The shopping centre is the seventh largest in Britain with 1,434,000 sq ft (133,200 m2) available as retail floorspace (the Metro Centre in Gateshead, after its expansion in 2004, is the largest). There are over 250 shops, of which there are 4 anchor stores, 50 cafes and restaurants and a 26-acre (110,000 m2) lake named Alexandra Lake ~ presumable named after the Princess (royal sucking-up!) and where you've guess it we swim. You can see it in the aerial shot ~ where we park is in the top right car park, whereas registration and all the organisational 'stuff' is by the lake next to that 'Y'-shaped pier. The lake also has a certified diving school complex - so I guess its still pretty deep? (See for more details http://www.lakesidewatersports.co.uk/#/about-us/4534185213 whereas if you want to know more shopping centres (well you might?) have a look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lakeside_Shopping_Centre).
Packed everything the night before as it was going to be an early start. Had a nagging feeling of forgetting something however. Distracted myself watching Alistair Brownlee's win at the Kitzubuhel Triathlon trying to pick up some tips other than just go very fast and a "Skills for Thrills" DVD ~ explaining how to master mountain biking skills which considering the amount of times I've fallen off is no bad thing.
Woke, breakfasted and left the house 5:15. Completely forgotten about the nagging feeling from the night before pretty much going in to automatic mode. Bit too complacent as I later found out. Basically the drive is over Tower Bridge, turn right onto the A13 and keep going to the shopping centre. Lucky the route was so easy as the low morning sun made it impossible to see any of the road signs. It didn't however totally hide the delights of Dagenham ~ still very much Ford dominated, with massive factories and sheds with line upon line of pylons marching across the landscape.
Then on to the contrast of Rainham, which I know for two things (there's probably a lot more going for it though) It is the site of a massive landfill site accepting a vast amount of London's rubbish (around 1.5 million tonnes of waste and recyclables per annum) as it is conveniently on the River Thames. It has been in existence for over 150 years and is 177 hectares in size. The other thing is the marshes. These are one of very few ancient landscapes remaining in London, these medieval marshes right next to the River Thames were closed to the public for over 100 years and used as a military firing range. The RSPB acquired them in 2000 and set about transforming it into an award winning nature reserve (see http://www.rspb.org.uk/reserves/guide/r/rainhammarshes/ ).
Reached the shopping centre only to be stuck with a small convoy of cars all trying to find our way into the car park. We could see fellow triathletes but couldn't find how to get there. Finally found someone to ask and one of the automatic barriers had been unlocked and was the way in ~ a sign would have been kind of nice? Unpacking, discovered the first thing I'd forgotten ~ my track pump. I wasn't too concerned as although the rear tyre could do with a few psi I was sure to be able to borrow one. Followed other competitors to the registration area (again lack of signs) so it was a bit of a wander through the bus station, down a service road, across a car park ~ shopping centres really don't like pedestrians wandering around outside of the confines of the shopping area. What did it look like - well you know in the 80's when everything was build with striped brickwork and some overbearing glazing - well that was it. Large stripes of buff and red brick on massive blank windowless walls with the occasional oversized greenhouse arrangement as an entrance. The bus station was if anything worse - built at the height of the "Thatcher years", public transport was obviously seen as something almost undesirable!
Joined the queue for registration. To be honest it was a bit ragged, plenty of people doing 'stuff' but not getting through many competitors. They seemed to be more concerned with putting the freebies in the 'goody bag'. Slight digression, this was probably the least tri-specific freebies I'd had for race. Plastic chopsticks, one of those hand flannels in foil that you get given after a meal, a take a way menu for Wagamma's - then the penny dropped. Wagamma's and Decathlon (a sporting mega-store) both had outlets at Lakeside and were the main sponsors - duh!
We also got a technical t-shirt but again plastered with sponsors logos - never mind a good one to use in the gym! I'd got to registration pretty much as soon as it opened at 6am but it took 20 minutes to go through the process. It was at this point I'd remembered the second thing I'd forgotten ~ my race belt. As a result I had to pass over 50p for safety pins to pin my race numbers to my top. The line by the time I'd finished was stretching way back ~ no way they'd all get through the process before the start time. And so it proved the race started late.
Into transition to rack the bike and unpack the gear. This was the point I realised I hadn't packed a towel to lay my kit out of and dry the feet prior to the bike section. Forgetting three things, fortunately none of them absolutely critical, for a race is unprecedented! Complacency or just senility setting in! I can see why tri-mags etc. recommend you have a list you tick off as you prepare ~ advice I'd poo-poohed until now. I'm going to be changing my pre-race habits now!
