It has been a while since I last blogged due to the race off-season. I did my first triathlon this year last weekend (8 June) in Weymouth, the WMD Classic, organised by Bustinskin Events. This is my 4th standard distance triathlon I have done.

The race is in Weymouth, with a sea swim, hilly open-road bike ride and a flat run. I don’t fancy a hilly bike ride (I always avoid hills when cycling) however there aren’t any other better races around on a convenient date for me, especially one with a sea swim (Eastbourne Triathlon was held on the same day but its bike course was even hillier). It offered 3 distances: middle, standard and sprint, which I did the standard distance. There are 105 competitors in total, 75 in Open and 30 in Female, and my placing was 88th overall and 68th in Open.

Training

None, as usual, as triathlon is not my main sport and only serves as cross-training for my other sports. However, in the two months before the race, I cycled over hills more than before and also cycled for longer distances for my commute, when it could save me time and/or money compared to other forms of transport. Meanwhile, my swim was much slower than 2 years ago and I was not happy about that.

Travel

One of the main reason I registered for this race was the orienteering race held on the previous day in Canford Heath, organised by Wessex Orienteers, so that I could combine the travel cost for orienteering together. I generally avoid doing triathlons which require accommodation as part of the travel, but the presence of a regional-level orienteering race makes it worthwhile for me. I booked an Airbnb in Dorchester for £26 for the weekend, which was more than £20 cheaper than those in Weymouth, so I would need to cycle from the accommodation to the race venue in the morning (the train service hadn’t started at that time on a Sunday). I also booked a cheap advance purchase train ticket from Clapham Junction to Parkstone Saturday morning, and another cheap advance purchase First Class train ticket from Weymouth to Clapham Junction after the race, where the price differential compared to Standard Class was less than £2 for nearly the whole length of the long-distance journey. The Class 444 trains used on the Waterloo – Weymouth route have the best bike provision in the whole country, with 6 bike spaces per 5-car train (so a whooping 12 spaces for a full-length train between Bournemouth and London), 3 on the 3rd coach and 3 on the 4th coach counting from the First Class, and I have never seen bike spaces running out on this route.

After the orienteering race at Canford Heath, I thought about where I would go for a little swim in the sea, Sandbanks or Weymouth, as both were out of the way to my accommodation in Dorchester. I decided to go to Weymouth, which required a return train journey back to Dorchester but could save me a round-trip ride between Poole and Sandbanks. Unfortunately the weather was bad, there was heavy rain the whole afternoon and I got myself completely wet even before swimming. Although it was windy, Weymouth Bay was sheltered from the westerly wind so the sea was flat. I originally hoped for a two-hour swim but I finally only swam for an hour in the rain, as there wasn’t good beach weather affecting my mood. The rain stopped in the evening as predicted but I was not going to wait until then, because the race start was early and I wanted to get back to the accommodation early to sleep.

Swim

The swim course was 1500 m, clockwise in the shape of a funnel in Weymouth Bay outside Greenhill Tennis Courts. The sea was extremely clear, we could see the bottom all the way through the whole swim course, and was completely flat due to the westerly wind being sheltered. Furthermore, the sea temperature was only 15°C so it was a wetsuit swim, making the swim course a very fast one. However, as all my swim training was in skin no matter the temperature, I felt my arms so tight in my wetsuit and couldn’t apply the same force as in normal swimming, and my time wasn’t that fast at all. My swim split was 0:27:45 which was a bit disappointing for a wetsuit swim. I was the 33rd competitor to get out of the water, around the first tertile of the field.

T1

The transition of this race was in Weymouth College, which was about 450 m away from the shore, so we were instructed to place a spare pair of shoes near the swim exit as we had to run a long way to the T1. It took me 0:08:52. I got passed by 9 people from the swim exit to the T1 exit, as people kept passing me during the long run into the transition.

Bike

This was the most depressing part of the triathlon, and proved that swim training was useless if your goal is to do well in triathlons. As in all of my past triathlons, I got passed by people on the bike.

The bike course was 38.6 km long with 321 m elevation gain, an out-and-back course from Weymouth College turning back at Burton Cross Roundabout near Giddy Green. There was a steep climb from Preston to Osmington, then all the way to Warmwell Cross, then a bit of descent to the turning point, and everything in reverse back.

My bike split was 1:46:23, the 103rd out of 105 competitors, and the last in Open. By the time I got to the T2, I was the 95th place, which meant I was passed by 53 people net on the bike course!!!!!

T2

I had a fast T2 of 0:01:11, and passed 3 people in the transition to the 92nd place.

Run

The run course was two loops between Weymouth Bay Miniature Railway, cutting through Lodmoor Nature Reserve turning back at Overcombe. It was a flat course and paved, except the path through Lodmoor Nature Reserve. My run split was 0:54:50, the 72nd out of 104 competitors, and passed a further 4 competitors net to the 88th place at the finish.

In the overall race, the bike segment let me down again, and swim training is useless in triathlons. I will stick to flat courses in the future where I can keep a steady speed.