Race simulation number 1
The day dawned warm and sunny which was a good start. I felt in a good place as I packed my bag for the day. I had sustained a niggle in my abductor RHS the day before during the run but was hoping the sea swim would be quite therapeutic.Rich kindly drove myself and Jimmy down to Worthing for the inaugural 2km Birdman swim. The plan was that Rich and I would ride home and Jimmy drive the car.Worthing was packed with people awaiting the very popular Aviator event(where people dress up and jump off the pier!) so we had a captive audience! We registered and waited for race instructions…the sea looked quite choppy……Once race briefing was over we all got into the water to warm up. It was hilarious,the sea was more than choppy! This was going to be a challenge!The beach start was the usual scrum and swimming out to the first buoy was bonkers. A mass of feet,arms as normal all mixed up in a big swell that obscured the buoy most of the way. Around the first buoy and after a moment where I had to have a stern word with myself about settling down to swim I got on with the job. It was tough to see where I was going such were the size of the waves but I managed to get in a bunch of 4 guys and followed the feet.It was difficult to find any real rythymn and I was pleased that i seemed to be getting stronger as the swim progressed. I went passed a couple of people and had a strong finish. It was very cool to stand on the beach and whoop and yell for jimmy, Keith and Rich, all of whom had a good swim.We waited  awhile to see if they announced the results but felt that we needed to get going on the bikes.Richard and I set off, map in pocket,the sun shining and the weather warm. We were very soon on some scenic fairly quiet lanes and Rich set the perfect pace. The course was rolling with some challenging little climbs but the scenery all the way was spectacular. We set a comfortable pace of between 17 and 18mph and our overall average was 17.2mph which I was very pleased with. We rode 62 miles home in 3:32 which was a great ride for me. It was great to have company and I am also grateful to Richard for map reading - left to me we might still be out there!Map reading NOT my forte.Back and out on the run in the evening. It was good as this would be about the same time of day that I will be running the marathon section in Kona. The run was slow(IM shuffle around Hildenborough!) and I did cut it short as the hip muscle was quite painful and tight. I had to weigh up getting the training effect of running off a long bike and not doing too much that the niggle became something more serious.Overall I was really pleased with the day - I later found out that I had won the Birdman as first female, a lovely bonus. The bike was perfect and the run adequate given that I was sore.Race simulations help you mentally prepare, practice your nutrition and any other race plans you may have. You can safely experiment and see what works and what doesn’t .My next one will be in two weeks when I do the Vitruvian event - a 1/2IM distance race in Rutland. From there go to Lanzarote for the third time this year to get some big mileage in and probably a third time round the IM bike course there this year!
