The First Triathlon of the Year

I'd finally got some training under my belt and ventured out for my first triathlon of the year (come to think of it my first tri since Ironman France in June 07). The weather was fantastic and Anthea and Bethany had come with me to watch and support. It was a sprint with a pool swim so as I arrived there was already people out racing on the course. I had put down for a 6 minute swim and was in the last group of the day to start. I watched a group come out of the swim and through transition before going to register. I racked the bike and set up my kit before changing into my race kit.

Reporting to poolside 15 mins before my race start I watched the other swimmers doing their bit and the nerves started to kick in. A quick brief and it was time to get in the water. I knew from the colour of my swim hat I was one of the slowest swimmers in the wave (but that's to be expected from a crap swimmer!). The whistle went and I was off, I tried to work hard but keep a steady controlled pace, but by the time I exited the water there was only 3 people of the 16 that I started with still in the water.

A quick exit and a good transition and I was on the bike (my favourite bit) and I had made 3 places up within 500 meters. I worked the bike split really hard and pushed myself to make up the time lost in the pool. It was a good sporting course with a decent climb and generally rolling all the way round. I had passed loads of people but with the waves from the swim it was hard to tell who you were racing against by the end of the bike course.

Another great transition and it was on to the run course over 2 and a half laps. By this time there was people all over the run course and it was proving difficult to work out who you were racing against which was annoying as I thought I must be up there with a chance as I felt it had gone well so far. I finally crossed the line in 57:31 although I wasn't to find out for another 2 days. The distances were 400m swim/23km bike/5km run.

There was a timing fault and all the results had to be worked out manually and checked with the video footage of the finish line and finish clock. How close could it of been, I was gutted to find I'd finished 4th missing out on 3rd by 1 second, 2nd by 2 seconds and the winner was only 13 seconds clear of my time. Although slightly disappointed on missing a podium I was over the moon with my performance given the severity of my illness and how ill I had been for some 6 weeks or so. Lets hope its the start of a good season and things continue to go smoothly and I manage to keep my illness under control!!