Sorting myself out I decided to ask the Decathlon stand whether I could borrow their pump for a few extra psi in the rear tyre. Bad mistake! Their pump didn't like my short valves and instead of putting air in - let the tyre down. So swapped my inner tube for my spare which had a longer valve - no luck. Then the guys on the stand offered me a new inner with a even longer valve which we fitted and promptly punctured! They then gave me yet another one and this one we managed to pump up. So many thanks to the guy on the Decathlon stand for two inner tubes and infinite patience with an increasingly stressed competitor - it was very nearly a DNS (did not start) after my name! Another reason for my new resolution to have all my own kit with me - at least I know how to use it.
Then it was on with the wetsuit over a timing chip the size of a matchbox. That was going to prove problematic I thought and I was right! Then the walk to the other end of the lake where the swim would start passed registration where there was still a long queue! Got chatting to another guy on the long walk about the things we get up to on Father's Day - his wife and kids had elected not to get up at the crack of dawn. Then shoes into the bag provided to be lobbed into the back of a white van. Gulp! Hadn't realised it would be so cavalier as my glasses were in my goggle case in the bag. My fellow competitor commiserated and suggest that potentially driving home with my swimming goggles on, even if they were prescription, might, just might prove to be difficult to explain if stopped. Oh well, no point in worry about then as we were now having the race briefing. A description of the swim course, how many laps on the bike and run, and their routes. This was all being relayed to us by the quietest megaphone in the history of megaphones - ever!
I was in the forth and final wave of the morning, again in a pink swim hat. This time the wave consisted of 50+ i.e. aged males, and all the women. Presumably we're considered a) slower b) less competitive and c) possibly more gentlemanly - so we wouldn't swim over the ladies, kick them in the head, elbow them, knock their goggles off etc. which is all apart and parcel in a mass start in an open water swim. And believe it or not this proved to be the case. I even heard someone apologising during the swim for getting in the way!
One lady, who could not stop squealing as the cold water penetrated her wet suit (the secret is of course is to get water between you skin and suit as soon as possible so you get a warm layer quickly) resulted in the whole wave having a fit of the giggles. The increasingly exasperated starter - he of the quietest megaphone in the history of megaphones ~ ever, resorted to claiming that women could never keep quiet. This resulted in him getting a good splashing to rousing cheers. I'd already discussed, waiting for the klaxon to go off, my intended race tactics with another old codger. He was delighted that I had every intention of starting from the back, letting the ladies go first and then proceed with my 'serene' style of breaststroke. This we felt was far more 'gentlemanly' and he said he had every intention in joining me in this approach.
So 750m of serene if slow, swimming later we were faced with the swim exit. While we had entered the swim down a gentle slipway, we were literally having to be hauled out of the dock by three strapping blokes as the dock edge was about 3 feet above the water with no steps or anything. The blokes were hauling the ladies out with quite a lot on enthusiasm - less so with us oldsters - maybe because we were heavier? Having to do that for nearly 300 competitors though is impressive workout!
Then it was a 250m flat (unlike Blenheim which was uphill) dash to the transition. Although it wasn't exactly a dash as all the marshals were urging us NOT to run as the wooden dock edge was very wet and slippery from all the swimmers passing along it. Bit of a disadvantage in a race where you're meant to be going fast - possibly more matting like at Blenheim might have been a good idea?
Made it to transition without mishap and then spent a couple of frustrating minutes trying to wrestle the wetsuit over chip. Finally got into all my bike stuff remembering not to tighten my bike shoes up too much this time. This was because of what had happened the week before at Windsor. I found that I was half way through the bike stage and one of my feet was still numb. You expect a bit of numbness having been swimming in cold water and then still soaking wet starting to cycle. However normally you warm up pretty quickly or at least I do as I'm trying to catch all the swimmers that motored past me on my laboured swim. This time though while one foot was fine the other still had no feeling. I discovered that I had overtightened the velcro strap in my enthusiasm to be off. Loosening it a bit while riding along, the blood slowly returned to my foot. A bit painful - but lesson learnt.
I then found out why the Garmin profile of the bike course (and even more so the run course) had such jagged peaks. It was really vicious speed-humps that you had to take quite slowly on the bike. However once out of the confines of the service road and out onto the open road, it was foot down and motor. Pretty good roads generally although as to expected around a large shopping centre, a lot of roundabouts. The course was really well marshalled by the police and others, and generally the light Sunday morning traffic was really considerate. Although to be expected there were a couple of idiots (one in a silver BMW convertible) who felt that loosing a couple of seconds even on a Sunday morning because of something mundane like a bike race was just inconceivable.
