I survived!
7:51pm, 5th Jun 2016 | 37 Comments
Blog by LazyDaisy
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This is going to be a long blog because I want to try and remember everything for next time. Yes that's right, there could well be a next time :-). But there are a number of things to work on and change.
Firstly, organising myself before the start. Registration was yesterday afternoon, so I had my chip and hat etc with me when I arrived on site, nice and early so I thought. I had picked up the registration pack for my friend yesterday, and she was in an earlier wave (she was doing the sprint distance, and was in the Vet40+ category which was first off) so I needed to be there in plenty of time for her. In fact, I was the one who didn't have enough time and I think that's partly due to inexperience but also not having a support crew in the form of an OH with me (he was cyclo-cross racing on the banks of the river Severn this morning.)
We went to rack our bikes and although I racked mine as instructed by the organiser yesterday, a marshal pounced on me to say I'd hung it the wrong way round
I must have looked confused and another marshal intervened to say that no, I had it right, so I left it as it was. I lay out my little towel, shoes, a little plastic bag containing a chopped up Snickers bar and a bottle of water. I also put down a very lightweight but windproof Ronhill gilet OH bought me when I first started running, but which I hardly use for running. It is very useful on the bike though and as it was quite overcast I wasn't sure if I'd need it today. I added my cycling shorts to the pile too :-). I know the 'Basic Triathlon Questions' thread folk (to whom I am very grateful, incidentally) said that chamois butter would be enough, I wasn't sure about that and reserved the right to pop the cycling shorts on top of my trisuit shorts in T1. I knew I could run perfectly comfortably in them too. Even so, before I'd left home I had applied copious amounts of vaseline to myself and chamois Butt'r to the pad in the trisuit
Then I walked back to the car to collect my wetsuit and bits and bobs (why I didn't carry it all down to the competitors' area in one go I don't know. As I walked back I realised I was still wearing my helmet What a div! So back into transition I go and put *the* most important bit of kit on the pile. (But see later ;-))
All this walking to and fro consumed a lot of time and I needed a loo stop before I could get my wetsuit on beyond half way. Getting a bit - not panicky, but certainly the nervous tension was ratcheting up - I stood in the queue and chatted to a girl in front who was doing the super-sprint too. She was wearing quite thick-lensed specs and it suddenly hit me - I too was wearing my glasses! They needed to be on that pile beneath my bike, not on my face! (She had a boyfriend to hand hers to at the start of the swim, and her 'proper' specs were already in the transition area. The transition area closes to everyone at 7:55. At 7:54 I sprinted down the line of bikes to mine (right at the far end, natch :-(). The marshal told me they were closing and I explained why I needed to get to my bike. 'Be very quick then!' Reader, I was. Phew.
By which time the queue for the loos had disappeared as the sprint distance women were already in the water.
Then it was our turn to get in the water. I have been well and truly spoiled by my weekly morning swims in this lake. When I get in the water is usually very still and clear, and if there are six people in the whole lake that's a busy morning. This time (and much like that aquathlon the other week) the water, though comfortably warm, was rather brown and churned up. I know it's clean but it's not as inviting as usual. I couldn't hear the briefing about the route (swim hat plus ear plugs equals deafness) but gathered which buoys we were heading for and which way round we were to pass them. Sadly I was on the wrong side of the crowd so would have to swim slightly diagonally to make sure I went round the right side.
The siren sounded and off we swam. I had tried to loiter towards the back but so had a lot of other women and there was quite a bit of bumping into each other. I tried to swim outside the main group even though it would have meant having to swim a longer way to the first buoy but within a very few strokes I was beginning to feel my breathing turn into gasping. I did a few strokes of breathing on every left arm stroke so that I didn't get a mouthful of water on my right side but I'm just not used to that rhythm and I could feel the whole thing falling apart. I was talking to myself in my head all the time, saying Keep Calm, you can do this, you will get round. At least at no time did I think of giving up, and even though by the time I got to the first buoy there were just a couple of other women around me - and they were breaststrokers - I just said, well, keep going, you're making progress. I did have to switch to breaststroke too though - I just couldn't relax enough to cope with front crawl, which is a big disappointment as I'm normally very relaxed on that stroke and this is two races in a row where I haven't swum my normal style. I wrote 'been able to swim my normal style' there - but I can't really put my finger on what is 'preventing' me. Nerves play a part, for sure, but last year I managed a 750m aquathlon ok.
