I'm officially a triathlete!

Triathlon virginity broken!

That’s the big news of this blog.

I competed (using the term loosely)...I ‘entered’ a sprint distance triathlon in Neath last Weds (11^th May). I wanted to do it just to get a feel of what a race was like, how I needed to set up transition etc. Theoretically the distances were a breeze (750m open water swim, 20km bike and 5km run) so the plan was to just cruise through, complete it and enjoy it without injuring myself.

I travelled up with a couple of guys from the tri club, both with similar aims to myself; finish and make it home....safety in numbers! We arrived about an hour before the start so had plenty of time to register and set up transition. I’d watched a few videos on youtube on how to set up correctly so I wasn’t a total pleb when I turned up. By the time we arrived transition was already pretty busy and there was plenty of ‘gear’ there. I’m talking thousands of pounds worth of bikes....I was beginning to feel a bit out of my depth. Still, I got myself a decidedly average place in transition (towards the middle of one of the racks) and set up my stuff.

First mistake...I’d forgotten my sun glasses. 25 mins til the start so plenty of time still. Ran back to the car and picked them up. Second mistake...I’d left my timing chip in the car.15 mins til the start and I’d still not got my wetsuit on. Ran back to the car, picked it up and started putting on my wetsuit as the race brief was taking place. I was pretty flustered by this point, but there were a couple of other guys still milling around, taking their time about getting sorted so I didn’t feel so bad...they looked like they knew what they were doing though!

Anyway, I made it to the end of the briefing (which went on a bit to be honest) and I was so conscious about trying to remember everything that was said (so not to make a knob of myself during the race) that I forgot pretty much everything. Still, it was unlikely that I was going to be leading at any point so I figured I’d just follow whoever was in front.

The swim wasn’t exactly in a lake...more a large pond. Algae, weeds, murky, 2 and a bit laps around some marker buoys. I decided to start from the back to try and avoid the mêlée that takes place at the front of the swim (pulling goggles off, unzipping wetsuits, pulling people under etc etc). I couldn’t see a thing when my head was under the water which was pretty disorientating. Didn’t taste too great either. It was grim. Once I settled into my stroke I was ok though and ended up finishing at the back of the front group, with a time of 12:30 (24^th place). I was pleased with that as 750m had been taking me 15 mins in the pool. Seems as if the wetsuit helps me out.

I jogged up the hill from the water to transition and sorted myself out for the bike. There were still quite a few bikes in transition so that gave me a boost – I thought I’d be near the back at this point. Jumped onto the bike out of transition (with a transition split of 2:30; 50^th out of 60!)and immediately dispelled my thoughts of ironman pacing the race. I could see a guy with an aero helmet about 200m in front of me and decided he was my target. The bike was flat and only 10 miles so I knew even if I blitzed it I’d finish pretty easily. I was overtaking people on the bike, but also getting a bit of talking to from the guys on TT bikes (really light, really fast, really expensive bikes). I came off the bike in 26^th place.

Bike-to-run transition was a bit smoother than the swim-to-bike. I didn’t have to faff around with a wetsuit, but I did struggle with the double knots in my laces...I think elastic laces maybe a good investment for the longer distance stuff. The run was quite hilly which was a bit of a shock to the system. Cross country too, but I quite like that (despite all my training being on flat roads). I paced the run pretty sensibly and took a few places back. I finished in 21^st place with a time of 1:07:27. Pleased.