05/07/2023
A couple of weeks ago, club member Freddie took part in the Slateman Standard Distance Triathlon; an epic triathlon based in Snowdonia consisting of a 1500m lake Swim, 50km cycle with 2300ft elevation gain and then a 12km run with 1200ft of elevation gain. He finished in an amazing time of 3:50:05!! An amazing acheivement considering he only made the switch to Triathlon from Tennis in 2022 🎉🎉
He let us know about his training leading up to the race and how it went!
SWIM🏊♂️:
Training - A year ago, I could barely swim 50m continuously. Since then I’ve done 2 club swims a week combined with watching technique videos on YouTube and often doing an extra technique set on my own.
Race - Probably my favourite part of the whole tri, went really easy for the first 750 and then progressively went harder around the second lap. With clear waters and a decent group to swim with, I was surprised how good this felt compared to training swims. Out the water in 30 minutes and into T1!
BIKE 🚵🏻♀️:
Training - A year ago, I didn’t own a bike! Over the past year, I’ve averaged 2 rides a week usually one hard interval and one long ride. Highlights incldue several Scottish island tours and the epic 155k ride on the Ballater club trip. Getting closer to the race I did a lot of hill work as, at 85kg, keeping the speed while going up hill was a weakness I wanted to improve on.
Race - The course was basically a lap of Snowdon, which between huge mountains, equally huge lakes and winding rivers was absolutely stunning. Largely got overtaken by middle aged men on super bikes on the flatter first half of the course but had to just ignore them and be content I was holding 30kph. The second half was up the Pen-y- Pas, climbing over 1000ft in 7km. This wasn’t actually half as hard as the average Scottish climb and I was pleased to not need my bottom gears and pass most of the people who had overtaken me on the flats. Once over the top a scenic 55kph descent took us back into T2...
RUN 🏃🏻:
Training - Although definitely not ‘a runner’ last June I could just about hold a 25minute 5K and so it was the discipline I focused on least. Club intervals and easy runs was the most of my training and I started adding hill sets and brick work about a month and a half out.
Race - First 3k was an easy downhill before meeting the infamous zig zags of Llanberis quarry. 2.2km at a 10% climb gradient was really brutal, I largely walked up with my heart rate continually above 160bpm. I knew I was in or around my target 4 hour time so I was really hoping the downhill would allow some speed. However, this was not to be the case, the 7km descent to the finish was steep, narrow, rocky and littered with tree routes and the occasional 10% climb or steps. It took forever but I pushed through it as fast as I could and could not believe that the clock was reading 3 hours 49 as turned onto the finishing straight.
Finished with a time of 3:50:05. A fantastic day to mark a really fun year of immersing myself triathlon. Big meal and a movie at our hotel that evening. Back to training this week. Looking forward to what’s next!
