I am a Triathlete!

Well, it might have only been the short course, but I have now completed my first triathlon - Yeahhhhh!

Distance - 160m swim, 8 km cycle, 1.5 km run

Time - unofficial - about 40 mins

Placing - no idea - need to wait for the results (well I guess I can say I didn't win!)

Satisfaction - v. happy - its exactly the time I planned for, and all went (mostly) according to plan.

Here's the low down on the event for those who are interested.

Prep phase

We arrived the day before (it was held at Victor Harbour - seaside location about 4.0 hr drive from our place) and drove around the cycle course and run course. All looked good, no real hills to worry about. Then to the beach to have a look and try out the water. I knew then that I wouldn't like the swim, as the water was incredibly salty - and I hate beach swimming for this reason. What it did tell me was though how much my nose runs after swimming in salt water, so I decided to make sure I had tissues waiting in the transition area, and would definitely need a drink to get rid of the salty taste. We registered and then went back to the caravan park for a clean eating meal of spaghetti and meatballs from Tosca Reno's cookbook that I had prepared that morning. (more to save money than to eat well!).

Given that I'm not all that confident on the bike, and I've really only ridden it about 5 or 6 times since we bought it at the end of January, I decided to go for a quick ride to check out some tight turns and reassure myself that I can do them! You have to remember that 12 months ago I couldn't even ride our mountain bikes, fear of falling off prevented me from giving this a go. Any way - when I hopped on I was reassured that I felt quite comfortable on the bike and could indeed navigate the tight turns. I know this sounds odd for someone about to do a triathlon - but the reality is that the rides I have done leading up to it have been quite straightforward. I've found that I'm quite strong and manage long distances quite easily, but having never ridden a bike with gears before, and having never ridden a road bike before, the technical aspects are a little daunting, and I lack confidence more than actual ability. Kind of a mind over matter thing.

Anyway - the good news was that I felt fine about the bike ride, but the bad news was that I discovered I had a very sore right quad - I hadn't realised it was still sore from weight training on Thursday night. I guess my two day taper wasn't really sufficient! Never mind - I did a full set of stretches and went to bed, trying for an early night. Unfortunately the nerves got the better of me and I had difficulty falling asleep, and then when I did, had trouble sleeping as I was cold - despite the fact that we are in the middle of a heat wave! Victor is known for being much cooler, and we hadn't put a blanket on the bed thinking we wouldnt need it, but we were wrong.

Up at 6.30 and after getting ready, walked the bikes down to the race area to rack the bikes and set up for transition. Race briefing at 8.00 and everything sounded as I had expected. Was a little confused about where to run into and out of the transition area, but knew from other running races that we would be well directed.

The Swim

This leg was probably the least enjoyable and surprisingly the easiest.

It was a very nerve wracking start to the race, with wave starts, and waiting for your start to be called. The 30 secs before when you are knee deep into the water and told you are in the "starters hands" especially so. All the thoughts then of "why am I doing this" cross your mind.

The gun went off and I jumped in the water, along with about 40 other people. This is where the chaos started. I swam about 4 stroke of freestyle and promptly gave up on it. We were packed in like sardines with no room to move. I couldn't afford to have my head in the water as I couldn't see where to place my hands/feet/other body parts to have any hope of moving! I tried to swim freestyle with my head out of the water like most around me seemed to be doing -and was rewarded with heaps of extra water to drink. I got to the first bouy and decided this was ridiculous. I was going nowhere fast and decided to try another tack. I positioned myself on the inside of the pack and flipped onto my side, facing away from everyone, and started side stroke. This worked. Suddenly I had a clear view, unobstructed from splashing water, and I was able to do full powerful strokes, and did indeed power ahead. My sidestroke was much faster than all the pseudo freestyle around me. I also discovered that every type of stroke was being done, including someone doing backstroke in front of me! Nevertheless, things were much better now, and I powered on and around the second buoy and headed for home. When I got closer to shore I changed to breast stroke so that I had a full view of the beach and would know when to stand up and start running.

All in all, Im glad that at some point in my training I decided to give up on trying to achieve perfect freestyle for the full distance, and instead practiced a variety of strokes and relied on the fact that I would make the distance one way or another. There was no opportunity to use the slow, carefully controlled rhythmical freestyle that I had practiced. I guess the short distance and the generally lower level of skills in the competitors meant that the pack never really thinned out, like it did when I watched the Olympic distance event. I reached the shore easily, with no thoughts of "will I make the distance" which I had been worried about - in fact I probably could have swam further.

