Well, I’ve completed my first triathlon, not quite in world record-beating time but it was a resounding success, I achieved everything I wanted to and a little more; I had a great time, I learnt a few things without making a complete balls-up and surpassed my expectations in terms of perfermance. Here follows an overly detailed report which I have written for myself more than on-lookers, but you are free to delve into any part you may be interested in.
Travel & Build Up
Woke up an hour before the alarm, couldn’t really sleep though I knew I needed to. ‘Hadn’t fully decided on breakfast strategy, went for muesli and banana…too much in retrospect. Showered and woke the wife pre-arranged 30 mins before planned set-off time. She’d not been feeling too well yesterday so I was, or should have been, prepared for her not to be fit enough to go, but wasn’t and she clearly wasn’t well enough to come along. Packed up and left 15 mins late. The main advantage of the wife not going was that meant I could zone out on the trip. I let Julian (our SatNav) direct my every movement and listened to some inane ‘debate’ on Radio 5 (I genuinely can’t recall the topic even though I listened intently for nearly 2 hours). Arrived in the village of Etwall an hour ahead of set off time so ambled over to registration, sans bike, turns out the car park is about half a mile away from registration. Thankfully I’d at least taken my tri-suit, so I got changed, but put my tracksuit back on over the top. Jog back to car…forty mins to go and only 5 mins to get to race orientation. Ooops. Scarper back to event…pre-race talk totally pointless really; “Follow the arrows” would have been sufficient (this isn’t a criticism of the organisation, a compliment really that they’d laid everything out so well, also was nice to just have an overview and someone confirm it all for you). Twenty mins to go…arrrgghhh…I need to be at poolside in five minutes! I haven’t laid out my transition area nor gone to the toilet! Decide laying out the transition area is the priority. Do this and get some handy hints from bloke next to me (like go back and get the swim cap that you’ll need) who is similarly disorganised, but has done several triathlons previously. The transition area, I had convinced myself – though based on nothing other than assumptions, would be on tarmac – nope – grass, except now it’s mud. I throw my towel pretty much into the middle of the biggest puddle around – no shower will be fine – and make my way to the pool.
The Swim (400m)
I had heard about the chaos of swim starts for outdoor swims – the washing machine – but had assumed a pool start would be calm. I couldn’t have been more wrong. As the countdown to my start came along all three of the other swimmers in my lane were bearing down on me. As the starting whistle went I was in between two who were turning. I set-off. "Beep" as I start my watch. All four of us are now together. In theory I should be the fastest swimmer in the lane at this point and the person in front of me appears to almost come to a standstill only 10 metres into my swim. “What do I do?” I panic and go to overtake. It becomes apparent she was slowing down for the swimmer in front who had snagged themselves on the rope. The person behind me also goes to overtake. Complete chaos ensues for the next four laps as we over and undertake each other constantly. Someone leaves; someone else gets in, more pandemonium. In the middle of this I also discard my watch (had never warn one in the pool before the drag was far greater than I’d expected). It looked calm in other lanes, but ours was mental, almost the entire time. When it settled down I tried to remind myself of my original plan, “Focus on breathing calmly” “Two laps left” shows the sign and shouts a voice from above. I honestly would have guessed that I’d completed 6 to 8 laps. Tried to power the last 2 but too much congestion. I’m out of the pool in 8 mins flat. Almost exactly as predicted. Happy with that, though God only knows how this transpired.
To T1….
There’s a approx 200m run on concrete and then mud at Derby Triathlon, so (against my fellow competitor’s advice) I’d left socks and shoes out side the pool for the run back to the transition area. Not sure whether this turned out to be wise or not, people around me who I was faster than in the pool passed me as I put the trainers on so probably not. Around 90 secs I think to entering T1
T1
I managed to stay calm until my wet socks don't allow my bike shoes on (Vaseline next time…) and managed a decent pace trot along the mud in my cleats, slow on the pavement and slow mount/start. Out in around 2/3 mins – room for improvement here.