The one long uninterrupted straight bit of the course along a dual carriage was naturally enough right into a vicious headwind. It was a case of down onto the tri-bars, choose a lower gear and spin as fast as possible. There were a number of cyclist that seem to rely on brute strength to grind away in a high gear but I find upping the cadence is a lot less tiring and much quicker. Certainly worked for me as there were a steady number of people to overtake on this two lap course and you know how I like overtaking people! Also no one overtook me which was a huge psychological boost and again you know how I like those too. Found subsequently from the results that quite a few had been penalised for drafting (following another cyclist very closely in order to shelter from the wind) with two minutes being added to their time.
In fact I found it a thoroughly enjoyable ride albeit not one of the most attractive, with my only concern being nervousness about the rear tyre because of problems I'd experience first thing. Also while dealing with that had noticed a worn patch in the tyre due to the skid in Windsor. Another lesson learn ~ check the bike properly before a race. Fortunately nothing untoward happened.
Then back to transition, gingerly over the speed humps while passing the procession of runners. On with the socks and shoes and into the procession for the first of four laps up and down the service road. Fortunately you didn't have to count your laps as they gave you coloured elastic bands, one every lap so once you had four you could finish. You might think that its really simple to count up to four, but you'd be surprised in the heat and pain of competition how you lose track of how many laps you've done. In fact again looking at the results, three people were disqualified for only having done one cycle lap and on this course you only had to count to two!
In was on lap three that I heard someone calling my name. Coming towards me on the run was Tim Thompson, a former colleague at Southwark Council, now working for Decathlon (the race sponsor). Needless to say this spurred me on to increase my pace (well a little bit at any rate) as there is nothing like competing against people you know. Once finished, with a pretty minimal sprint, met up with Tim to compare experiences.
Then it was find my sandals and glasses. Again this is where the organisation fell down a bit. All the bags were just lobbed out of the van for us to scrabble around and try and find ours. We started to sort them out a bit, but after a race with a lot of tired competitors it was all a bit frustrating. My earlier concern regarding my glasses was justified. One of the lenses had popped out. I nearly had to drive home in swimming googles (or possibly cycling glasses). Fortunately I managed to pop it back in securely enough to get me home where I could do a proper repair job.
Never mind, I got talking to someone about a certain make of carbon wheels that I've been considering for a while and his enthusiasm went and tipped me over the edge. So rather than shop at Lakeside as quite frankly after a triathlon I just didn't feel in the mood to mooch around some shops ~ although I suspect that some of the supporters had been persuaded to get up early on a Sunday morning with promise of such a 'mooch' later on.
Back to the car, pack everything up, watch the shoppers begin to roll in and off back along the A13 along still pretty empty roads. At this point I remembered I'd forgotten yet something else! I'd not taken any photos! In my defence there wasn't much of photogenic quality but even so and it does make this report rather text heavy. Back home before 11:00 and on the sofa, pot of coffee and Sunday papers.
RESULT: 71st out of 286 in a time of 1:15:39 (4th in the 'old boys' category)
Packed everything the night before as it was going to be an early start. Had a nagging feeling of forgetting something however. Distracted myself watching Alistair Brownlee's win at the Kitzubuhel Triathlon trying to pick up some tips other than just go very fast and a "Skills for Thrills" DVD ~ explaining how to master mountain biking skills which considering the amount of times I've fallen off is no bad thing.
Woke, breakfasted and left the house 5:15. Completely forgotten about the nagging feeling from the night before pretty much going in to automatic mode. Bit too complacent as I later found out. Basically the drive is over Tower Bridge, turn right onto the A13 and keep going to the shopping centre. Lucky the route was so easy as the low morning sun made it impossible to see any of the road signs. It didn't however totally hide the delights of Dagenham ~ still very much Ford dominated, with massive factories and sheds with line upon line of pylons marching across the landscape.
Reached the shopping centre only to be stuck with a small convoy of cars all trying to find our way into the car park. We could see fellow triathletes but couldn't find how to get there. Finally found someone to ask and one of the automatic barriers had been unlocked and was the way in ~ a sign would have been kind of nice? Unpacking, discovered the first thing I'd forgotten ~ my track pump. I wasn't too concerned as although the rear tyre could do with a few psi I was sure to be able to borrow one. Followed other competitors to the registration area (again lack of signs) so it was a bit of a wander through the bus station, down a service road, across a car park ~ shopping centres really don't like pedestrians wandering around outside of the confines of the shopping area. What did it look like - well you know in the 80's when everything was build with striped brickwork and some overbearing glazing - well that was it. Large stripes of buff and red brick on massive blank windowless walls with the occasional oversized greenhouse arrangement as an entrance. The bus station was if anything worse - built at the height of the "Thatcher years", public transport was obviously seen as something almost undesirable!
