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HectorJelly Blog Updates: Triathlon

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    HectorJelly Blog Updates: Triathlon

    I completed my first Triathlon yesterday, in some ways it was easier than I expected, some ways harder. It starts very early, I had to be out of bed at 7am. Considering my normal bet time is 5am this wasn't easy. We made it on time though, (despite forgetting all my swimming gear, and my friend Gary forgetting his helmet).

    The race started at 9am, with wave one (each wave consisted of about 25 people) starting in the pool. I had thought that they would let the fast people go first, so that they would have a clear run and be able to get a good time. They organised it the opposite way around though, with the slowest going first. So for about 30 minutes we had to sit and watch a group of 25 people swim back and forth. At the speed they were going you would be forgiven for thinking they were just out for a normal swim. Towards the end I realised some were doing the back crawl, stopping and taking a breath at each end before going again. I'm all for getting unfit people fit, but not at 9.00am in the morning when I am a captive audience.

    So we finally got in the pool around 10.30. In each lane there was 5 or 6 swimmers and you had to organise who you thought would be the fastest. I had no idea how I was going to measure up, I've done the 750m swim in 19mins, but that was in a 12.5 meter pool. This was a 25 meter pool, and I knew I could get a faster time, but not sure how much. So I started third. At the start of the year I was most worried about the swim than any other section. I hadn't swam past a few laps in years. But over the last few months I have done more swimming training than any other activity. In the end I found it a breeze. The biggest problem I had was constantly having to overtake people. There was one particular fat guy who was so large I could only overtake at each end. The staff were really good though (A common theme) and got him to stop at each end so I could overtake him. I did the swim in 15:43, and I think I could easily reduce this by about 2 or 3 minutes with no extra training by pushing myself a bit harder, and being with a faster group.

    Out of the wave of 25 people I left the swimming pool fourth. I then had to run out and change into my shorts. This was a bit of a problem though, my newly bought swimming togs refused to come off. There was a large group of people all around the changing area watching and shouting encouragement. I tried to use a towel to keep my dignity but it kept blowing in the wind. I decided I had two choices, a) throw caution to the wind and rip my pants down with both hands exposing myself to everyone. b) put my shorts on over my togs. Obviously I chose b.

    So the cycle began. This was the most fun section of the entire race. We cycled 10k out to a roundabout, and then back again. The route was littered with stewards, spectators and police; all pointing out the route and shouting encouragement. The way back was particularly cool, flying in and out of roundabouts with traffic stopped all around was deadly. I had a small problem with my bike, the night before I broke one of the pedal clips, and that was constant if slight source of annoyance. I doubt it affected my time that much. The only bad thing that happened during the cycle was opening my mouth at one stage, and a fly flying straight in and down my gullet. I had a weird bad fly taste in my throat for a while!

    I finished the 20k cycle in 44mins. Again I could improve this with no training if I pushed myself a bit. The hardest part was to follow.

    Probably the only part of the race where I questioned my decision to get involved was the start of the running. A found the cycle fine, but the last thing my body expected to do straight afterwards was to start running. I had shooting pains going all up my thighs. It wasn't that bad though and I had the feeling it would pass. I shuffled on for a while and then what I was really worried about occurred, my calves got sorer and sorer. I know from experience that there is no running through that, because it just gets sorer and sorer to the point where it is agony to move. So I had to stop several times and stretch both calves out. I had just gotten to the half way point where I saw Gary for the first time since the swim. I had actually assumed he had dropped out, because he was only a little big behind me at the start of the cycle, and its much better cycler than I am. He had developed a pain in his back and that held him back in that section though. He caught up with me and we walked about 1km.

    My calves started feeling better and we decide to run the final 1.5k. As soon as I got going I knew I was going to be able to finish it, I felt fine. Usually when I'm about to play football I give my calves a really good warm up and stretch, which I attempted to do before the Triathlon but it was obviously to far apart from the actual running to do any good.

    So we raced back for the final distance, as we approached the finish line some of the stewards goaded us into racing. We both began to sprint, but after a few paces I started going much faster. Before I crossed the finish line I waited for Gary and we crossed over together. I'm a faster sprinter than he is, but by rights he should of been far ahead of me, he waited with me whilst I had the problem so it wouldn't of been right of me to beat him at the end.

    In conclusion, I'm happy I completed it. I'm very annoyed I had to walk and stop to stretch during the running, it changed my time from average, to averagely bad. I had no problem with fitness or being out of breadth. Its the exact problem I dealt with last year with football. The same thing used to happen to me, but I managed to fix it so it isn't a problem. Its occuring again now because running for several kiliometers on a hard road non-stop is much harder on my muscles than playing football on astoturf. I'll go to the physio again and probably have to get shock absorbers for my runners. As soon as I think I've fixed it I'm going to organise to do another similar distance Triathlon.

    Here are our times: [IMG]file:///C:/Users/Daragh/AppData/Local/Temp/moz-screenshot-2.jpg[/IMG][IMG]file:///C:/Users/Daragh/AppData/Local/Temp/moz-screenshot-3.jpg[/IMG]The ones in between are the transitions. Daragh: Swim 15:43, 2:24. Cycle 44:15, 00:38, Run 38:13 Total 1:41:22
    Gary : Swim 17:42, 3:38. Cycle 45:59, 00:38, Run 33:02 Total 1:41:22

    Thanks a lot to everyone for the support and encouragement, esp those who sent texts. Sorry I couldn't reply but I had no credit.

    [IMG]file:///C:/Users/Daragh/AppData/Local/Temp/moz-screenshot.jpg[/IMG][IMG]file:///C:/Users/Daragh/AppData/Local/Temp/moz-screenshot-1.jpg[/IMG]







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