Bike (18Km)
The bike was the aspect concerning me most. I’d never managed a ride achieving anything more than 14mph. Knowing the winners would be whizzing past at over 20mph and those around me probably around 17/18mph, this was a big concern. I just hadn’t been riding on a route which didn’t have lots of junctions so had always been stop-starting, I’d also suffered from not knowing my correct bike set-up. Anyway, as I set-off a couple of guys on super-cool TT-bikes go straight past me, at pace. “Is this going to be 11 miles of being over-taken???” I panic again. Thankfully a few slower paced people allow me past at similar relative speeds and I regain my composure and start…spinning, this is an elusive feeling for me and the panacea for cyclists...I think it means getting the rhythm going. Whatever it is I get it fleetingly throughout the ride and for the first time ever, really, I feel like a cyclist. About the same number of people go past me as I pass, not many. The only problem is that I can feel a build up of lactic acid in my quads, unsurprising as I’m effectively doing a form of exercise I’ve never previously experienced. Idiot car pulls out in front of me, close to slamming into the back of him, only avoid doing so by him pulling into the on-coming carriageway as he realises his error. Overall the bike was fantastic. Dismount after about 38 mins (I’ll have to confirm this later, I lost all watch control at this stage). That’s 11.6 miles in 38 mins… 17.6mph. Wow. I’d expected around 43/44 mins. Delighted with bike performance.
T2
From around half way on the bike the lactic build-up made me realise that I was going to suffer on the run. I had done longer ‘brick’ sessions, both bike and run consecutively and found my running pace hadn’t really suffered. But this was because I’d never biked non-stop at pace before. I was more than willing to sacrifice what I hoped would be some temporary pain on the run as I felt I was gaining so much time on the bike. As soon as I dismounted I felt it. In fact my legs wobbled and the marshals around me went to help me and then laughed with me as the jelly-legs hit me. I managed to force myself into decent run posture and had a reasonable trot into transition and a very calm and quick T2. I even managed to pass a few people who stopped for drinks etc. Out of T2 in around 2 mins.
Run (5Km)
I have ran 5K in 22mins and was secretly hoping to do this in 23, but my punishing bike session meant this wasn’t going to happen. I’d hoped my legs would come back to me after half way or perhaps after a downhill section, but they never did. The few bursts I attempted just increased the pain in my legs and slowed me immediately afterwards. By now a number of the later-starting swimmers were coming past, some sprinting (number 93 in particular whizzed by) and I couldn’t find anyone in front of me who I could hold onto. Although I knew, to an extent at least, this was caused by a great bike it irked me in my strongest discipline. I thought I might be able to either muster a sprint finish or creep under 25 mins, but both eluded me. Though I'm not unhappy about this, it just gives me the area to focus my training on (the bike, not the run!). Perhaps the only genuinely disappointing aspect of the day was that out of the crowd of around 50-100 people at the finish, no-one applauded me or my close-by finshers. I cross the line(/inflatable?) in 26 minutes-ish.
Overall
All-in-all it was a great event and a memory I will treasure. I performed better than expected at 1hr 15mins (this is still to be verified, is currently based on what the close-by finishers said they'd clocked) compared to 1hr 20 expected/target, and have learnt some important things. But most of all, I can say the sentence I have longed to over the past few months…
“I am Rob Bane and I am a triathlete”
Woohoo!
