Swim 400m: 14:01
T1: 3:12
Bike 20.4km: 38:38
T2: 1:29
Run 5km: 24:04
First place: 55:37 (6:01, 30:01, 17:40)
Last place: 2:17:00 (13:43, 1:12:16, 41:40)
Quickly looking down the results from place 600 to 700, I am the fastest on the bike and high up in the run as well. Just getting my swim down to 10 minutes and my T1 to 2 minutes puts me in 400th place.
I also noticed that the last place person beat me on the swim !!!!!
It was the day of my first Triathlon today. The Eton Supersprint. 400m swim, 20.4km ride and the a 5km run.
Our car is broken so I had to cycle the 30 miles to the start of the race. Not the ideal preparation but a nice warm up. I actually enjoyed it. It was cold but clear and I didn't get lost. I managed to get all my gear in my Etape rucksac but the strap decided to break after a couple of miles. I tied it up and it survived the rest of the journey. Cheap French rubbish.
I got there at 9:20 so had a long time to wait until the 10:45 start. I had no idea what I was meant to do so copied everyone else. By 10 my bike was racked, I'd had a coffee and my gear was randomly strewn in front of my bike. I looked around to see what others were doing and tried to copy them. At 10:15, people were putting on their wet suits so I joined them. For the next five minutes, I decided to put on a slapstick performance. First, I put on the wet suit backwards. I then tried to taken it off and fell over. I eventually got it off, turned it around only to put one leg in a leg and the other in an arm. I looked around but thankfully, know one was filming.
I was eventually ready and walked to the start with all the other 40 & 41 year old men (I had been moved to the wrong age group!) and before I knew what was going on, I was floating around in an 11 degree lake wearing a silly hat. We had a briefing, got a countdown, the hooter sounded and we were off. Well, most of the 60 people were off; I just bobbed around trying to breath.
When I did set off I got to 20 meters out and stopped. I could not breath. I was panicking. All I could think of was to get out and quick. I started again but stopped. This was terrible. I watched as the pack disappeared. The support in the boat asked if I was ok. I said no.
I tried again but it wasn't happening. Panic is the only word to describe it. The bloke in the boat asked what was wrong and I said I just can't put my face in the water. He said I should just carry on with breast-stroke or front crawl but with my head out so I did. I occasionally did 5 or 6 strokes with my head in water but that resulted in me stopping a bit to try and relax.
I was last at the first buoy but whenever I did proper front crawl, I caught up the back markers in no time. I just could not sustain it. I thought it would never end but I eventually turned around the second buoy and was in the home 120 meter stretch. I had the slowest ever race with another bloke for last place and it ended in a dead heat.
I was gutted. I staggered out of the water after just 10% of the IM distance and I was exhausted. At that point, this was going to be my one and only tri. As I got to my bike, I saw a friendly face in Simon. It was great to see him. He said I'd done well and to keep going. I did not hurry through my transition much to Simon's amusement.
I set off on the cycle and I was mad. I never thought it would go this badly. I channeled my aggression into my cycling and tried to keep my speed up, constantly encouraged by Simon on each of the 4 laps. In spite of the wind, I got into a good rhythm, passing some of the people from the swim. I enjoyed all of the cycling passing many people with tri bikes and finishing comfortably inside 40 minutes (I didn't stop my watch).
My T2 was good and I was out on my run in no time. My legs were tight after the ride and it took about 1km before I picked up the pace. It was 2 loops of an out and back course and I was quicker on each of the four legs. I finished strongly in around 1:20 but I'm not sure exactly what time.
After a long chat to Simon, I decided to just take each event as it comes, get down to Heron lake every chance I get and just try and conquer my fear. I am also seriously thinking of a hypnotist to try and get ride of this panic feeling.
After taking the examples from the inspiring John Sutton and Rob Shipman, I am thinking of doing an ironman in 2010. I can't really swim that well but I'm pretty sure I can train myself up to get in under the 2 hrs 20 mins cut-off for the 2.4 mile swim. After that, its just a small matter of the 112 mile cycle and 26.2 mile run. These distances don't scare me like the swim does. I know I have no idea what its like to do one after the other but taking them in isolation, I know I can cycle and run that far.
The UK Ironman is in August which is perfect timing before I go on our family holiday. I have been thinking of doing an ironman for a couple of years but now I have gone back to work, time is more scarce. I know my NQT (newly qualified teacher) year will be extremely tough so if I don't do it in 2010, I might have to wait until 2012.
Currently, I have this planned:
2009 05 December 2009 - Endurance Life Gower Marathon
2010 14 February - St. Valentines 30k * 28 February - Meon Valley Plod 14 March - Surrey Spitfire 20 * 28 March - Bedford Harriers Oakley 20 * 18 April - Brighton Marathon 9 May - Fred Whitton * 6 June - Dragon Ride * 1 August - Ironman UK * * Not entered yet
I have a 20 miler every other week up until the marathon as I'm very keen to break my PB. I'll need to add a long ride in every week as well with a really long one in on the weekends I'm not running 20 miles.
The swimming will have to be fitted in during the week and I need to add a couple of triathlons to get used to them. I've done duathlons but the whole wet suit thing is a mystery.
