Hands pulled my legs down, feet kicked in front as I tried to push through the crowded waters. Each time I ducked my head in the water I felt the saltiness spill into my throat and lungs. For a moment I thought I would raise my hand and get someone to pull me out of there.
I’m not sure whether it was the lack of sleep, the open water or the arms and legs that were flying everywhere but my brain went into panic mode the moment I dived into the water. I’m not sure what happened but I couldn’t get my breathing into a regular pattern to swim freestyle and ended up alternating between head-above-the-water freestyle and breaststroke. I was annoyed at myself but I didn’t give up. I completed the swim in 7:43 and felt pure joy when I raced out of the water and through the transition area. I don’t think I should have expected anything more in the swim leg as I’ve only been back to swimming regularly since late March.
I found my bike easily and wasted a few seconds doing up my shoe laces. I just told myself to take it easy and do it right so I wouldn’t have problems later. With my helmet on I grabbed my bike and jogged my way to the mounting area and sped off. Well I wouldn’t call it speeding, especially when I saw my time for the bike leg. It did feel like I was going fast. My legs were tight. I played around with the gears on my bike so they’d work to my advantage but I’m not sure how much that helped. I passed a few riders and some passed me. I was still coughing up a bit of salty water but I didn’t let that stop me. I got off the bike with a time of 26:33 about five minutes slow than I had anticipated. I couldn’t gauge my speed as I forgot to place a timer on my bike and assumed that I was going faster.
The run was my favourite part of the race. It was a short 2.5km but it felt much longer. I just pushed through the exhaustion (and yes I was exhausted), but just kept going. The funny thing was that the run started getting easier instead of harder. The more I ran, the harder I went. It felt good even though I was tired. When I finally crossed the finish line I felt great and like I put in more effort than I normally would in a race. I ran for 12:36.
Total race time: 46:53 – I’m disappointed I didn’t go below 45 minutes because I know I could have.
Age group position: 16/72
General position (f): 65/262
Overall positions (m & f): 199/497
What I learnt:
*Open water swims during training are a must
*Don’t place to high expectations on yourself if you haven’t done a sport in a while
*Learn to use the bike gears correctly
*Outdoor cycling should take priority over RPM classes
*Wear a timer on the bike to gauge speed
*Get enough sleep the night before (drinking coffee at 3pm isn’t going to help this)
*Stay hydrated the day before, on the day and throughout the race
*Don’t place to high expectations on yourself if you haven’t done a sport in a while
*Learn to use the bike gears correctly
*Outdoor cycling should take priority over RPM classes
*Wear a timer on the bike to gauge speed
*Get enough sleep the night before (drinking coffee at 3pm isn’t going to help this)
*Stay hydrated the day before, on the day and throughout the race
It was a fantastic morning overall. My parents, brother and my partner came to cheer me on and take as many photos as they could. They were great supporters and they moved around so they could catch me on each of the legs even though I’m sure they enjoyed getting up at 5am as much as I did. Thank you it was great to have you there with me!
Sounds like you did pretty good for your first outing? Have lots of respect for tri-folk, seems like a lot of work to do! Love your little list of things to do better, there’s always something. I’ve been cycling on and off for years and still can’t use the gears right ;(
The gears are shocking, they really slowed me down on the bike. My rpm was high but my speed was too low. It’s definitely something to work on before the next race. 🙂