As Viceroys Lara, Alexa ,Carl, Kevin Dargue, Kyle and Rachel headed to Hyde Park they were all psyched up and well prepared for their imminent triathlon – well sort of. Lara’s preparation for the Pru Health Triathlon in London consisted of 3 months of sitting on the sofa eating chocolate following surgery to both my ankles; Carl’s meticulous preparations didn’t take into account that you are not allowed to take bikes on the underground and so had to cycle from Waterloo to Hyde Park, raising his stress levels as he weaved his way through the traffic. Kevin is still blaming coach Yeoman for not telling himthat Hammersmith Flyover is closed at weekends until end of August, so long, long, long, long, long tailbacks – he got stuck in it for nearly an hour. Alexa meanwhile was so over-prepared and race psyched, she turned up to the start an hour early as others were wearing the same hat as her! 
So Lara, what were thinking as you faced your first triathlon after injury and lenghthy recovery? ‘I was told by my physio I mustn’t run yet and friends and family told me I was mad to even consider doing it. But always doing the opposite of what everyone tells me I went for a cycle (just the one!) and bought some waterproof dressings for my incision which still hadn’t healed due to an infection and went to London on Sunday!!
It was only a sprint distance but my arms certainly knew I hadn’t swum for 3 months, despite being on crutches for what seemed like forever. A whole 6 minutes were spent in T1 changing dressings on my ankle! For future reference waterproof dressings don’t work to swim, only shower! Felt somewhat panicked by dirty lake water on my ankle so threw some alcohol gel over it and onto the bike. The bike was enjoyable and there were some parts of the course you could really get some speed. Then the run……..probably best to call it a shuffle! Probably the slowest I’ve ever ‘run’ 5k. A mixture of jogging and walking. My legs weren’t having any of it, I realised it must be a very different group of muscles used to run! I was kind of hoping my one cycle and untold ankle strengthening exercises for physio might have prepared me. 
I had my doubts along the way but having completed it, it feels good to be back in the game. So much so I managed to blag a Windsor triathlon place so I will see some fellow Viceroys there. Just don’t tell my physio!!’
Carl meanwhile had recovered from his cycling trauma and was registered, racked and settled – he headed out to the pontoon and took up a central position to get the best straight line to the first turn: ‘I had a great swim, first to reach buoys 1 and 2 and second out of the water by a mere body length. The run from the water exit to transition at Hyde Park is around 200m and I caught the guy in front of me. T1 went like a dream having cut the legs down on my wetsuit, it didn’t give me any of the usual problems of getting caught round the ankles. Bike mount was not pretty but nevertheless I was moving forward with a degree of speed.
The bike course was flat and fast but you really had to concentrate on the approach to the cobbled speed humps and tight hairpin turns at the end of each lap. It was really hard not to appear to be drafting given the number of competitors out there but soon found myself racing a couple of younger lads for the duration of the 21k.
T2 was solid too and all those tips coach gave us were being mentally ticked off one by one as I went out on the run. There is a great atmosphere at this race particularly as you cross through the grandstand at the end of each lap with the cheering supporters and compare cracking jokes about the athletes. I’d noticed in earlier races that the final turn into the finishing straight was slippery so avoided that and sprinted across the line with a new 5k PB. Overall times are never going to be great here given the long transitions (I did it in 1;18:22) but really happy with an position of 15th in AG (out of 218 men) and a solid race all round.
Alexa had an equally impressive race, coming 7th in her AG and 70 out of 279 women, despite forgetting everything she had been taught in her swim, setting off way too fast and burning out. She had a great cycle and run though.
Kevin meanwhile was learning an important lesson – do not let your 6 year old daughter carry your helmet! ‘My forever helpful daughter spent ½ hour twirling the helmet around on the straps. I thought it was a bit tight when I put it on to rack the bike but thought nothing of it. Come T1 I had to pull apart the helmet and re-assemble it to get the straps sorted. T1 – 6:25mins. That has to be a club worst!
Mark’s coaching definitely paid off. I felt more comfortable and in control. 23rd out of 58 in age category (old gits). Take off 4 minutes wasted in T1 and I would have moved up 10 places. Still losing too many places on the cycling but that is due to not enough time spent on the bike.’
Great racing Viceroys.
