The Little Woody 70.3 - a podium finish

During a season where the focus has been on Olympic distance racing, my coach, Gavin Rogers from F2k Health and Fitness and I decided to test my endurance over a longer distance event in preparation for Ironman Austria next year. The Little Woody was my choice and it wasn’t a bad one. It’s a small, fairly low-key event through the picturesque woods and hills of The Forest of Dean.

Swim

The 7.30am swim took place at the National Diving Centre, a large flooded quarry near Chepstow. This has got to be one of the most stunning places I’ve swam in the UK, where the colour of water is as blue as that seen in the Caribbean!

The start was crowded, with all competitors starting at once through narrow start buoys. It took a while to find some “less busy” water but with the water so calm and clear, it was easy to find a pair of feet to draft off. There were large buoys for easy sighting and every time I came up for air I could see the sun just starting to rise over the top of the quarry walls – it looked amazing! The swim was two laps in fairly warm water with steel ladders helping you out at the end onto a slippery jetty. If there had to be a downside to the swim location, it would be the 400m-ish ascent up a steep and stony hill to get from the water to T1. I stripped my wetsuit off near the jetty and ran up the hill carrying it around my neck. Trainers were a must for this part of the transition otherwise I think even my resilient feet would have been cut on the gritty terrain. I was 4th female out of the swim but judging by my time of just less than 30 minutes, I think the distance was probably short of the expected 1900m, either that or I really did benefit from some successful drafting! My official swim time, including the steep incline to T1 was 00:33:45 which was only 2:29 minutes behind the eventual female winner and in fact only 1:00 minute faster than the second place female finisher.

T1

Many of the bikes were pushed too close together on the racking which meant that they locked together once you tried to move one of them. Helmets and gels were thrown everywhere so it helped to be out of the water quickly and up the hill to T1 in order to be one of the first to grab your bike and stay out of the way of others. My T1 time was recorded at 01:37 which was the 4^th quickest time recorded for T1 that day.

Bike

This was a gruelling 98km through the beautiful Forest of Dean with some challenging uphills and frightening downhills. I spent the first 5-10 minutes letting my heart rate settle down after the swim and then began to focus on my target heart rate for the bike leg. My confidence grew on the first hill when I cycled passed two female competitors who were clearly finding its steepness a challenge. The route took us through the quiet and quaint Gloucestershire villages of Coleford, Lydney and Mitcheldean. There were some tough climbs with a couple of tight turns and some fast downhills along narrow country roads. One of the hardest climbs was close to the end of the bike route which was tough on the legs going into the run. Although the sun was shining, most of the bike route was shaded by the trees of the forest and therefore it was quite cold on the bike for the first half of the race and a long-sleeved cycle jersey would have been welcomed at this stage of the event. Although the bike route was advertised as 98km (obviously longer than the typical ½ Ironman distance) my trusty Garmin confirmed that the distance was more like 101km! My ride time of 03:54:37 was remarkable for this distance over such a challenging route.

T2

T2 was in a different location to T1 and with this split transition, my running gear was racked the night before. T2 was quick and easy. Your bike is taken from you by one of the marshals and your run bag was handed to you by another. Some competitors were sitting down to put socks and calf guards on whilst I just slipped my lightweight Saucony Fasttwitch trainers on, grabbed a couple of gels and off I went. My T2 time was a speedy time of 00:58 which was actually the fastest split of all the female athletes.

Run

I made good ground on the run and overtook one of my female competitors fairly early on. The route was a very picturesque out and back course which made it easy to judge your position versus the competition. We ran the route twice over undulated woodland paths and there were plenty of feed stations along the way. The wooded paths were quite narrow in places therefore you had to decide whether it was you or the runner coming towards you that got priority on the path. The Zipvit caffeine gels that I took at 5k and 12k worked miracles and gave me the extra bit of strength that I needed to push hard and maintain my target run pace. My run pace averaged 5 min/km which was in line with the target pace that Gavin and I had agreed. My overall time was 01:38:07 which makes me wonder whether the course was a km or so short.

I finished third female out of 33 in a time of 06:09:07 which I was delighted with. Overall I was 27^th out 144 competitors. I was only 35 minutes behind the female first place finisher, who incidentally is a professional ironman and has been competing for several years. The women in second place has previously represented GB and I was only 17 minutes behind her so I feel I had an impressive performance bearing in mind that it was my first half Ironman event. Less than a year ago, before I met Coach Gavin, I was racing slowly over sprint distance triathlons and now, 8 months later I have completed a half Ironman with a time and position to be proud of.

I got a t-shirt and a banana when I crossed the finish line, both of which I was grateful for but what I was really hoping for was a medal to commemorate my first middle-distance achievement. I made it onto the podium with my 3^rd place finish and was presented with a random prize of a soap dish (!) and a free entry into next year’s event. Apparently my engraved 3^rd place trophy is in the post but has yet to reach me! The 220 km car journey back to Leeds, combined with sitting still for 4 hours meant that my well-raced legs had seriously stiffened up! Thankfully I had a well-deserved massage booked with the competent masseurs at SB Sports Massage Leeds.

I would recommend this event if you are looking for a real challenge over this distance. You will be tested on the hills of the forest but the scenic course distracts you from what lies ahead.



Female Finish 3rd (out of 33)
Overall Finish 27th (out of 144)