Anyway, after a lot of breaststroke - which is so much more tiring but at least you can breathe ok - I rounded the final buoy. Each time I did some front crawl I overtook the two other back markers, but then when I switched stroke they overtook me. It ended with me being last out of the water. Totally not what I had hoped for, or, if I'm honest, expected.
Into T1. I grabbed some Snickers and a quick swig of water, finished getting my wetsuit off, no problem there, but sat down to put my shoes and socks on - bit of time lost there though the elastic laces were the right choice - then put on my cycle mitts, specs and finally, helmet. I didn't bother with the gilet but I did put the cycle shorts on. I put my Garmin on. I took a long time - 3:59.1! So much so that a marshal, who I know from running club, remarked drily, 'Come on! It's supposed to be a race, Daisy!'
On to the bike stage. I'd made sure my gears were in a nice easy starting off gear. At the turn out onto the main road there was no traffic to wait for and immediately I was bowling along and feeling quite good. Then I realised I hadn't started my Garmin. Oh well, each stage is chipped, I didn't really need the Garmin. The police were manning a nasty cross roads and waved me and a couple of other cyclists across. Then there's a long flat stretch where I was happy to use my highest gears. I was overtaken by a number of women, several looking as if they were putting no more effort in than if they were just popping to the shops :-). I wasn't worried, I was just glad to be ticking off the kilometres comfortably. And I *was* comfortable. It might have looked weird, but having the extra padding of the cycle shorts meant the whole ride was really comfy
The roads were quiet, just a few cars who all gave us plenty of room, and I could hear skylarks in the fields. It dawned on me that I was cycling 'quite' fast, and really enjoying it I'd driven round the cycle route after I'd registered yesterday, which was a good idea as I knew about the slightly fiddly bit through the industrial estate, and then I was on the stretch of the route I'd cycled with Ferret a couple of weeks ago. I knew I was on the home straight and what's more, I was catching up with one of the women who had overtaken me much earlier on. I thought, hmm, if I draft I'll be DQ'd so I *have* to commit to catching and overtaking her. So I did
It was all so much better than I'd expected, and I feel much more confident about a longer bike ride now.
T2 was a great deal quicker, and would have been even quicker if another competitor hadn't put her bike in my space As there was very little room for my bike it took a bit of wiggling to get it racked. While wiggling the bike my race belt got caught on something and one of the 'stoppers' pinged off in to the grass.
Set off on the run and for the first couple of hundred metres I was trying to thread the stopper-less elastic back through the hole in my number and tie knots in the elastic to keep my number properly visible (I wasn't going to get DQ'd for no number at this stage!) I overtook a lot of women on the run but many of them will have been doing the sprint distance of 5k rather than my measly 2.5k. I was quite glad that it was just the one lap for me but my legs felt fine and I could have managed 5k. Ferret took this photo of me as I was heading to the finish:
And so it was over. My swim buddy had done very well, my running clubmates had done very well, I had done .... not badly, but with definite room for improvement. I must get this swimming nonsense sorted. I can certainly speed up in transition, and I believe I can knock minutes off my bike time. A reasonable start. In fact, better than I'd feared and better than I'd hoped for. I felt a bit tearful as I drove away - relief and euphoria, I think!
Stats:
Swim: (400m) 14:21.5 (I was hoping for nearer 12 :-()
T1 3:59.1 (I really could have done this a bit quicker. I won't bother with faffing with my Garmin in future - the event is chipped after all.)
Bike (20Km) 50:46.7 - I was expecting an hour so am *really* pleased, but could surely get down into the 40's I reckon
T2 1:20.3 Bike faffing
Run (officially 2.5 km, but when I saw my time I knew that couldn't be right. I've plotted it on Fetch and it came out to 2.14km) 12:52. (equiv to 9:38min/mile.) That's fine. Next time I could push more.
I was first in my age category but I'm pretty sure I was the only one in that category. The official results aren't online yet but I expect I came last ;-). I'll add those details when I've got them.
