My first Tri!
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MrsM1ggins
Posts: 724 Member
Hey all, it's a bit quiet in here, but I've got something to say so I'm starting a new thread anyway!
In an effort to maintain my promise to myself to not be fat and lazy I've signed up for 4 tris this year. One down, 1 cancelled and 2 more to go!
My first tri was 2 weekends ago and was a standard sprint distance. My preparation was ok in the lead up. I swam some, rode some and ran reasonably regularly so I knew getting round wouldn't be an issue. Since it was my first race I wasn't sure about how long it would take but I guessed 20 mins for the swim, 50 minutes for the cycle and 30 minutes for the run would be achievable, so the target time was 1hr 40.
Race day dawned and a lovely drive through the Perthshire countryside saw me arrive bright and early at the start location. On the way I caught up with a car wearing a very nice TT bike on the roof rack and it took a serious effort of will to stay behind him - I guessed the only way I would be overtaking him was in the car!
After snagging the last parking space in the car park (pretty jammy!) I headed in to registration. A quick exchange of details and I collected my goody bag and headed back out to set up at transition. I must have checked my setup a dozen times. Do I have everything? Is my water bottle on the bike? Have I put everything where it's supposed to be? Eventually I had to just give myself a talking to and stop fussing.
Time for the race briefing. I'd already checked the bike route and knew it was pretty flat with one fairly long climb just past halfway but I was surprised when he described the run as "up the hill to the turn around point and then back down again". Yes, my first tri had a 2.5k uphill run in it :sad: I knew it was going to be bad when he told us to "enjoy the view from the top"! Never mind, too late to worry about it at that stage!
It was a pool swim and I was in heat 2, so it wasn't long before it was time to get poolside where the timing chips were issued. I had a great chat with some fellow competitors, did some stretching, donned my orange cap and jumped in the water. 5 swimmers per lane and the heats were organised according to each athlete's predicted swim time. I'd forecast 19 minutes, which was probably accurate when I signed up, but I've been training and knew I'd be a bit quicker than that. Lucky for me 2 of the starters in my lane didn't show so it wasn't too congested, but it is so frustrating catching the swimmer in front but not being able to pass until the turn!
Out of the water and run 100m to transition. Helmet on! Stand on the towel with the talc on it. A quick rub of the feet and it's socks on, shoes on, race belt with number on, specs on, grab gloves and the bike and run! I was pleased to see that the other swimmer from my lane who got out before me was still in transition when I left.
I was pretty slow mounting the bike - need to work on that - but it felt good and I was spinning along quite comfortably, until I hit the first long straight and the headwind. Ouch! Had to drop a gear to maintain my cadence. It was a relief when the road curved slightly to the right after a few k and the high roadside hedge provided some respite. After that I was just maintaining my pace, neither catching riders ahead nor being caught...until the climb. I am not good on hills. Apparently the way to get better on hills is to go up hills, but I still don't like it! I especially didn't like it when someone came past me like I was pedalling backwards! Bloomin' smurfs - should make smaller athletes carry some lead weights to even things up a bit! :grumble:
Back towards transition and it's a quick dismount (need to work on that too!), run through, rack the bike, helmet off, change shoes and off again. Now for that hill...
I'm not going to say it was easy. If I hadn't just swum 750m and cycled 20k I'm sure I could have run up it, but I just couldn't. On the steeper bits I conserved my energy and fast-walked. It seemed to take forever to get to the turn but eventually I got there and then it was time to enjoy the run back down! I went faster, faster, faster the closer to the finish I got, sprinting the last few hundred metres and then it was all over.
Did I enjoy it? Damn right I did.
Will I do it again next year? Definitely.
Did I achieve my target time? Oh yeah! :drinker: 1'35'48
Swim T1 Cycle T2 Run
00:16:39 00:01:29 00:47:12 00:01:20 00:29:06
Am I aiming to be faster next year? What do you think?
In an effort to maintain my promise to myself to not be fat and lazy I've signed up for 4 tris this year. One down, 1 cancelled and 2 more to go!
My first tri was 2 weekends ago and was a standard sprint distance. My preparation was ok in the lead up. I swam some, rode some and ran reasonably regularly so I knew getting round wouldn't be an issue. Since it was my first race I wasn't sure about how long it would take but I guessed 20 mins for the swim, 50 minutes for the cycle and 30 minutes for the run would be achievable, so the target time was 1hr 40.
