Pennymatters Sprint Triathlon - Sat 20th Aug 11

I thought I would write a little piece to fill everyone in on what I have been up to since I 'vanished' from the cycling scene!  I have been very busy ferrying Phoebe (my 13 yr old daughter) to and fro from her swimming training. This involves 4am alarms three times a week and three hrs at the pool every night. So, while Phoebe has excelled and won medals in her main event, 400 freestyle, I have progressively slowed down!   

 

I have carried on training as much as I can, often found in the car park at Barnet Copthall beasting it out on the turbo to some strange glances from passers by. I have 'turboed' in car parks in Peterborough, Sheffield, Coventry, Biggleswade, and Swansea... So the time came to enter a race and see if all that training had paid off.  

 

On Saturday, I raced the sprint triathlon at Dorney Lake in Eton. I can tell you I was nervous but looking forward to getting back to what I love! Yes, the wetsuit did still fit...the swim was worrying me the most, as I hadn't done much training despite spending all those hours at the pool with Phoebe. I came out of the 800m swim in 12.09 about 10th.  

 

I had a fab bike putting myself into 1st place into T2. I came out onto the run knowing that I had a girl about a minute behind me. I ran for my life and could feel her bearing down on me but managed to keep her at bay and cross the line as 1st lady and 9th place overall out of 160 finishers. I was pleased and exhausted and managed a pb on the course with a finish time of 1.06 for an 800m swim, 20km bike and 5km run, the winning man finished in 1.01. Regards to all,

Full results here

 

 

Leigh Harvey