Triathlon day!

The day finally arrived, and it dawned very VERY early indeed. I awoke at 5a.m to be greeted by traditional bank holiday weather – wet, windy and cold. I mean really cold. I believe the temperature was hovering around 8-10 degrees this morning. I’m not sure what the weather gods have against runners, boiling sunshine for the London marathon, this today….. anyway, I put on my pirate outfit, ate my porridge and set off across the park on my bike, very grateful to David and Sharon who were bringing the rest of my equipment by car.

At registration I didn’t have to prove who I was, but then quite frankly if anyone gets up at that time on a bank holiday and pretends to be someone else, they deserve to do a triathlon really for sheer dedication! I racked my bike and laid out all my items in transition. Actually that’s a lie, I left them all in a big box as it was raining at this point.

Time seemed to zoom by in a flurry of toilet trips and bike-computer confusion (never did get it working) and before I knew it, it was the race briefing. After which the first swimmer was straight in the pool. The starts are staggered by 15 seconds, starting with race number 1. I was number 123 (I think they were trying to teach me to count) so had about half an hour to wait. I hung around in my jumper and shoes for as long as possible before giving them to one of my support team (more on them later).

I was very glad to finally get in the pool, partly because the waiting around at the start is always the worst part of a race, and partly because it was soooo warm in there! I set off at a less than blistering pace and half way up the first length realised I needed to start my watch….

A few lengths in I felt the inevitable tap on my toes and so duly stopped at the end of the length to be passed. The man who tapped passed me, but then proceeded to swim about an inch in front of my nose, and I realised I was actually slowing down to accomodate him. So I tapped back, but at the end of the length he didn’t stop for me! So I kind of swam under him, got in front again, and the extra adrenalin produced by this little escapade helped me overtake 2 or 3 others as well.

At the end of the swim I felt fine, and not too cold (very glad I decided to wear a swim hat). I ran to my bike put on socks, shoes, helmet and 2 tops and got on with the cycling.

I knew this was going to be my least favourite part of the event. Firstly, I am rubbish at cycling! I am sooooo slow no matter how hard I try. Secondly it’s long, lonely and boring compared to the rest of the event.  Nevertheless I got on with it as best I could. The real route turned out to be far more pleasant than mine and David’s alternative one, and it was nice seeing Suze and David zooming back the other way. However I found it quite demoralising to be constantly overtaken by people so much better than me, I kind of felt like I was in the wrong race for this section. Also it was very windy, that annoying kind that is always in your face. My hands and feet especially got really cold but the rest of me was fine. I didn’t regret the 2 tops though.

Eventually I got back and enjoyed the 7 minute time out. Then it was back into transition where I got momentarily confused about where to go, but soon set off running. As I started I discovered an interesting phenomena – it is possible to run despite having no feeling in your feet whatsoever! They were so cold and numb from the bike ride it took a whole km to warm them up.

Obviously the run was the ‘easy’ bit for me and I felt I kept up a reasonable pace, except for the third km where I was confronted with another strong headwind. I even manged a bit of a sprint finish, despite being beaten to the line by Peter, a bptter who started about a hundred places behind me!

There I was met by my fabulous support team, plus David and Suze who had finished ages ago, and we went back to the pool for the loveliest hot shower I have ever experienced, tea, sausage baguettes and flapjacks.

Through the power of Mctinternet, I can tell you I wasn’t last! My overall time was 1.41.28 and I was 217th out of 233 finishers. In the swim I was 212th (14.37) and in the run I was 131st (26.30). Only 3 people biked slower than me – I am very grateful to those 3 people! My bike time was 1.00.21. Those splits include transition times too, these are not timed seperately.

Did I enjoy it – yes! I feel like I achieved something and would do it again. I quite liked being an honorary pirate for the day too! However I think I could get more excited about aquathlon – like a triathlon but without all that silly cold cycling! Watch this space……

Two huge thank yous – firstly to my awesome support team, I am truly overwhelmed that so many of you lovely people were willing to get up at a ridiculous time and then hang around in the cold and wet for hours, cheering, yelling, taking photos, looking after my stuff and generally being massively supportive. Massive thank yous go to Sharon, Danny, Mike, Nicola, Stuart, Keiran, Wayne and Jo; thank you and well done to my team mates David and Suze.

My second thank you goes to the Thames Turbo Triathlon club – the event was fantastically well organised and every single marshall, who must have been absolutely freezing, not only did their bit to keep me safe and on track but was unfailingly supportive and cheerful. I hope they realise how much the competitors appreciate this.

Can I go back to bed now?