So there we are - my first tri. Not wholly successful, but I feel the pluses outweigh the minuses. I did enjoy it. Especially once it was over
****EDIT **** results are up - I wasn't last!! Swim: 62/63 Bike: 58/63 Run 31/63 overall 60/63 and indeed, age cat 1/1
Firstly, organising myself before the start. Registration was yesterday afternoon, so I had my chip and hat etc with me when I arrived on site, nice and early so I thought. I had picked up the registration pack for my friend yesterday, and she was in an earlier wave (she was doing the sprint distance, and was in the Vet40+ category which was first off) so I needed to be there in plenty of time for her. In fact, I was the one who didn't have enough time and I think that's partly due to inexperience but also not having a support crew in the form of an OH with me (he was cyclo-cross racing on the banks of the river Severn this morning.)
We went to rack our bikes and although I racked mine as instructed by the organiser yesterday, a marshal pounced on me to say I'd hung it the wrong way round
I must have looked confused and another marshal intervened to say that no, I had it right, so I left it as it was. I lay out my little towel, shoes, a little plastic bag containing a chopped up Snickers bar and a bottle of water. I also put down a very lightweight but windproof Ronhill gilet OH bought me when I first started running, but which I hardly use for running. It is very useful on the bike though and as it was quite overcast I wasn't sure if I'd need it today. I added my cycling shorts to the pile too :-). I know the 'Basic Triathlon Questions' thread folk (to whom I am very grateful, incidentally) said that chamois butter would be enough, I wasn't sure about that and reserved the right to pop the cycling shorts on top of my trisuit shorts in T1. I knew I could run perfectly comfortably in them too. Even so, before I'd left home I had applied copious amounts of vaseline to myself and chamois Butt'r to the pad in the trisuit Then I walked back to the car to collect my wetsuit and bits and bobs (why I didn't carry it all down to the competitors' area in one go I don't know. As I walked back I realised I was still wearing my helmet
What a div! So back into transition I go and put *the* most important bit of kit on the pile. (But see later ;-)) All this walking to and fro consumed a lot of time and I needed a loo stop before I could get my wetsuit on beyond half way. Getting a bit - not panicky, but certainly the nervous tension was ratcheting up - I stood in the queue and chatted to a girl in front who was doing the super-sprint too. She was wearing quite thick-lensed specs and it suddenly hit me - I too was wearing my glasses! They needed to be on that pile beneath my bike, not on my face! (She had a boyfriend to hand hers to at the start of the swim, and her 'proper' specs were already in the transition area. The transition area closes to everyone at 7:55. At 7:54 I sprinted down the line of bikes to mine (right at the far end, natch :-(). The marshal told me they were closing and I explained why I needed to get to my bike. 'Be very quick then!' Reader, I was. Phew.
By which time the queue for the loos had disappeared as the sprint distance women were already in the water.
Then it was our turn to get in the water. I have been well and truly spoiled by my weekly morning swims in this lake. When I get in the water is usually very still and clear, and if there are six people in the whole lake that's a busy morning. This time (and much like that aquathlon the other week) the water, though comfortably warm, was rather brown and churned up. I know it's clean but it's not as inviting as usual. I couldn't hear the briefing about the route (swim hat plus ear plugs equals deafness) but gathered which buoys we were heading for and which way round we were to pass them. Sadly I was on the wrong side of the crowd so would have to swim slightly diagonally to make sure I went round the right side.
The siren sounded and off we swam. I had tried to loiter towards the back but so had a lot of other women and there was quite a bit of bumping into each other. I tried to swim outside the main group even though it would have meant having to swim a longer way to the first buoy but within a very few strokes I was beginning to feel my breathing turn into gasping. I did a few strokes of breathing on every left arm stroke so that I didn't get a mouthful of water on my right side but I'm just not used to that rhythm and I could feel the whole thing falling apart. I was talking to myself in my head all the time, saying Keep Calm, you can do this, you will get round. At least at no time did I think of giving up, and even though by the time I got to the first buoy there were just a couple of other women around me - and they were breaststrokers - I just said, well, keep going, you're making progress. I did have to switch to breaststroke too though - I just couldn't relax enough to cope with front crawl, which is a big disappointment as I'm normally very relaxed on that stroke and this is two races in a row where I haven't swum my normal style. I wrote 'been able to swim my normal style' there - but I can't really put my finger on what is 'preventing' me. Nerves play a part, for sure, but last year I managed a 750m aquathlon ok.
