Pre Race
The week before the race, I had a bit of a stomach bug, so I was getting a bit stressy about not being able to do the training that my coach, Mark, had set. I was also feeling like I had had a lot of recovery since Broadhaven, which was also making me a bit anxious. I rode the course around 2 weeks out, and it was a bit of a dismal day, with a lot of drizzle and wind, so I wasn’t super excited for the bike, and was really looking forward to getting the race done, and enjoying an end of season break, as this was to be my last race.
We were staying in an Air bnb near the prison, and a strong smell of dope in the air 😂 which was about a 15 minute walk to transition. We arrived Friday, I registered when we arrived, and bumped into Bec, one of my one to one athletes, we had a quick chat, and then headed back to our place for food.
The day before, I walked back and forth to transition a couple of times, meeting up with Annie, and Bec from the team, and we also ended up climbing across rocks in Oxwich to try and find some climbing! Great race preparation….
Race Morning
It was going to be hot again for this race, so I made sure I had pre-hydrated the night before and the morning of the race. I was pretty early into transition, because I couldn’t hang around in our 1 bedroom air bnb, so after breakfast I headed off.
I soon realised I had underestimated how cool it was. I was just wearing my tri suit, and before 6am in the morning it’s not too warm at the moment. I met Anwen, who I used to coach and we had a chat, she was supporting her partner, but I had to get moving as I was starting to shiver. Once I’d put my drinks, fuel and computer on my bike I headed into the change tent. It was a bit warmer in there so I just hung out on a bench where I spotted Ruth Astle, and then Alistair Brownlee, who was asking around for safety pins.
Once I’d warmed up a bit I headed over to drop my white bag off, and get over to the swim start. At the swim start I spotted Caris, another team member who was doing the swim part of the relay, in skins. Their team won the womens relay 🎉
The Swim
There was a bit of delay starting, and there was someone at the the swim exit who looked like they were looking for something in the water, but I don’t know why we were held up. The pro’s went off first after being able to acclimatise in the water, then we had a rolling start. The swim course wasn’t totally straightforward, and I got a bit disorientated when we were heading back to the exit. visibility for the buoys wasn’t great, as the sun was in our eyes, and it was hard to see the whole course on land.
My swim was ok, and I completed it in a similar time to Staffordshire last year, I don’t know why the GPS line is so wiggly 😂
T1
The run into T1 was around 500m, which you had to run on tarmac, we were reminded several times that we weren’t allowed to wear shoes for this bit. It was ok underfoot but I was glad to get to my bike!
The Bike
After checking out the bike course, I was estimating that it would take me between 3h and 3h15m. The route is quite technical once you get out of Swansea, lots of sharp turns, and a few steep descents.
There are quite a few sharp turns, and a lot of climbing. It was quite hard to hold a consistent power, so my numbers were down on what I was expecting, and talking to Mark afterwards he said that other athletes had found that their power was lower than it would normally have been.
Still I was pleased to get in just under 3 hours! Fuelling wise everything went well, and my power didn’t drop significantly over the ride. In the last 5 and a half miles the course goes downhill, and back along the flat into Swansea. I made the decision to ease off here, as I know it would only cost a few seconds if I didn’t push, and it gave me a bit of time to get ready for running.
T2
I managed to get out of T2 pretty quickly, I had my soft flask of drink, and some energy chews, which were already in my race belt, so all I had to do was get my trainers, cap and sunglasses.
The Run
I started out at a pace I thought I’d be able to maintain (around a 7 minute mile), which I managed to hold for around 3 miles or so, enough time to catch up with and pass Madison Shaddick, who I raced with at Broadhaven, and who had passed me towards the end of the bike.
The course is 2 loops out and back so you can see who is behind, and I could see I’d put a bit of distance between us, by the time I got to the turnaround.
I did try and maintain the pace, but dropped down to an average 7:14 minute mile, Around 5 miles from the end I managed to overtake a guy who I’d passed on the bike, who had then overtaken me at the beginning of the run, which was a good morale boost.
Some of my chews had squashed together in the back of my race belt over the course of the day, so I had to bite bits off, which wasn’t the best, but I needed the energy! At very feed station I used water to cool myself and then had another cup to drink.
The support on the run was fantastic, because it was along the front, there were supporters the whole way along. Obviously the best feed station was the Porthcawl Tridents one, where Rhiannon from the team was volunteering 😁
It was also lovely to see Patrick and the boys towards the end of the run, and I managed to get a high five near the finish. I did smile, honest 😉
Afterthoughts
It was awesome to see some of the team, Liz, and Bec racing, and also Annie who was volunteering gave me my medal at the end, getting ready for next year when she’s going to complete her first 70.3 🙌🏻
I finished in a time of 5:13:34, around 30 seconds faster than in Staffordshire last year, this was all down to the run, which is flat in Swansea, and hilly in Staffordshire!
It’s great to have a 70.3 so close to home, the weather was good for racing, as long as you weren’t out on the run for too long! And the scenery on the Gower is beautiful, so I would definitely recommend the race, as long as you don’t mind hilly bike courses!