Monster Mojito Race Report

Well it really started with the evening meal the night before the race with the Monster Crew, by the end of the evening I was a little bit concerned about;

- Killer Dolphins in the lake, that were willing to be overly friendly to me.
- Coming out the water looking like a blue Smurf.
- A submarine passing me, cruising spectators to the end of the lake to go a extra set of existing toilets.
- The possibility of all the buoys being blown down the lake to the start.

Thankfully none of these happened.

Peterborough Rowing Lake, Morning of the Race from Transition

I had the benefit of staying the Hotel at the end of the rowing lake the night before. This meant I could leave my set up in transition to the last minute, and get some much needed sleep. The wind had dropped a lot from the day before, and the thought of being out on the bike was bearable.

The Monster Mojo middle distance guys had gone 1/2 hour before us Monster Mojito olympic distance guys, it was 10 seconds until the start of the race, I had a good position and plenty of room, this didn't last very long. The starter horn goes, after a quick thrashing around in the water and someone clumping me round the head I managed to settle into a good rhythm. With just the thoughts of the Ely Tri club swim sessions, I had Kevin Chalmers voice ringing in my ears and I was focusing on my technique.

I worked my way towards the buoys in the distance that I was trying to make out as my googles started to fog. I negotiated the first 2 buoys with precision and swam straight into the 3rd one just as I thought I had my sighting down to a T.

There was a clear break from the pack I was in and we were slowing, so I made a conscious effort for a bit of a kick and close the gap back down, which took me about 400m. I then stayed with the new pack, at the end I had coach Kevin Chalmers help me out of lake.

Transition was smoothish although one of my longer transitions, OK I was flapping about like a fish out of water trying to put my cycling jersey on. I also had a change of mind at the last minute and went with 'the gloves' I was c c c c cold. 

Out on the bike with a permanent grin. I had no great expectations but I wanted to at least get a 1:14:55 that I had on my last Monster Olympic although this time was not a PB. I negotiated one of the last roundabouts on the way out before the loop, just spotted a car door opening on the corner of the roundabout, for a split second taking my mind of the direction I missed the turning and had to go all the way round the roundabout, and someone followed me. Lol.
I headed out onto the loop, noting the wind I decided not to push too hard, but keep the strong feeling in my legs. As I'm quite light I made the most of negotiating the rolling hills. My feet went completely numb and I was stomping on the peddles just to try and get some feeling back. I pulled in a group of cyclists on Love's Hill.
There is plenty to focus on and keep your mind busy on the bike, and time seemed to fly by. There we're a couple of real decent cyclists that flew by me on the bike, but I stuck strong to my own pace and didn't get drawn into pushing too hard.
I knew I was nearly back when I heard Wardy clapping and cheering me back in on the most tricky junctions.

It was good to see transition again and I got I couldn't wait to get the feeling back into my feet. In transition I soon realised that I hadn't taken a gel on the bike. So I decided to keep my jersey on to save me transferring my gels from my cycling jersey to the my tri suit. Gloves off and in the right place 'feel good factor' and struggled the get the feet I couldn't feel, into my trainers, it was like trying to put tight shoes on someone else's feet.

On the run, first thing get a gel down me before I have an energy crash. Keep the cadence high and not push too hard initially. My trail shoes are supportive but not quite good enough for my over pronation, I had to focus on technique for a while. It's was towards the end of the first lap and BANG cramp enough for me to stop like road runner skidding to a halt. Naomi Gayler passed me at this point and asked if I was OK and kindly suggested that I stretched it out or eased off a bit. I didn't want to do either of these but it was critical for me to get back in the race.
Onto lap 2 and under the bridge again to collect my second wristband, I batted it out of CamSAR's Elaine Powers hand before I could turn back and pick it up Elaine moved at the speed of light skidding towards me with another wristband. Elaine was that quick she frightened me.
To the aid station I turned the corner and cramp hit me again with a vengeance, doubled over I quickly realised it was the sharp corners that was contributing to it. Looking a bit like John Cleese in Monty Pythons Ministry of silly walks; www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqhlQfXUk7w I picked the pace back up. 500-600m from the finish and my body was screaming at me. With about 200m to go I had Chris Miles in my sight and thought right I am going to have him. With about 50m to go he noticed I was on his heels and he also kicked, and fair play to him he did make it over the line first JUST. What an adrenaline rush 2:24:34 and we had it down to a sprint finish. I cramped up in both legs about a meter from the line.

Once again thank you to Monster Racing for another well organised race and all the Marshall's that really provide that great atmosphere that helps make a race that is worth coming back to. A fast course with a PB on the bike for me by nearly a minute. I know you shouldn't get too caught up with comparing times for different courses but an overall improvement of 23mins from my last Olympic distance.

1st and 2nd place of both the Monster Mojo and Mojito walked away with some great cash prizes kindly put up by Eastern Counties Finance and PWR+. 3rd place won some Zone3 vouchers. Great race and great prize fund. What more could you want?! Add this event to your race calendar for 2015 now.