Lets get this out of the way at the start... I hate red lights, I hate them, I hate them, I hate them I really, really, really hate them with the passion of a thousand suns! There, done.
The weather was a stark contrast to last time, instead of snowy and frosty we got warm and sunny, quick times were on the cards and the field certainly delivered. I'll level with you, I had 3 targets for today and only one of them was what I call a "controllable" i.e. the outcome (ignoring mechanical failure) was in my hands. I wanted to go under the hour and a managed that in 59:31. However, I also wanted the 20-29 bike course record (standing at 32:08 and a podium finish). These were less in my control and unfortunately today's field was a class act:
Jonathan Hotchkiss - Elite;
Dan Corner - had beaten me comprehensively at every event we'd both been in;
Richard Legge - a turbo elite who on his new bike is lightning fast;
Mark Yeoman - Sigma sponsored athlete;
Sam Hunt - 2012 prospect.
Perhaps top 3 was a little ambitious but if I was going down it wasn't without a fight. Starting about 30 places after the quickest swimmers I put in a solid effort to come out of T1 in 7:41, 30 seconds quicker than last time and about 20 places higher up the rankings, hopefully the swim work is starting to pay off as I felt strong.
The bike started well, I had underestimated the amount of recovery you got in the non-compete zone in the previous race so attacked the bike course like a 10TT. All was going well until I had to stop at the light - now, I know it's the same for everyone, I know it's luck of the draw and I know there are probably 10 athletes who were with 45 seconds of me going "I'd have beaten that Franklin bloke if it hadn't been for the lights" but that doesn't mean it didn't piss me off. I reckon I could have beaten the previous bike course record as well if it hadn't been for the light (although it would not have been recognised as Jonathan Hotchkiss had just set a new overall record in 30:42). That said, even with the light I was just under a minute quicker than last time so I am getting faster.
The weather was a stark contrast to last time, instead of snowy and frosty we got warm and sunny, quick times were on the cards and the field certainly delivered. I'll level with you, I had 3 targets for today and only one of them was what I call a "controllable" i.e. the outcome (ignoring mechanical failure) was in my hands. I wanted to go under the hour and a managed that in 59:31. However, I also wanted the 20-29 bike course record (standing at 32:08 and a podium finish). These were less in my control and unfortunately today's field was a class act:
Jonathan Hotchkiss - Elite;
Dan Corner - had beaten me comprehensively at every event we'd both been in;
Richard Legge - a turbo elite who on his new bike is lightning fast;
Mark Yeoman - Sigma sponsored athlete;
Sam Hunt - 2012 prospect.
Perhaps top 3 was a little ambitious but if I was going down it wasn't without a fight. Starting about 30 places after the quickest swimmers I put in a solid effort to come out of T1 in 7:41, 30 seconds quicker than last time and about 20 places higher up the rankings, hopefully the swim work is starting to pay off as I felt strong.
The bike started well, I had underestimated the amount of recovery you got in the non-compete zone in the previous race so attacked the bike course like a 10TT. All was going well until I had to stop at the light - now, I know it's the same for everyone, I know it's luck of the draw and I know there are probably 10 athletes who were with 45 seconds of me going "I'd have beaten that Franklin bloke if it hadn't been for the lights" but that doesn't mean it didn't piss me off. I reckon I could have beaten the previous bike course record as well if it hadn't been for the light (although it would not have been recognised as Jonathan Hotchkiss had just set a new overall record in 30:42). That said, even with the light I was just under a minute quicker than last time so I am getting faster.
The run started strong but the old left calf started to niggle at half way. Probably a result of plenty of mileage over the last 14 days. There was no one around who was really in my wave or who I was competing with for places so I was running against myself and to finish in 18:53 was pretty good. A minute quicker than last time.
To finish 7th was OK, I'm not going to pretend I'm pleased with it because I'm not. I wanted top five at the very least and, yes it was a strong field, and yes some of them race elite and yes I had to stop at the light but at the end of the day if I want to achieve my goals in this sport I need to be competing with the best and today I was on the peripheries.
Overall assessment: B- Not bad but plenty of room for improvement in some areas.
Next big race is Shropshire so be sure to check back then.
John
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