After an awesome
triathlon training holiday in the Pyrenees last week with Embrace Sport(Blog
coming), I thought it was time
to jump straight into my first triathlon, conquer my open water fear and convert myself from a Duathlete to
a Triathlete!
The event was
called the Mini Marshman (Sprint Triathlon), a very well run event by a local
company called Velocity Events. There was also the Marshman Standard (Olympic
distance) and for the hard-core, the Marshman (half iron man
distance). It was held in Lydd lakes
near Rye. Landing home Thursday night, I quickly ordered a triathlon suit
online which I picked up on Friday for Saturday (thank goodness it fit, though it was pinker than I
expected, not the most intimidating colour!).
Saturday
I rolled out of
bed at 5am to have a quick pre-race breakfast though I couldn’t stomach coffee yet and with my large bag (you need to take so much
more than for a Duathlon; Wetsuit, towel, goggles, dry clothes etc),headed to the event. As I was
driving, it was
drizzling and only 9 degrees, which was making me dread the lake and the
freezing temperature it was
going to be. I arrived to a field at 6am to register, thinking maybe I should
hop in the car and turn round! I then racked my bike and unenthusiastically set
to work taking off layers, applying body glide (to help you quickly take your
wet suit on and off) and putting on the wetsuit. Joining many shivering bodies by the entrance
of the lake, we had our
race briefing and then plunged into the lake.
Swim:
Once getting
into the lake, I
hovered at the back before the horn. I was freezing! Every time I put my head
underwater I lost my breath and couldn’t breathe. Trying
to acclimatise by dunking my head and letting a bit of water into the wet suit
to warm up, the horn went off. Everyone charged off while
I panicked and went into a weird front crawl with head out the water/ breast
stroke swim. Not the most technical and very slow! There were a couple of others in the water
also doing breast stroke so I didn’t feel so bad. The
swim felt a lot longer than in the pool, probably as you have no wall to push
off every 25m! I did feel very safe in the water with a kayak alongside me most
of the way (as I was at the back!) Having completed the swim, I headed
to transition with wet feet. The transition was slow I got the wetsuit off
fairly quickly but took a while drying my feet and putting on some socks and a
jacket! I didn’t want to get cold on the bike (as
you know from previous experience!).
Bike:
The bike course
was 24km and a lovely flat course heading to Camber and back, there was a slight head wind but I
enjoyed it and started overtaking a couple of participants which made up for
the swim! T2 was fairly quick (having practiced many bike run transitions!), I
think I even overtook a few during this.)
Run:
My strength,
though I did have strange pins and needles in my feet, maybe from the swim or
cold! Anyway I charged off and overtook a few more participants. After a fairly
flat 6k through the village I sprinted the last few hundred metres to the
finish! Where I was given a medal and some well-earned Jaffa cakes. It was also great that you
could get your times there and then and I was super pleased with a 3rd Lady place (bottle of wine and a
trophy!), what a surprise! My goal for this race was to just complete it, get round the lake
without panicking and get to the end! Done!!
From now on, it's time for some more open water sessions before
the Hyde Park Triathlon next
weekend. Dan has written me a new programme which I started this week , it
includes swimming now; with the main goal still to improve my running and
cycling for Worlds. It’s great to be training again I have
missed the structured sessions. I’ve also been to a
lake to train this week and managed the regular front crawl so am looking
forward to next weekend knowing what to expect, though the field is going to be
a lot larger! My goal is to improve my swimming time and not be last out the
water…..!
 |
| Sunday then consisted of an 8mile trail run with Mango, who was pretty knackered by the end! |
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