My first ever triathlon :)

On 14th April I did a Sprint Triathlon. Why? Because I always wanted to do a full triathlon but never actually got round to doing it, then a husband, a couple of house renovations and a couple of babies got in the way. Now my girls are a bit older, (4 and 2) and the discovery that there are such things as mini triathlons - I decided to go for it. I've not swam properly for about 5 years (I swim regularly with the girls but that's not really swimming - that's being a climbing frame/lifeguard/boat/float) and I've not been on a bike for 8 years so swimming and biking were my biggest challenges. I run regularly so that is the only one I was comfortable with! I have lost 2 stone since last June and have kept it off by eating pretty much what I want, although I have been making better choices, but mainly I have been exercising loads to keep it off.

So on the day...It was HARD! The weather was not kind to me at all.

I got there in plenty of time and had to carry my bike from the car park to the venue up about 50 steps! Felt like I'd done a workout before I even started. And I had all my kit to carry too so that was a challenge. I registered and my number was written on the back of my hand and was given all the bits and bobs you need, numbers, chip etc. I then went over to put my bike in the transition area and was kind of copying what everyone else was doing in terms of setting the bike up on the stand, arranging my gear etc. It was so windy so it was a challenge to keep hold of everything. I saw my friend coming in to the transition area after her bike ride (Her start time was 2 hours before mine) and I ran over to her to cheer her on. She told me the bike ride was tough, which made me nervous as biking is my weakest discipline and her strongest. By this time the weather was dry and windy and quite sunny. I returned to where my bike was and realised the envelope with my numbers and chip in had blown away - cue me running round the transition field trying to find it! Eventually I did but blimey did I panic!

My swim went really well, in a pool, 16 lengths and I was sharing a lane with 2 other ladies who were slightly faster than me and it was all very polite in them passing me etc (I was a bit worried about getting in peoples way if I wasn't as fast) I ran out of the exit and had put my running shoes by the door outside for me to put on to run to the transition area - IN THE RAIN! It was around a 400m run to the transition area - in my cozzie, in the - did I mention - RAIN! So I put on my cycling shorts, top and jacket on (which is really quite difficult when you are already wet and trying to dry yourself off with your now soggy towel and putting on your dry clothes that are wet within a second of getting out of the bag!) I went to push my bike up to the top of the field where you were allowed to get on. Again this was a challenge as it was very muddy by this point. So on my bike I go and start the ride on the road. It was TOUGH! My skin was raw with the rain coming down almost horizontally. I nearly got blown off my bike on more than one occasion. I was getting overtaken by a lot of people, they all had fancy road bikes and there I am on my 10 yr old mountain bike. It did me proud though! Also we were on main roads, there was no traffic control at all so I was getting passed by a car towing a caravan every 3 mins and dirty great big lorries. The ride was very hilly and just so exposed to the elements. I could hardly see where I was going due to the rain on my glasses. I had no idea how long it was going to take me and didn't want to look at my watch as I knew it was taking a long time due to the amount of people overtaking me. So when I eventually made it back to the transition area again, pushed my bike down to the even muddier field and then dumped my bike and set off on the 5 k run. I love running but I was struggling as I had major jelly legs and I knew I was running much slower than my comfortable pace. Anyway I completed it, total time 2 hrs 18 mins. I would have like to have done it in under 2 hrs but the bike ride was so hard there was no way I could have. I was happy with my swim time of 11mins 30 and my run time of 30 mins. the bike ride took me an hour and a half but to be honest I'm just grateful I was able to finish it without getting blown off my bike!

So I don't think I'd do another one as I can't see me falling in love with cycling but I enjoyed it overall. Although I have since learned that doing it on a mountain bike would have added at least 20% more time rather than doing it on a road bike, Naively I thought it would be ok but now I know different!