Firstly and most importantly I have done it, I have finished a Olympic Distance Triathlon , which means I swam for 1.5km, I cycled for 40km ( Hilly Course ) and I ran 10km ( Trail ) and I did not puke.
The last bit ( the puking part ) was a close reality during the Run part of the Race but lets start at the beginning which is Race morning :
I have done
that Triathlon twice before, both times before I did the Super Sprint
Distance and I absolutely loved it. Since that was my first ever Triathlon I
have a special affinity to that Race and I thought this is a good Race to start
my Olympic Distance Triathlon Career.
I knew
before the Race that I had not trained sufficiently and that my training is not
organised well enough to finish such a Race anywhere in the front, but I hoped
it would be good enough to finish it.
The Day had
started pretty grey and dark and getting into the Car and at time it did not
look like it would clear up but I decided to ignore that ,I had other things to
worry about for example finished a 1.5km swim.
My Swimming
has improved over the last couple of Month’s quite a bit and even though I did
do far fewer sessions in the pool than I should have done, I still felt I
could do the Swim in a descent enough time. Still I was rather nervous about
that.
Thankfully
I did not have much time to think about that, because all the Girls were in the
second Wave. So finishing up transition, listening to the Race briefing and
getting into Wetsuit was happening in a very short space of time and suddenly I
jumped into the Water and started to swim.
The Sun
suddenly came out after half of the Swim, which I took for a positive sign but
it also meant I could not see a thing anymore, so just swam in the general direction,
which was probably all over the place.
This tactic
worked, I finished the Swim and that was all that had mattered, I did a descent
T1 and was off onto the Bike, I had trained a couple of times on that course and
that paid now of, I had already decided that I would cycle as hard I could.
I would not
care if I would completely and utterly blow on the Run, cycling is one of my
better disciplines and therefor I cycled fast and furious (according to me, not
according to the time).
The Cycle consists out of five loops, not four and not six Loops, it is five loops.
Counting to five can be very complicated ….
Loop one to
three were great, I really felt good , but then on loop four that hill started
to hurt and I just was glad when I passed it for the last time on the last Lap.
Back into
T2 where I took my time to lace my Runners (yes still have normal Laces in my
runners)
And then
onto the Running course, my legs actually felt kind of ok, until I turned into
the Park and had to run uphill, my knee suddenly screamed at me. I couldn't get
the leg straight and I knew immediately why this was happening, on the Bike I
had realized that my clips on one of my shoes were not 100 % aligned and now I
was paying for that.
That did hurt for the first 2-3 km badly, but
I was able to shake that.
I guess because general fatigue just kicked in
and I just trotted along the course as fast as I could.
Fatigued I
was running towards the finish line, but I knew I only had done 4-5 km so far I
really thought I had missed the exit for the second loop , panic was really rising by then.
I was practically in front of the Finish line
when the turn for the second loop came (rather cruel I have to say).
So another
5 km to go which were quite a bit of torture, I had completely blown by this
time , I could not get a drink into me at the water station and I knew I could
not tolerate a Gel . So just trotted on and tried to enjoy the Day.
I was a very happy person when I finished that
Race, which I really enjoyed except for the last 2 km where I just was sick.
I have
finished at the back of the pack but I finished it and more importantly I
really enjoyed it and I think that is what should matter.
Now I will slowly start my Winter Training which then should bring me to my Half Iron in May 2014, there is no chance that I can't take it in any way likely
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