Joined the queue for registration. To be honest it was a bit ragged, plenty of people doing 'stuff' but not getting through many competitors. They seemed to be more concerned with putting the freebies in the 'goody bag'. Slight digression, this was probably the least tri-specific freebies I'd had for race. Plastic chopsticks, one of those hand flannels in foil that you get given after a meal, a take a way menu for Wagamma's - then the penny dropped. Wagamma's and Decathlon (a sporting mega-store) both had outlets at Lakeside and were the main sponsors - duh!
We also got a technical t-shirt but again plastered with sponsors logos - never mind a good one to use in the gym! I'd got to registration pretty much as soon as it opened at 6am but it took 20 minutes to go through the process. It was at this point I'd remembered the second thing I'd forgotten ~ my race belt. As a result I had to pass over 50p for safety pins to pin my race numbers to my top. The line by the time I'd finished was stretching way back ~ no way they'd all get through the process before the start time. And so it proved the race started late.
Into transition to rack the bike and unpack the gear. This was the point I realised I hadn't packed a towel to lay my kit out of and dry the feet prior to the bike section. Forgetting three things, fortunately none of them absolutely critical, for a race is unprecedented! Complacency or just senility setting in! I can see why tri-mags etc. recommend you have a list you tick off as you prepare ~ advice I'd poo-poohed until now. I'm going to be changing my pre-race habits now!
Sorting myself out I decided to ask the Decathlon stand whether I could borrow their pump for a few extra psi in the rear tyre. Bad mistake! Their pump didn't like my short valves and instead of putting air in - let the tyre down. So swapped my inner tube for my spare which had a longer valve - no luck. Then the guys on the stand offered me a new inner with a even longer valve which we fitted and promptly punctured! They then gave me yet another one and this one we managed to pump up. So many thanks to the guy on the Decathlon stand for two inner tubes and infinite patience with an increasingly stressed competitor - it was very nearly a DNS (did not start) after my name! Another reason for my new resolution to have all my own kit with me - at least I know how to use it.
Then it was on with the wetsuit over a timing chip the size of a matchbox. That was going to prove problematic I thought and I was right! Then the walk to the other end of the lake where the swim would start passed registration where there was still a long queue! Got chatting to another guy on the long walk about the things we get up to on Father's Day - his wife and kids had elected not to get up at the crack of dawn. Then shoes into the bag provided to be lobbed into the back of a white van. Gulp! Hadn't realised it would be so cavalier as my glasses were in my goggle case in the bag. My fellow competitor commiserated and suggest that potentially driving home with my swimming goggles on, even if they were prescription, might, just might prove to be difficult to explain if stopped. Oh well, no point in worry about then as we were now having the race briefing. A description of the swim course, how many laps on the bike and run, and their routes. This was all being relayed to us by the quietest megaphone in the history of megaphones - ever!
I was in the forth and final wave of the morning, again in a pink swim hat. This time the wave consisted of 50+ i.e. aged males, and all the women. Presumably we're considered a) slower b) less competitive and c) possibly more gentlemanly - so we wouldn't swim over the ladies, kick them in the head, elbow them, knock their goggles off etc. which is all apart and parcel in a mass start in an open water swim. And believe it or not this proved to be the case. I even heard someone apologising during the swim for getting in the way!
One lady, who could not stop squealing as the cold water penetrated her wet suit (the secret is of course is to get water between you skin and suit as soon as possible so you get a warm layer quickly) resulted in the whole wave having a fit of the giggles. The increasingly exasperated starter - he of the quietest megaphone in the history of megaphones ~ ever, resorted to claiming that women could never keep quiet. This resulted in him getting a good splashing to rousing cheers. I'd already discussed, waiting for the klaxon to go off, my intended race tactics with another old codger. He was delighted that I had every intention of starting from the back, letting the ladies go first and then proceed with my 'serene' style of breaststroke. This we felt was far more 'gentlemanly' and he said he had every intention in joining me in this approach.
So 750m of serene if slow, swimming later we were faced with the swim exit. While we had entered the swim down a gentle slipway, we were literally having to be hauled out of the dock by three strapping blokes as the dock edge was about 3 feet above the water with no steps or anything. The blokes were hauling the ladies out with quite a lot on enthusiasm - less so with us oldsters - maybe because we were heavier? Having to do that for nearly 300 competitors though is impressive workout!
