A welcoming club on the North West of Edinburgh
Aberfeldy Middle Distance
By CoachKev | Published | No Comments
Kev’s Story
After a long few months of training 7 of us from the club would be taking part at Aberfeldy and for 5 of us our first middle distance race. To make it a bit more competitive it had been made the British Championship event for this year though that wouldn’t trouble most of us.
On the Saturday morning Loch Tay looked more like a rough sea with high waves and white horses everywhere. There was already discussion that the swim would have to be cancelled or cut short as the wind was only supposed to get worse. This was causing some slight panic for the organisation team as to how they would set off 700 cyclists without a swim to thin them out a bit. I went and did my own short swim, run and bike and was glad to find the water far warmer than it looked. In fact at 16oC it was the warmest it had ever been for the event.
As we were all staying together this caused the most faffing probably ever witnessed prior to a race as we all decided what we should bring for the following day!
We woke at 4.30am to Emma shouting us all awake wether we wanted to get up or not and at 5.45 headed off to the swim start at Kenmore. At about 6.15 I realised I had left my timing chip in my bag at the house and the panic begun. As there were no spare timing chips I left my kit and bike in transition and grabbed my swimming kit and with Mark’s car keys in hand began the mad rush back to Aberfeldy.
My warm up therefore became run 0.5mile to the car park carrying a wetsuit, drive to Aberfeldy and back and then run 0.5mile this time in my wetsuit to the start. I made it just as the piper was piping the first swimmers into the water.  I was definately warmed up and had no time to worry about the race.
The swim was scheduled for the full distance as the water had calmed overnight and was really nice. The water was warm, only a few waves and there was plenty of room for everyone to find their space with 3 seperate age starts.
In T1 I started to put on my bike kit. Due to the wind and rain I had opted for a jersey, gilet and arm warmers which I was going to be glad of later. I had also decided I would put some bibshorts over my trisuit but my lack of transition set up came back to bite me.  I threw my top layers on quickly out the bag and then realised I couldn’t get my bibs on now! Back in the bag they went and I headed off.
Quickly on the bike you arrive at the climb of Schehallion. From this side it is the longer steady side so it was just get a good rhythm and keep going. Over the flatter section at the summit it started to get harder. We turned directly into the wind and the rain also started. It was forecast to gust to 60mph. It didn’t get that bad but it made for a hard ride as we continued west towards the end of Loch Rannoch. By now if Loch Tay looked like Rannoch did then the swim would have been a big problem.
After 50km it is back East again with the wind behind. I had wanted to beat 6hrs for the whole race and was continuing to push on the bike. I kept having to remind myself that a half marathon was to come but also knowing that would be the weakest part of my race and I had to get a good time on the bike.
Back over Schehallion on the steep side. I had done this a few times before on Etape Caledonia and a recce ride and knew it was easier than it was talked up to be. Finally the great descent down and the flat 10km back to Aberfeldy and into T2.
At T2 volunteers grabbed your bike and helped with your transition kit. The volunteers and marshalls were brilliant all round the course.
For the start of the run I was feeling good and then at 3km got a cramp in my hamstring. After a quick stretch I delicately kept going. It eased off and I got back to a nice steady pace. What i wasn’t prepared for was how undulating the run route is and at about 8-9km my speed just dropped. From here on in at was a matter of getting finsihed. I had always felt confident I would finish but by about 14km I was beginning to wonder. I was also still doing calculations in my head as to what speed I needed to maintain to beat 6hrs. It wasn’t a happy place to be. It was helped though by seeing other people in the club on the route and giving each other encouragement.
Finally I turned back into Aberfeldy where the hump backed bridge was nearly the final straw and I think I pretty much hobbled over it.
I finsihsed in 5hrs46min and vowed never to do it again…….of course that was a few days OK and I’m sure if I only changed a few things I could do it better 🙂