Anyway, after a lot of breaststroke - which is so much more tiring but at least you can breathe ok - I rounded the final buoy. Each time I did some front crawl I overtook the two other back markers, but then when I switched stroke they overtook me. It ended with me being last out of the water. Totally not what I had hoped for, or, if I'm honest, expected.
Into T1. I grabbed some Snickers and a quick swig of water, finished getting my wetsuit off, no problem there, but sat down to put my shoes and socks on - bit of time lost there though the elastic laces were the right choice - then put on my cycle mitts, specs and finally, helmet. I didn't bother with the gilet but I did put the cycle shorts on. I put my Garmin on. I took a long time
- 3:59.1! So much so that a marshal, who I know from running club, remarked drily, 'Come on! It's supposed to be a race, Daisy!' On to the bike stage. I'd made sure my gears were in a nice easy starting off gear. At the turn out onto the main road there was no traffic to wait for and immediately I was bowling along and feeling quite good. Then I realised I hadn't started my Garmin. Oh well, each stage is chipped, I didn't really need the Garmin. The police were manning a nasty cross roads and waved me and a couple of other cyclists across. Then there's a long flat stretch where I was happy to use my highest gears. I was overtaken by a number of women, several looking as if they were putting no more effort in than if they were just popping to the shops :-). I wasn't worried, I was just glad to be ticking off the kilometres comfortably. And I *was* comfortable. It might have looked weird, but having the extra padding of the cycle shorts meant the whole ride was really comfy
The roads were quiet, just a few cars who all gave us plenty of room, and I could hear skylarks in the fields. It dawned on me that I was cycling 'quite' fast, and really enjoying it
I'd driven round the cycle route after I'd registered yesterday, which was a good idea as I knew about the slightly fiddly bit through the industrial estate, and then I was on the stretch of the route I'd cycled with Ferret a couple of weeks ago. I knew I was on the home straight and what's more, I was catching up with one of the women who had overtaken me much earlier on. I thought, hmm, if I draft I'll be DQ'd so I *have* to commit to catching and overtaking her. So I did It was all so much better than I'd expected, and I feel much more confident about a longer bike ride now.
T2 was a great deal quicker, and would have been even quicker if another competitor hadn't put her bike in my space
As there was very little room for my bike it took a bit of wiggling to get it racked. While wiggling the bike my race belt got caught on something and one of the 'stoppers' pinged off in to the grass. Set off on the run and for the first couple of hundred metres I was trying to thread the stopper-less elastic back through the hole in my number and tie knots in the elastic to keep my number properly visible (I wasn't going to get DQ'd for no number at this stage!) I overtook a lot of women on the run but many of them will have been doing the sprint distance of 5k rather than my measly 2.5k. I was quite glad that it was just the one lap for me but my legs felt fine and I could have managed 5k. Ferret took this photo of me as I was heading to the finish:
And so it was over. My swim buddy had done very well, my running clubmates had done very well, I had done .... not badly, but with definite room for improvement. I must get this swimming nonsense sorted. I can certainly speed up in transition, and I believe I can knock minutes off my bike time. A reasonable start. In fact, better than I'd feared and better than I'd hoped for. I felt a bit tearful as I drove away - relief and euphoria, I think!
Stats:
Swim: (400m) 14:21.5 (I was hoping for nearer 12 :-()
T1 3:59.1
(I really could have done this a bit quicker. I won't bother with faffing with my Garmin in future - the event is chipped after all.) Bike (20Km) 50:46.7 - I was expecting an hour so am *really* pleased, but could surely get down into the 40's I reckon
T2 1:20.3 Bike faffing
Run (officially 2.5 km, but when I saw my time I knew that couldn't be right. I've plotted it on Fetch and it came out to 2.14km) 12:52. (equiv to 9:38min/mile.) That's fine. Next time I could push more.
I was first in my age category but I'm pretty sure I was the only one in that category. The official results aren't online yet but I expect I came last ;-). I'll add those details when I've got them.
So there we are - my first tri. Not wholly successful, but I feel the pluses outweigh the minuses. I did enjoy it. Especially once it was over
****EDIT **** results are up - I wasn't last!! Swim: 62/63 Bike: 58/63 Run 31/63 overall 60/63 and indeed, age cat 1/1
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