Triathlon Race Report: Holkham Half

My Holkham half race report - my first ever Outlaw event, and the longest Triathlon I've ever done!

After having a mini crisis on the Saturday and nearly pulling out - which isn't like me at all! I had a virus that affected my lungs for 2-3 weeks running up to event, which really knocked my confidence. This was also the biggest triathlon event I’d ever done and found it incredibly overwhelming when arriving to register - however, I managed to register and rack my bike, then headed back to the holiday home.

There I had a much needed reminder from my partner that even just a couple of years ago, I'd have given anything to be able to do an event like this (I couldn't due to injury). This really helped me start to relax, although I still felt incredibly nervous as I got there on Sunday morning (after a dream that I was running around and missed the start of the event, classic).

Thank you to my wonderful club mate, Dave, for coming over when he spotted me in transition, as a quick chat with him to discover that he was indeed still nervous, despite having done every single Outlaw, really helped me feel at ease.

The swim sets you off 2 at a time within your wave, and the start was lovely and calm. I think I underestimated my swim time as I overlook a lot of people, and ended up trying to make my way through some big bunches. Unfortunately, at one point someone was swimming perpendicular to me (in the completely wrong direction!) And ended up clobbering me in the head, which did not feel great. Once I regained my composure, I felt pretty good swimming, and tried to make sure I was pacing myself. Towards the end of the swim I felt I had a little left, the space opened up and I was able to put in a good shift for the last 200m or so. I managed the 1900m swim in 36:15, which I was very happy with! A whole 10 minutes off the last time I attempted this distance in 2019.

In T1 I grabbed a drink, put on all my bike paraphernalia and set off. I know the beginning of the bike always feels a bit rough for me, and I am not a strong cyclist, so I get overtaken by loads of people at the start. So I just concentrate on getting the legs warmed up, taking on nutrition and settling into a rhythm until I feel a bit better and can start putting in a bit of effort. The course was quite pretty, along some country lanes, through some quaint villages, with some lovely smooth road surface in the second half. I have had major fuelling issues in the past (not eating anywhere near enough), so I was very proud of my nutrition plan in the cycling, and took on the most energy I’ve ever managed to do in a race, and really felt the benefit of this! The last 10 miles or so were me just trying to keep some rhythm, and involved getting absolutely soaked in the rain. My fitness was lacking a bit, but I was reasonably pleased to finish the 56 mile bike leg in 3 hours 37 minutes.

T2 involved changing shoes, and using the loo, and grabbing a gel to run with for the 3 x 7km laps. I set off feeling much stronger than I thought I would, but again, my fitness had really felt a drop in being ill, and after 10km my legs were starting to hate me. My energy levels still felt pretty good, which gave me hope for the future, and showed my nutrition plan was working fairly well. After 10/15km I took to a run walk routine, mainly because my achilles and quads had given up on me. But I managed to trot home in 2 hours 14, which is my slowest half marathon ever, but reminded me I can do hard things!

Overall, the Outlaw experience was so well organised, with incredible support from spectators and volunteers. Like nothing I had experienced before! Whilst the initial size was overwhelming, the friendliness, organisation and safety and care that obviously went into this event, in the end really made me feel incredibly comfortable and so pleased with the whole experience. It made me immediately look at the next Outlaw specific event I could enter! Although I will say, some of the race photos are unforgivable – I didn’t even know my face could do what it’s doing in some of them. I’ve attached them so you can enjoy them too.