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Here goes...again!
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Thanks a million guys and gals, you're all so good to think of me.
It was brilliant but soooo hard too. I'm just out to the pub in a few mins so will post a full report tomorrow.
Finished in 1:35:13 -delighted with myself, way better then I had expected. Swim 18.05, cycle 43.55 and run was a very slow 28.25. Transitions were slow so def room to improve there. 2nd fastest lady from my club- woohoo (out of 5
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Love this triathlon lark- cant wait for the next one!!0 -
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Sat 14th April -North Tipp Sprint Triathlon -Nenagh
So here it finally is- the day I've been training for since I started my swimming lessons last September - my first triathlon.
When I joined Nenagh Tri Club last October I set myself the goal of just completing the triathlon in about 2 hours and not coming last. Then as the months went by I started to realise I could probably do it a bit faster than that and so yesterday morning I headed off to the race with the goal of finishing in about 1:40ish.
I was sick with nerves as I parked the car and dropped the goodies off at the hall. I was a bit panicked as it was about 8.45 and I hadnt brought my stuff to transition yet and my car was parked ages away. Walked back to the car and then struggled to carry my box and wheel my bike to transition. By the time I got there I had a dead arm
but I shouldnt have worried- it was all running behind schedule anyway so I didnt have to rush at all. I set my bike up beside my clubmates and set out my stuff like I had seen it laid out on youtube and remembering all the tips ye guys on here gave me.
Race briefing came next then I went to watch the start of the first wave. A few of my club friends were in that wave so it was great to be able to cheer them on. I left my hubby at this stage and peed yet again before coming out on deck to hear our instructions for the pool. I was about to throw up at this stage but things happened so fast in the end that I didnt have much time to think about all that was about to happen.
I was in Lane 4 and we were allowed to do a few lengths warm up before deciding what order we were to go in. There were only 5 of us and one of the guys had changed from a later wave as he had to go home early. His estimated finish time was 12 mins where as mine and the other 4 guys were 18 -20 mins.
A few minuts messing with my goggles and then all of a sudden we were off. I went third and it was a bit crazy for the first few laps. I was wrecked after about 4 and I kept having to stop/start as the guy ahead of my slowed and sped up from time to time. At the same time the guy behind me was on top of me but I had nowhere to go. We all had to stop at the end of every few laps to let the fast guy go ahead. In the beginning I was annoyed at this but then realised I was able to use those few seconds to catch my breath and so didnt have to take any rest breaks like I thought I would have to. I was also glad in the end that the guy ahead was a bit slower and even though he ignored me tapping his feet towards the end I was ok with it because it kept me in check and I didnt tire myself out. The time flew and I was delighted to hear as I hopped out that it was 17.58 mins for my swim. By the time I passed the timing mat it recorded 18.05 for my swim section.
The transition was the scene of a bit of comedy newbie errors. I couldnt think straight, found my bike no problems but then I just stood there for a second thinking 'I'm doing a triathlon eek!!' When i finally managed to come back to reality I spent way too much time drying my feet, then my hair would drip on my feet and I dried them again!!!!! At one point though I copped on and thought 'stop drying your bloody feet you fool!':) Put on my socks and shoes, popped the race number and helmet on and I was off. T1 02:34
Took me a few seconds to clip my foot on the bike and then when I hopped on I kind of just slowly peddled out onto the main road until one of the guys from the club shouted at me 'Just f**in go for it Anita!!' Then I put the boot down and raced off passing 4 people in the process. The wind was brutal coming against me and it made it much more difficult than any other time I've cycled this route. I was still mentally panicking, I couldnt calm my head down. But I pushed on and over took a few more people. Then about 8 minutes in I saw a big long truck coming out from a slip road to my left. He was stopped at the junction as the cyclists about 50m ahead passed by. I thought to myself he has to see me, he isnt going to pull out in front of me, is he? He's not. He is. He cant be!!