Travel & Build Up
Woke up an hour before the alarm, couldn’t really sleep though I knew I needed to. ‘Hadn’t fully decided on breakfast strategy, went for muesli and banana…too much in retrospect. Showered and woke the wife pre-arranged 30 mins before planned set-off time. She’d not been feeling too well yesterday so I was, or should have been, prepared for her not to be fit enough to go, but wasn’t and she clearly wasn’t well enough to come along. Packed up and left 15 mins late. The main advantage of the wife not going was that meant I could zone out on the trip. I let Julian (our SatNav) direct my every movement and listened to some inane ‘debate’ on Radio 5 (I genuinely can’t recall the topic even though I listened intently for nearly 2 hours). Arrived in the village of Etwall an hour ahead of set off time so ambled over to registration, sans bike, turns out the car park is about half a mile away from registration. Thankfully I’d at least taken my tri-suit, so I got changed, but put my tracksuit back on over the top. Jog back to car…forty mins to go and only 5 mins to get to race orientation. Ooops. Scarper back to event…pre-race talk totally pointless really; “Follow the arrows” would have been sufficient (this isn’t a criticism of the organisation, a compliment really that they’d laid everything out so well, also was nice to just have an overview and someone confirm it all for you). Twenty mins to go…arrrgghhh…I need to be at poolside in five minutes! I haven’t laid out my transition area nor gone to the toilet! Decide laying out the transition area is the priority. Do this and get some handy hints from bloke next to me (like go back and get the swim cap that you’ll need) who is similarly disorganised, but has done several triathlons previously. The transition area, I had convinced myself – though based on nothing other than assumptions, would be on tarmac – nope – grass, except now it’s mud. I throw my towel pretty much into the middle of the biggest puddle around – no shower will be fine – and make my way to the pool.
The Swim (400m)
I had heard about the chaos of swim starts for outdoor swims – the washing machine – but had assumed a pool start would be calm. I couldn’t have been more wrong. As the countdown to my start came along all three of the other swimmers in my lane were bearing down on me. As the starting whistle went I was in between two who were turning. I set-off. "Beep" as I start my watch. All four of us are now together. In theory I should be the fastest swimmer in the lane at this point and the person in front of me appears to almost come to a standstill only 10 metres into my swim. “What do I do?” I panic and go to overtake. It becomes apparent she was slowing down for the swimmer in front who had snagged themselves on the rope. The person behind me also goes to overtake. Complete chaos ensues for the next four laps as we over and undertake each other constantly. Someone leaves; someone else gets in, more pandemonium. In the middle of this I also discard my watch (had never warn one in the pool before the drag was far greater than I’d expected). It looked calm in other lanes, but ours was mental, almost the entire time. When it settled down I tried to remind myself of my original plan, “Focus on breathing calmly” “Two laps left” shows the sign and shouts a voice from above. I honestly would have guessed that I’d completed 6 to 8 laps. Tried to power the last 2 but too much congestion. I’m out of the pool in 8 mins flat. Almost exactly as predicted. Happy with that, though God only knows how this transpired.
To T1….
There’s a approx 200m run on concrete and then mud at Derby Triathlon, so (against my fellow competitor’s advice) I’d left socks and shoes out side the pool for the run back to the transition area. Not sure whether this turned out to be wise or not, people around me who I was faster than in the pool passed me as I put the trainers on so probably not. Around 90 secs I think to entering T1
T1
I managed to stay calm until my wet socks don't allow my bike shoes on (Vaseline next time…) and managed a decent pace trot along the mud in my cleats, slow on the pavement and slow mount/start. Out in around 2/3 mins – room for improvement here.
Bike (18Km)
The bike was the aspect concerning me most. I’d never managed a ride achieving anything more than 14mph. Knowing the winners would be whizzing past at over 20mph and those around me probably around 17/18mph, this was a big concern. I just hadn’t been riding on a route which didn’t have lots of junctions so had always been stop-starting, I’d also suffered from not knowing my correct bike set-up. Anyway, as I set-off a couple of guys on super-cool TT-bikes go straight past me, at pace. “Is this going to be 11 miles of being over-taken???” I panic again. Thankfully a few slower paced people allow me past at similar relative speeds and I regain my composure and start…spinning, this is an elusive feeling for me and the panacea for cyclists...I think it means getting the rhythm going. Whatever it is I get it fleetingly throughout the ride and for the first time ever, really, I feel like a cyclist. About the same number of people go past me as I pass, not many. The only problem is that I can feel a build up of lactic acid in my quads, unsurprising as I’m effectively doing a form of exercise I’ve never previously experienced. Idiot car pulls out in front of me, close to slamming into the back of him, only avoid doing so by him pulling into the on-coming carriageway as he realises his error. Overall the bike was fantastic. Dismount after about 38 mins (I’ll have to confirm this later, I lost all watch control at this stage). That’s 11.6 miles in 38 mins… 17.6mph. Wow. I’d expected around 43/44 mins. Delighted with bike performance.