Race day dawned and a lovely drive through the Perthshire countryside saw me arrive bright and early at the start location. On the way I caught up with a car wearing a very nice TT bike on the roof rack and it took a serious effort of will to stay behind him - I guessed the only way I would be overtaking him was in the car!
After snagging the last parking space in the car park (pretty jammy!) I headed in to registration. A quick exchange of details and I collected my goody bag and headed back out to set up at transition. I must have checked my setup a dozen times. Do I have everything? Is my water bottle on the bike? Have I put everything where it's supposed to be? Eventually I had to just give myself a talking to and stop fussing.
Time for the race briefing. I'd already checked the bike route and knew it was pretty flat with one fairly long climb just past halfway but I was surprised when he described the run as "up the hill to the turn around point and then back down again". Yes, my first tri had a 2.5k uphill run in it :sad: I knew it was going to be bad when he told us to "enjoy the view from the top"! Never mind, too late to worry about it at that stage!
It was a pool swim and I was in heat 2, so it wasn't long before it was time to get poolside where the timing chips were issued. I had a great chat with some fellow competitors, did some stretching, donned my orange cap and jumped in the water. 5 swimmers per lane and the heats were organised according to each athlete's predicted swim time. I'd forecast 19 minutes, which was probably accurate when I signed up, but I've been training and knew I'd be a bit quicker than that. Lucky for me 2 of the starters in my lane didn't show so it wasn't too congested, but it is so frustrating catching the swimmer in front but not being able to pass until the turn!
Out of the water and run 100m to transition. Helmet on! Stand on the towel with the talc on it. A quick rub of the feet and it's socks on, shoes on, race belt with number on, specs on, grab gloves and the bike and run! I was pleased to see that the other swimmer from my lane who got out before me was still in transition when I left.
I was pretty slow mounting the bike - need to work on that - but it felt good and I was spinning along quite comfortably, until I hit the first long straight and the headwind. Ouch! Had to drop a gear to maintain my cadence. It was a relief when the road curved slightly to the right after a few k and the high roadside hedge provided some respite. After that I was just maintaining my pace, neither catching riders ahead nor being caught...until the climb. I am not good on hills. Apparently the way to get better on hills is to go up hills, but I still don't like it! I especially didn't like it when someone came past me like I was pedalling backwards! Bloomin' smurfs - should make smaller athletes carry some lead weights to even things up a bit! :grumble:
Back towards transition and it's a quick dismount (need to work on that too!), run through, rack the bike, helmet off, change shoes and off again. Now for that hill...
I'm not going to say it was easy. If I hadn't just swum 750m and cycled 20k I'm sure I could have run up it, but I just couldn't. On the steeper bits I conserved my energy and fast-walked. It seemed to take forever to get to the turn but eventually I got there and then it was time to enjoy the run back down! I went faster, faster, faster the closer to the finish I got, sprinting the last few hundred metres and then it was all over.
Did I enjoy it? Damn right I did.
Will I do it again next year? Definitely.
Did I achieve my target time? Oh yeah! :drinker: 1'35'48
Swim T1 Cycle T2 Run
00:16:39 00:01:29 00:47:12 00:01:20 00:29:06
Am I aiming to be faster next year? What do you think?
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Replies
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Sorry to have been so slow spotting this! You've done something brilliant - well done. I had to drop out of my first planned tri due to surgery but intend to break my duck in the autumn.
This account has just spurred me on.
Thanks and super big well done again.:drinker:0 -
Congrats on completing and beating your predicted time! My first tri was in April of this year, and and I just completed my 4th of the season this past weekend. Let me tell you they only get better. You keep chipping away at your times, you find quicker ways to get out of transition, and you tweak things here and there in your gear to make things easier on yourself.
Good luck on your next two, definitely keep us updated.0 -
Congratulations! Enjoyed reading your race report. You had an outstanding finish, especially for your first tri!0
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Just found this... great story!! Thanks for sharing all the details! My first tri is Sunday, and it's great to see your play-by-play. Loved it!0
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Just saw this as well. Great story and great job!
Kath712 have fun at your tri!0 -
Awesome, congrats!!0
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Really looking forward to my first Sprint tri in Oct don't think I will be anywhere close to your time my run really sucks right now.0
