty awesome day out (if it’s sunny)
The crazy golf is £2, the kids play Park is amazing, parking is dirt cheap, loads of chip shops to choose from, Formby is just down the road for red squirrels, the Anthony Gormley statues are a bit further down.

I’m a huge fan of a day out to Southport.

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Yeah national champs and qualifier hence agree its no surprise to fill, but big gap of other NW Olypic events. Its the only Oly event I can think of in NW, other than ones included in a bigger day like Epicman/Castle series?

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Yes. That’s the only one I found that I’d be willing to pay for :wink:

I went 2.18 and change at Bridge in 2014. Short transitions help. Swim was long ~ 25min, bike was a tad short 1.02 (rerouted and number of laps increased due to flood) and run about right ~46 iirc. Is a quick course. I’ve gone about 2.23 on usual course there with 22 swim (a bit short that year) and 1.06ish bike (a lot of wind). run 47 or 48. Because of multiple laps, short Transitions, flat run and non technical swim it’s quick. Bike has 2 dead turns per lap though and is 7 laps iirc

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Haven’t done an Oly since 2014. PB was year before 2:07 on the Lake 32 course, with the undulating southern bike route.

My best HIM and Std times were always after an Ironman.

Did Zyterm OD in Zug, Switzerland, last year, with a 2:09 pb. It’s a seriously fast course, with perfect tarmac, no technical sections and no hills. Really popular race, with 700+ competitors

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Ripon is a decent Oly and not that hard to get to if you live oop north, but they keep changing the bike route which makes it hard to compare times. Big race as well for an Oly, they had nearly 1k a few years ago but I think it’s nearer 650 these days as there’s so many race clashes.

On my radar this year. Kind of fancy Southport as well, a few friends did it last week, but probably a bit cold for me usually.

I’m now dreading Monday

Jeff

Looking at entering an oly at Dorney Lake in a couple of weekends time. Will be my first tri this year and probably good prep to get my head around transitions etc looking ahead to Outlaw then a 70.3 later on in September. Will also be looking for a big improvement on my last oly of 2:25 at the London Tri in 2017 as it’s completely pan flat

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Dorney can be tough, London may well be quicker except for the transitions. It’s close to 41km on the bike (not 38.5 like London) and it’s always windy. If you are unlucky to get it blowing across the lake then it’s hard up and down.

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I did one at Dorney few years back. I recorded 43.6km on the bike. Was really windy that day. The bike course can get very congested also if there is a lot going on. One I did had a newbies race as well so you then had the usual Herberts ploughing down in to a tight spot with someone wobbling about on a shopping bike. It boring ride and boring run. Flat as a pancake though and great for spectating

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More laps of a lake, definitely in the same school as Outlaw then :rofl:

There is a sprint being held at the same time so congestion may well be an issue but wouldn’t expect a massive field?!

Questionable pb potential then with a long bike, my swim/run has moved on nicely since 2017 and probably pushing similar watts, maybe a touch less if I’m being super honest.

Date wise the only other event on my radar with little travel is Windsor but thats 100 quid and a little more than I was prepared to pay for an oly!

I did the standard today, 2:28:59 isn’t great at first sight but I did use the road bike and faff around in t1 putting a warm cycling jacket on that didn’t help with aerodynamics. I reckon these 2 probably cost 5-7 minutes on the bike leg. T1 was over 3 minutes as well!

The river felt cold, it was my first O\W swim since last September and I was struggling with the cold, my hands were blue! It was about 1400M and I managed 26:xx, official time was about a minute longer as there was a run to the timing mat for T1. Wasn’t totally gutted with this, a bit more practice in the open water will help and hopefully the new suit will have a bit more flexibility and not be so tight, let’s say I might have outgrown the Helix now :joy:

Bike wasn’t terrible, 1:14 for as close to 25 miles as you are likely to get, road surfaces were that coarse slow tarmac, averaged about 240W.

Run was 43:21, the first K was fairly slow running round a grassy field and then up some steps, after that it was largely on a sustrans track so not really quick but not bad. Was fairly pleased with the run after the recent injuries and lack of training.

Overall I was fairly pleased, the cold really isn’t for me, particularly the swim\bike sections, but I managed to get put the sections together.

Jeff

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Giving Jersey Olympic Tri a go this weekend as excuse for holiday to visit friends, group of ~10 of us doing it mostly first timers.

7am race sunday, with mandatory bike checks to be done before 2pm Saturday, and race briefing 5pm Saturday means it’s taking over a large chunk of holiday. Not the convenient turn up, race and get on with day I’d want from an Olympic.

Good luck Chris, I’ll see you there!

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Wetherby Tri is my favourite race of the year! I did the standard distance as well. I’d been on holiday the week before and only managed two slow runs and some sea swimming so felt my fitness had dropped. I was slower on all swim, bike and run compared to last time I’d entered when I finished in 2:09.

Decent time for your bike considering you were on your road + jacket. I was 1:09 on my TT, which was a minute slower than last time. Although in that year I’d got a lot more rides in as I was training for IM distance. I have run a lot more this year so was dissapointed with a time of 42 (lost about 3/4 places on the run.) They changed the course this year, as it used to be ~9.5km run, extra 0.5km was made up by running around the field to start with. Goal for next year is sub 2:10 again (including the extra run distance).

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Bit late to the party and it’s already done for this year but Chester do a great Olympic distance. Proper tri club organisation spirit. Was almost tempted to give myself that goal this year but my achilles just didn’t want to play along until too late in the year.

Hope you had a good day. Went well for me, and recommend the race for anyone wanting to combine with a mini holiday.

Swim: 20:4x, my first sea swim and pretty choppy. First experience of “biff” too, normally I just set off swimming my own steady pace and have nice clear water. Found today a lot of people did/overdid the “sprint the start” tactic, I was getting bashed everywhere with people swimming over me so had to get through 100m before they all died. Understand their desire for clear water, but think some over-did it, 2 min Z5 is going to come back to hurt you later.

T1 silly slow, @Poet won’t be proud. Put on a bike jersey, got to the mount line and realised hadn’t put belt on so stopped to put that on from handlebars, mounted and started to ride and right shoe snapped out. Turned round 10m to go back for it and finally on my way for total 3 minutes.

Bike: 1:07, 34.5kph wonderful fast course, not closed roads but early morning and police marshall’s on every turn meant it effectively was completely closed tour of the island. I undercooked my effort, HRM wasn’t working and wasn’t brave enough on feel being used to IM pace.

Run: 34:xx for 9.5km, 3:36/km. A 10km Pb for me showing left far too much on the bike.

2:07 for 7th overall, 10 minutes and a lot of places improvement over last 12 months, just need to learn some triathlon skills!

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