He pulled out a bit then stopped and I was relieved as I thought he saw me so I kept going at about 30kmph. Then he started going again and I had no time to do anything- I really thought that if I pulled my breaks now I would end up falling under the side of him as he pulled across the road so in that split instant I decided to go around the front of him and cross the white line onto the other side of the road. The driver slammed on his breaks and I got around him in one piece. I was totally freaking out by then. I hadnt seen a marshall but maybe someone was there and I thought that maybe I would be disqualified for dangerous cycling. But even now I dont know what I could have done differently- he pulled out infront of me and I had no time to clip out and stop.
I was so thrown by it that I slowed right down for a few minutes while I tried to decide what to do. I really thought I would be in big trouble and maybe it was best if I just turned around and gave up. But then I decided I was going to finish this no matter what. So I sped up again and fought on. Got to the turn around in 24 minutes the slowest its ever taken me to get there. However once I turned around and the wind was at my back it was a totally different story and I flew back into Nenagh overtaking a few more people (including one of the v fit girls from my club:D). Got back into transition in less then 20 minutes for a bike total of 43:55 for the 20k
T2 was a bit less panicky then T1 but I still made some silly mistakes. I think the most time was lost in the run from the dismount to the bike rack, my bike shoes irritated my achilles and I was very slow when I should have just gunned it. Then my hair was all over the place when I took my helmet off so I spend a while fixing it:D (my club leader nearly died when I told him this!!) 2.13 for T2. Huge room for improvement there.
I didnt have the usual weird leg sensation from running off the bike. I think it was because I spent a while in transition but still I was wrecked at this point and it was getting very hot so it was very slow going. I just plodded along putting one foot infront of the other. It didnt take me long to realise my run time was going to be very slow so I decided to just enjoy what I was doing, this was my first triathlon- check me out every body- I'm doing it!!!!
The hills on the run course were very tough but the support from my club marshalls was fantastic. And soon enough I was coming back towards the CBS to finish on the track. It occured to me with about 2k to go that I could go under 1:35:00 if I pushed it. So i tried my best to pick up the pace. It wasnt to be though and I came in at 1:35:13. (Run time 28.25) Those bloody 14 seconds I wasted messing around with my hair came back to bite me in the arse eh:)
Still I was thrilled with myself. I never imagined I would get anywhere near 1:35. It was a lovely sunny day. It was a lovely course and the support, marshalling and organisation was top notch.
Woohoo - I'm one of those triathlete type people!!0 -
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Thanks so much guys, its lovely to log on here and see all the support. Even during the race I was looking forward to coming on here and telling ye all about it:)
@ Dory - I actually left lots of details out in order to try keep the report short but I knew I was still giving you and claralara a run for your money
@Nules -My hair is a recurring issue in my big race experiences- I'm not sure if you remember from my report of the day but last June before the Cork Marathon relay I had a complete meltdown over my hair which my poor husband had to suffer through which delayed us getting to the start line
Now back to my training...
Sunday was a complete rest day. I didnt do anything. Nothing at all just lay on the couch all day watching the F1 and eating rubbish.
Monday 16th April
Weighed myself this morning and nearly died 3.5lbs up in the last 2 weeks. Trying to get a grip on my crazy eating habbits from today. Went to the pool after work. Just an easy swim focusing on keeping my head down lower in the water when I take a breath and tried to keep focused on good arm positioning throughout the stroke. 53 lengths in total. A bit boring.0 -
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Considering you are coming off your first ever triathlon just a few days prior in top class form, plus battling an injury, plus starting the race cold...I think you can hold your head high at tonight's performance. You did great. You are doing great. 0
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Considering you are coming off your first ever triathlon just a few days prior in top class form, plus battling an injury, plus starting the race cold...I think you can hold your head high at tonight's performance. You did great. You are doing great.
+1 on this. Hope the achilles clears up soon, it's a little fecker of an injury to get rid of. Mine is only starting to clear after 2 months. Sick of icing it and heel dips (dunno if that's the correct description for them!)0 -
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you are flying it girl 
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