Yesterday’s triathlon came as a surprise. Good and bad. We rocked up at the event at around 5:45am, I racked my bike in the ‘female under 30’ section, got numbered and looked around the area. Looking out on the water, I must say I freaked out a little bit, the 400m swim looked much longer than I imagined. Was I going to make it? Would I panic again? Would I maintain good form or screw it up from the beginning?
The swim
The swim started in deep water, I found myself treading water before the gun went off, and as I did so, large grass reads tangled around my legs and arms – not a very nice feeling but unavoidable in the Clear Island Waters Lake. The night before, I was dreaming about sharks which only escalated my stress levels. I have to admit there were moments where I was searching for excuses to pull out – I’d hate myself if I had though.
The swim turned out to be more than I could have hoped for. I started at the back of the pack and ensured that I got into a comfortable pace rather than tiring myself out at the very beginning. My tactic worked. Throughout the swim I managed to maintain good form, swim with my head down and sight properly. While my speed was nothing to write home about, I did get out of the water with a time of 8:51 for the 400m swim.
The cycle
Cycling is not my strongest leg; I didn’t expect it to be my weakest here though. My legs felt heavy from the beginning. I felt exhausted and wondered about the three 5km laps ahead of me. I pushed through, playing around with the gears, trying to set it at a pace that I could pedal hard and go fast enough. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it doesn’t. The timer on my bike stopped working properly and it was difficult to gauge my speed.
After the third lap I was ready to get off the bike. I did not expect the time I got though. It was a shocker. I did 15km in 41:23. Shocking effort for me!
The run
I eased out of T2 with a slow jog trying to get my legs to get used to running. I had to two laps to run but I didn’t want to do them too slowly. I felt tired but as I ran I begin to get some of my energy back and each step was a little bit faster. The temperature was close to 30 C so I made sure to take advantage of the water stations to drink and get water splashed on me.
On the last lap I sped up. My legs hurt, my breathing was heavy but the finish line was getting closer and there was no way I was going to stop. Unfortunately, I have a habit to slow down towards the end and that’s something I’m working on. With about 500m to go, I pushed even harder and crossed the finish line with a time of 19:47 for the 4km run with a smile on my face.
Gun Time: 1:10:02
Monika said: Kasiu, lubię czytać twoje opisy z zawodów, bardzo mnie one mobilizują do ćwiczeń. Ten triathlon musiał być wyczerpujący-strasznie gorąco było…Ale bardzo ładnie sobie z nim poradziłaś 🙂 Brawo !