T1 - First transition

This year (I watched the event last year) due to building works in the area, they had to move the transition area further away from the swim. This meant a run up the beach, up a step, along a cobble stone path, and then along the road for about 100m before turning in to the transition area. Then you run down the full lenght of the bike racks, turn around and come back up your lane to your bike. I felt good coming out of the water, some people were walking, some slow jogging, but I put a little bit of fire into the legs and overtook a few on the way. I'd never run in (wet) bare feet before, but it was fine, but when I got to my bike my feet were covered in mud. Dried them off with a towel, and slipped my sandshoes on minus the socks (apparently this is the norm in tri's). Race bib on with the waist belt, sunglasses and then helmet, and then lifted the bike off the rack. I was glad we had bought road bikes, as if we had been racing with mountain bikes which are much heavier, I think this would have been difficult. And remembered to press the right buttons on the garmin to try and time my transitions and legs. (They don't time your splits in the short course). Then a quick run with the bike to the start line.

The Cycle

Mounted my bike just past the start line as had been suggested to avoid conjestion and headed off. I felt good and the 8kms passed by in no time. Only one person overtook me and I was overtaking people on a regular basis. My general fitness really helps on the bike. I have good strong quads that power me along quite easily. One of the funniest things was though that about 2/3rds of the way through the race, heading up a slight incline I decided that my legs were tiring, and perhaps I would drop the gear down. Clicked the lever a few times but nothing happened. "What - I'm in the easiest gear already?" and then realised that I was probably in the hardest gear and I was usually the wrong gear change lever. Do you think I could remember where the other one was????? I told you I'm not very confident with the technical aspects of the bike!!! I couldn't work it out - my hand instinctly kept reaching for the brake - but no - this the brake - not the gear lever! Eventually it dawned on my that I was right, but to change down gears you flick the brake handle to the left, rather than pulling it in, and proceeded to do so. Of course I had done this many times before but it was just a race day mind blank! What it also told me is that I had ridden most of the race in the hardest gear without noticing it. Not really smart I guess, but fast.

Total time was between 18 - 20 mins (my garmin and the software are telling me different things) but overall I averaged about 25 kms/hr, which I'm really happy with.

T2 – Second Transition

Headed into the transition area and it was a little heavy going as I had to push the bike through some sand/dirt, but all went ok. Managed to lift my bike up onto the rack, and the requirements here were pretty brief, just drop of the bike and helmet and head off again. I took the time to take a few swigs of the drink as my mouth was still uncomfortably salty, and also to unstrap the garmin from the bike handle bars. Was willing to sacrifice time here so that I have records to analyse later! Strapped the garmin to my wrist as I ran to the start line.

The Run

Well, despite the run supposedly being my strong suit – this was undoubtedly the hardest. The burn in the legs wasn’t too bad, as I had followed some advice and stood up and stretched my legs in the last 200 metres of the bike leg, and it really seemed to help. But my legs were really, really tired. I let myself walk a couple of times (lots of people were doing this), mainly because I had decided at the outset that I wanted to just enjoy my first triathlon and not set too higher goals, my times were spot on according to my plans, and saw no need to kill myself over it. I know, I know - how could I need to walk during a 1.5 km run? But the reality is that the effect of the bike and the swim beforehand is cumulative, and from bike to run is quite a unique challenge in itself. Sprinted to the finish line, and was pretty happy overall.

Reflections

· Its really hard to know how to pace yourself in an event like this. Because the demands of each leg are all so different, its hard to tell how much to “save up”. In retrospect, maybe I cycled too fast, and should have left more for the run, but as I said earlier, the cycle felt easy. I guess the only way to pace your self is through experience in races such as this. As a result of this – I need to do far more brick workouts – moving from cycling to running to understand the way my body responds to this.

· I will keep working on my freestyle, but will make sure that I do lots of other strokes as well, particularly whilst I stay doing short courses, as freestyle is just not necessary/useful. But if I keep up the practice, I should be prepared for when I want to move up to the sprint distance.

· Its quite a technical race – lots to remember to do, and lots of rules. Like don’t take your bike off the rack unless your helmet is on/ don’t draft behind another bike/if you are within 6 metres of another bike you must overtake within 15 secs/remember the order of everything you need to take off/put on etc. But well worthwhile doing a “practice one” to help you consolidate all of this. Now that I have sense of knowing what I am doing, next season I can train far more specifically with time goals etc.

· I had no stiffness/soreness the next day – which says that I really could have pushed myself harder in the race (oh and did I mention I also ran the 5 km fun run 3 hrs later?). But I’m ok with this, because I had decided that I didn’t want to push myself – just soak it all up, enjoy and learn. Next time though…

· And lastly, the hair. This is for you Katiep. I found the perfect hairdo – see photo below. Pigtail braids! Haven’t worn them since high school but they were soooo good. They survived a latex swimming cap being ripped off, replaced with a helmet, then this coming off, followed by a run. And then the 5 km run at midday in 40 deg. heat, running through lots of water, and still in good enough condition to go to the pub for dinner. Now that’s some hairstyle – would thoroughly recommend it!