Then it was a 250m flat (unlike Blenheim which was uphill) dash to the transition. Although it wasn't exactly a dash as all the marshals were urging us NOT to run as the wooden dock edge was very wet and slippery from all the swimmers passing along it. Bit of a disadvantage in a race where you're meant to be going fast - possibly more matting like at Blenheim might have been a good idea?
Made it to transition without mishap and then spent a couple of frustrating minutes trying to wrestle the wetsuit over chip. Finally got into all my bike stuff remembering not to tighten my bike shoes up too much this time. This was because of what had happened the week before at Windsor. I found that I was half way through the bike stage and one of my feet was still numb. You expect a bit of numbness having been swimming in cold water and then still soaking wet starting to cycle. However normally you warm up pretty quickly or at least I do as I'm trying to catch all the swimmers that motored past me on my laboured swim. This time though while one foot was fine the other still had no feeling. I discovered that I had overtightened the velcro strap in my enthusiasm to be off. Loosening it a bit while riding along, the blood slowly returned to my foot. A bit painful - but lesson learnt.
I then found out why the Garmin profile of the bike course (and even more so the run course) had such jagged peaks. It was really vicious speed-humps that you had to take quite slowly on the bike. However once out of the confines of the service road and out onto the open road, it was foot down and motor. Pretty good roads generally although as to expected around a large shopping centre, a lot of roundabouts. The course was really well marshalled by the police and others, and generally the light Sunday morning traffic was really considerate. Although to be expected there were a couple of idiots (one in a silver BMW convertible) who felt that loosing a couple of seconds even on a Sunday morning because of something mundane like a bike race was just inconceivable.
The one long uninterrupted straight bit of the course along a dual carriage was naturally enough right into a vicious headwind. It was a case of down onto the tri-bars, choose a lower gear and spin as fast as possible. There were a number of cyclist that seem to rely on brute strength to grind away in a high gear but I find upping the cadence is a lot less tiring and much quicker. Certainly worked for me as there were a steady number of people to overtake on this two lap course and you know how I like overtaking people! Also no one overtook me which was a huge psychological boost and again you know how I like those too. Found subsequently from the results that quite a few had been penalised for drafting (following another cyclist very closely in order to shelter from the wind) with two minutes being added to their time.
In fact I found it a thoroughly enjoyable ride albeit not one of the most attractive, with my only concern being nervousness about the rear tyre because of problems I'd experience first thing. Also while dealing with that had noticed a worn patch in the tyre due to the skid in Windsor. Another lesson learn ~ check the bike properly before a race. Fortunately nothing untoward happened.
Then back to transition, gingerly over the speed humps while passing the procession of runners. On with the socks and shoes and into the procession for the first of four laps up and down the service road. Fortunately you didn't have to count your laps as they gave you coloured elastic bands, one every lap so once you had four you could finish. You might think that its really simple to count up to four, but you'd be surprised in the heat and pain of competition how you lose track of how many laps you've done. In fact again looking at the results, three people were disqualified for only having done one cycle lap and on this course you only had to count to two!
In was on lap three that I heard someone calling my name. Coming towards me on the run was Tim Thompson, a former colleague at Southwark Council, now working for Decathlon (the race sponsor). Needless to say this spurred me on to increase my pace (well a little bit at any rate) as there is nothing like competing against people you know. Once finished, with a pretty minimal sprint, met up with Tim to compare experiences.
Then it was find my sandals and glasses. Again this is where the organisation fell down a bit. All the bags were just lobbed out of the van for us to scrabble around and try and find ours. We started to sort them out a bit, but after a race with a lot of tired competitors it was all a bit frustrating. My earlier concern regarding my glasses was justified. One of the lenses had popped out. I nearly had to drive home in swimming googles (or possibly cycling glasses). Fortunately I managed to pop it back in securely enough to get me home where I could do a proper repair job.
Never mind, I got talking to someone about a certain make of carbon wheels that I've been considering for a while and his enthusiasm went and tipped me over the edge. So rather than shop at Lakeside as quite frankly after a triathlon I just didn't feel in the mood to mooch around some shops ~ although I suspect that some of the supporters had been persuaded to get up early on a Sunday morning with promise of such a 'mooch' later on.
Back to the car, pack everything up, watch the shoppers begin to roll in and off back along the A13 along still pretty empty roads. At this point I remembered I'd forgotten yet something else! I'd not taken any photos! In my defence there wasn't much of photogenic quality but even so and it does make this report rather text heavy. Back home before 11:00 and on the sofa, pot of coffee and Sunday papers.
RESULT: 71st out of 286 in a time of 1:15:39 (4th in the 'old boys' category)
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