Is Adventure Racing my Type of Sport ?

today i finished my second ever Adventure Race , which meant doing a 1.5km of Kayaking, 12Km of cycling then 8km of Hill running or rather crawling and finishing off with another 19km of Cycling, I did  finish it even though i did finish last. It's not the first time I finished a race last and it will not be the last race where I will be in that position but honestly I did not truly and really enjoy this Race , I had the same feeling last Year when I did a even smaller Adventure Race but back then I did put it down to the bad Weather. The Weather we had today couldn't have been any better, the Sun was out but not too warm at the same time.
I had dreaded the Kayak since this was my really bad discipline last Year, last Year i got cramps in the Kayak, not something to recommend in a flimsy Plastic Kayak, this was fin today and my Kayak time was actually pretty good but my legs were Dead , utterly Dead from the beginning.
This could be down to 2 Reasons, firstly I might have done to little Training and too many Races or because i just have changed my eating habits 2 weeks ago , trying at the moment a mix out of low GI / Paleo Diet. For the Weight it works like a charm but it might not be the best to do this shortly before Races. Since I don't plan on winning Races I decided I rather try to loose the Weight and see what happens next.
Anyway my legs were dead, I kind of could cover this up on the Bike but there was no escape on the Run which happens to be in the pure Irish wilderness, the ground was mostly boggy, wet, slippery and uphill.
So yes that was just a seriously though.
When I came back to bike transition my Bike was the only one left there but I knew a another Girl could only be a couple of minutes in front of me, so I decided to get a bit competitive and try to catch her, I didn't catch her, but I passed another bloke who had a Race number on his Shirt, I didn't even had the strength to give him an encouraging Thumbs up, something I usually never ever miss otherwise.
While I was cycling  to the finish I was cramping like crazy, when I had managed to ease of the cramp in one leg the other one started and vice versa.
The whole Time I was fighting rather hard and here comes my stubborn Head pretty handy, I knew I would finish this somehow, and I did but the enjoyment Part was somehow missing and I can't really put down why.
The Atmosphere on my Triathlons is somehow different and whatever that difference is the Reason why I love my Triathlons but have decided to leave Adventure Races alone for the foreseeable future.
I have to concentrate on Triathlons anyway , end of August is my first ever Olympic distance Triathlon and it would be nice to have a descent amount of training under the Belly for it.
But next weekend is first another Sprint Triathlon , on that one the Swim should not be cancelled since it is a river swim and the Temperatures should be OK.
 I need to recover for that one, at the moment my legs are jut a Mess but that with a bit of luck forgotten in a couple of Days time.

And most importantly : HAPPY TOWEL DAY EVERYONE !

First Triathlon of the Season ? not quite

Saturday was the Big Day ,it should have been the first Triathlon of the Season and more importantly a Sprint Triathlon with a Open Water Swim , my first ever competitive  Open Water Swim. I was nervous in fact I was a Nervous wreck, I arrived on Friday evening and looked at the Sea and amazingly the Water was quite calm, so I told myself I can do this, had to tell myself this very often.

I knew I could expect bad Weather , forecast was not very pretty.

But I told myself that I don't mind the Rain as long as the Sea would be calm enough. So Saturday morning arrived and I had to force myself to eat breakfast, very unlike me I usually like my Food but on Saturday morning I actually had to force every bite down. The Weather at this time was not too bad  and by the time I left the Hotel to get to the Race area I had calmed down a bit and thought "OK the first 20-25 minutes of this are the though part, after that it's cycling and running". With that in mind I really calmed down and then I arrived at the Race and was informed : Due to the Weather Condition we had to cancel the Swim , we will do a Duathlon instead.

Part of me was delighted, the other part bitterly disappointed , no Swim and that after I had fought with myself so badly.

So we started with a 3km Flat run, where I gave everything, I was not completely last when I arrived back in Transition  but nearly last, got onto the Bike and this was a rather steep climb from the beginning, a uphill climb for the first 4-5km and then the Rain came and the Wind, the Race organizer had warned us upfront that on the other site of the Island that there would be a fierce Wind, I had not really believed them but wow that was scary I slowed down nearly to a crawl but I didn't want to take any risks. Triathletes with Disk Wheels on their Bike had actually to give up , they were not able to control the Bikes.

Anyway I managed to finish the Cycle, put my Bike back into transition and the next run started, however this time uphill , the first 2.5km followed the Cycle Route steep uphill , I had to walk for most of that stretch only on the way home the downhill section I was able to run.

I was pretty much out of steam by then, showed very clearly my lack of proper training, but I finished it  and that's the important part.I finished pretty much at the back of the pack but that's something I'm used too and the encouragement I did get from my fellow Competitors was just amazing.

I know I will be more ready for the next Triathlon, and I will be very ready for my First open Water Triathlon which is very likely now only in June.

 I will try to find a Aquathon before that so that I can get rid of my fear of open Water swim and I also would like to get rid of this constant cough but that is something I just have to be patient about 

T -2 and counting

Just over two days left until I should start my first ever open Water Sprint Triathlon , to say my nerves are on the edge would be a understatement. It did not really help that I have been battling a cold for the last Week, I have a really bad cough which doesn't really want to go away, which means my preparation for Saturday were  "Sub optimal" ( that is  how Chrissie Wellington would word it ) .
So I only managed to do a Open Swim twice and it was both times not pleasant , second time the Water was a bit choppy and I was absolutely unable to swim straight or even swim in any shape or Form.
I know if I have similar conditions on Saturday then I will not be able to finish the swim, but not because of the Water Conditions just because I did not prep correctly, I left it all too late.
In the Past I probably would have taken my Cold , my Alpha1 etc all as an excuse ,that doesn't really work like that anymore.
 I just didn't want to get out in bad Weather to train properly, for a change I can't blame anything else.

Anyway part of me hopes for descent Weather ( looking at the moment out of the Windows and seeing Rain and gust Winds ) and just to get through this Swim , the Rest will not be easy either, but I can manage the Cycle and the Run.
Good thing, doing a Sprint Triathlon this early in the Season is that it has been already a major Wake up call ,I'm not competitive but I know that I struggle at the moment with a Sprint then a Olympic Distance Tri in a couple of Month is a big Challenge which I can't fool around with.

So in any Case it will an eventful couple of Days head of me, first Weekends Tri and on Monday I will learn if I can keep my Thyroids, I had my CT Scan yesterday and on Monday they will tell me how much they are growing and if they impact my Breathing , judging from the effects of the Cold I had,
 I believe they are causing a problem since I feel there is an obstruction on the left site of my throat.

Anyway Time to Tri again ......