T2
From around half way on the bike the lactic build-up made me realise that I was going to suffer on the run. I had done longer ‘brick’ sessions, both bike and run consecutively and found my running pace hadn’t really suffered. But this was because I’d never biked non-stop at pace before. I was more than willing to sacrifice what I hoped would be some temporary pain on the run as I felt I was gaining so much time on the bike. As soon as I dismounted I felt it. In fact my legs wobbled and the marshals around me went to help me and then laughed with me as the jelly-legs hit me. I managed to force myself into decent run posture and had a reasonable trot into transition and a very calm and quick T2. I even managed to pass a few people who stopped for drinks etc. Out of T2 in around 2 mins.
Run (5Km)
I have ran 5K in 22mins and was secretly hoping to do this in 23, but my punishing bike session meant this wasn’t going to happen. I’d hoped my legs would come back to me after half way or perhaps after a downhill section, but they never did. The few bursts I attempted just increased the pain in my legs and slowed me immediately afterwards. By now a number of the later-starting swimmers were coming past, some sprinting (number 93 in particular whizzed by) and I couldn’t find anyone in front of me who I could hold onto. Although I knew, to an extent at least, this was caused by a great bike it irked me in my strongest discipline. I thought I might be able to either muster a sprint finish or creep under 25 mins, but both eluded me. Though I'm not unhappy about this, it just gives me the area to focus my training on (the bike, not the run!). Perhaps the only genuinely disappointing aspect of the day was that out of the crowd of around 50-100 people at the finish, no-one applauded me or my close-by finshers. I cross the line(/inflatable?) in 26 minutes-ish.
Overall
All-in-all it was a great event and a memory I will treasure. I performed better than expected at 1hr 15mins (this is still to be verified, is currently based on what the close-by finishers said they'd clocked) compared to 1hr 20 expected/target, and have learnt some important things. But most of all, I can say the sentence I have longed to over the past few months…
“I am Rob Bane and I am a triathlete”
Woohoo!
Edit: My times have been confirmed as:
Swim + run to T1 + T1: 11mins 17sec - Room for improvement here, especially in transition
Bike + T2: 38mins 27sec - Whoa!
Run: 24mins 46secs - Yay beat the 25mins target afterall!
Total: 1hr 14mins 30 secs - Yeehah!
6 comments:
brilliant - congratulations! sounds like an impressive time too, and thanks for the blow-by-blow account - have realised i really need to start doing proper blocks! congrats again :)
Cheers, al, all the best to you!
well done Bob, welcome to the fraternity, it will only get better and it also sounds like you enjoy the competitive side of it so you will be able to target your own time to try to beat it, get those transitions sorted and you will be flying. Oh, and the odd brick session will probably help.
Good to hear of a first timer enjoying the experience.
Rosey.
cheers for your reply, I have loads of race reports on there plenty more on my other site and you know where I am on RW (ironrose) so if you need anything, just holler !
Awesome. I didn't know the date and just went over today. I would have commented earlier. What a feeling huh? And man, the pool could be brutal. Its great to see the times, and you should be completely made up. Well done, Triathlete!!
as a new triathlete as of a fortnight ago may I say...
Welcome to the club... TRIATHLETE.
Sounds like you had a great race - and just keep saying it to yourself cos it feels great...
"I am a Triathlete".
fantastic stuff and I hope to see you at Etwall next year as I have it in my diary :-)
didds
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