Monthly Archives: August 2012
Edinburgh Swim Festival
The Edinburgh swim festival was a fun race for me! I entered the 2km event two years ago and was 13th – this year I wanted to be top 10 and beat Andy by 10 minutes (he set the gap, not me 🙂 ).
At the festival, your entry fee covers as many of the races as you like. First up was the 2km. Clad in our wetsuits with bare feet we clambered on the coach in Portobello and were whisked off to the pier at Musselburgh.
Next task – warm up, get in and get ready to swim back again! The water was quite warm, so it was OK getting out ready to run back in again when the gun went off :-). Here we are just after the start. I can’t be sure which is me, but I’m near the front-ish on the right-hand side in an orange hat!
The start
I seemed to go a bit wide at first and, as usual, found it impossible to get onto some good feet for drafting. Halfway over one of the bouys was more inland and I had to decide whether to follow the bouys and the people or cut straight over to the one after. I did the latter and it felt strange to be out alone. I couldn’t even see a safety boat when I was turning to breathe!
Funny faces getting out!
At the final bouy before the turn, I rejoined the field and put the effort in to strike for shore. I finished 25th overall, 8th female, 5th ‘senior’ female (i.e. when you discount any juniors and veterans who beat me!). Goal one achieved, but Andy was only 7 minutes behind – so he won that one!
Andy making sure he finished hard
Last time I felt seasick at the end. This time I was fine, though I always look a bit weird getting out 😀 !!
A smile on my face as I do the turn in the 800m!
After a long wait on the beach it was time for the 800m. This was two laps from the beach. I had got quite stiff and never really felt into this one as a race. However, it scored high in the fun stakes as the wind and swell were getting up. We were swimming straight out into the waves, then across them, then surfing back in. I was with a group of other girls and didn’t realise at the time that if I had been motivated to push past them and swim 6 seconds faster I’d have been on the podium :-).
14th overall, 6th female, 3rd senior female.
High elbow or straight arm?! (I’m the one with pink squiggles!)
Finally, after a quick turnaround (good for staying ready) it was straight back in for the 400m. It was free, so why not?! And knowing it was my last chance, I went for it, was clear of the group I was with in the 800m and finished in the top 3 females! Persistence pays off :D.
11th overall, 3rd female, 2nd senior female.
The weather stayed sunny, we all had fun and even Andy’s jellyfish sting didn’t put a dampener on things. We rounded it off with a fantastic meal at the Roseleaf.
One of the safety kayakers – Jim from the Wild Ones – thanks Jim!
Thanks to Bob Marshall for the great photos.
Next race – a big one – the 5-day Adidas Terrex Sting in Stirling. I haven’t met all the team before, let alone ever raced with them. This is also the first time I’ve done anything as long as this. I hope it will be all about the experience and having a bit of fun! You will be able to follow us live on the trackers (it’s team AVT Asset Management) and look out for my report when I’ve recovered enough to write it!
East Kilbride Summertime Classic
A few years ago I dabbled in road racing but found it impossible to stay with the bunch in men’s races. There weren’t a lot of women’s only races, and you might as well enter a time trial if you’re just going to get dropped in the first kilometre!
But now there are a few more women’s races in Scotland and I wanted to support at least one of them this year. If you don’t use them, you lose them! The opportunity came last weekend, squeezed between the Celtman and the Sting. My dad was visiting and agreed to drive me over to Fenwick in Ayrshire.
14 riders started on what had promised to be a very wet day but turned into a showery day, with one little burst of hailstones. I had swotted up on road race tactics by watching the Tour de France ;-). I also expect Andy to be an expert in absolutely anything bike related, so I gave him a good grilling beforehand!
I had only entered for fun and had nothing to lose, but I still wanted a good ride. So I got in position in the bunch on about second or third wheel and stayed alert to any moves. I was nervous when I found myself in the middle of the group so stuck to the outside edge. This wasn’t so good though when I kept getting squeezed out into the road. I should have sharpened those elbows a bit better!
At the start of the second lap everyone was rolling round chatting. It didn’t feel like a race at all. So despite my resolution not to work at the front I went forward to pick up the pace a bit. People stopped talking but the group sped up and stayed together. It carried on like this every time anyone made an effort. There was a tail wind on the long straight section, a strong headwind on the hilly twisty section and no teams with enough people to keep driving the pace. This meant no break was going to get away, the strongest riders weren’t getting tired out and very few people got dropped. It was a bit frustrating as there was never going to be any other finish than a sprint at the end. I haven’t done any training for sprints!
I was feeling good on the final hills but got slightly boxed in when I might have liked to push ahead a bit. Suddenly a move went and I was in my small chainring spinning down a little dip! My legs went like a whisk and I had just got back on when they went again! I wasn’t ready! So they all whizzed away up the hill finish and I was left trailing. I caught two on the way up though, as now my chainring choice was just right :D.
Afterwards I pondered if I should have been more reckless, pushed it harder or tried a jump … even though it probably wouldn’t have been sensible. I wanted to try again and see what different tactics might work to shake things up a bit. In some ways, I wish it was a computer game where I could keep hitting replay!
I finished 6th, enjoyed myself and stayed safe. I also got a chance to chat to Elizabeth and meet some new friends, so all round it was a good day out :-).
Planet Byde 