One day at work, an email came around to all staff asking if anyone wanted to go in a corporate triathlon at the Gold Coast. It was only a 400m swim, 10km ride and 4km run. "Why not?" I thought. I mean, I cycle, swim and run regularly right?
Umm...no. Not even close. The last time I was in a pool was more than 10 years ago. My recent 'swimming' consisted of floating on a surfboard tied to a boat and trying not to spill my beer. I couldn't remember the last time I'd been on a bike, and had never been on a road bike. And while I played a lot of netball, all the running I was doing was short sprints and anything further than a few hundred metres was just painful. Yep, totally going to be a piece of cake.
So I signed up. Then immediately freaked out. I didn't have a bike of any description. The triathlon was in 2 months. What the hell was I doing?
I ordered my tri-suit (gotta love skin tight lycra). When it arrived a few weeks later, shit got real and I thought I'd better do something about this whole triathlon thing. I thought about the logistics of the tri-suit, and I had no idea about the underwear situation. Wouldn't it just stay wet and be uncomfortable when riding and running? So I consulted the oracle - I googled it. Turns out you're supposed to go commando. Um really? That sounds....interesting.
The only person I knew who had a bike was Tucky, my sister Steph's boyfriend. He very kindly let me borrow it for a few weeks before the tri so I could re-learn how to ride. Having never been on a road bike before, I can tell you that they are much scarier than mountain bikes. The seat is up waaaaaay high, so just your tippy toes can reach the ground. The cross bar is so close to your bits when you're standing that one false move could be painful. The tyres are so skinny that the bike is wobbly as hell. And the first time I ever rode that bike was in a practice triathlon. Yep, I rocked up to a training triathlon that work had organised with a bike I'd never been on before.
Incidentally, that practice triathlon was also the first time I'd been in a pool since school, and turned out to be the last swim I did before the triathlon. I jumped in the pool, tried to remember how to swim without swallowing half the pool, did my 400m and clambered out. Surprisingly, I was second or third out of the pool. Thank god for muscle memory from swimming and water polo at school.
I tippy-toe ran out of the pool to where our bikes were racked up, and proceeded to sit down, dry off my feet, dry my legs, dry my hair, put my helmet on, put my socks and runners on (no way was I wearing cleats and attaching my feet to the pedals of a bike that I wasn't sure I could even sit on let alone ride). By the time I got onto my bike, I had been overtaken by 4 or 5 other people. Not exactly a fast transition. But how are you supposed to ride when you're dripping wet? Jeez.
So I jumped on the bike with all the grace of a sausage dog in the 100m hurdles, I was off. The ride was on roads around the block a few times, and I'd be kidding myself if I said I wasn't terrified. About halfway around the first lap when I hit the first hill, I realised I didn't know how to use the gears. Ruh-roh. I battled back to the pool after the first lap and asked the bewildered coach (who I had just met) how to change gears on the bike. After a quick lesson, I was back out for the other 2 laps. A whole bunch of other people whizzed past me, but I made it back to the pool without being hit by a car or falling off, so I was wrapped.
After racking the bike again with much relief, I started the run. And promptly my knees buckled and I nearly fell over. Dammit. Once I regained control of my legs, I started plodding along. At this point I was second last. Four laps of the oval was the 4km required. About half a lap in I started walking. Then started running again. Then walked. I ran and walked all the way to the end, thinking "what the hell have I gotten myself into" the whole time. Plenty of room for improvement right??
After the practice session, the coach told me that he runs a triathlon squad and they train every morning. "You should come down." Uhh thanks for the offer, but I don't think so. I play too much netball and go to the gym every morning. Plus I don't think I want to do triathlons.
In the following weeks, I got on the bike two or three more times. Each time I felt a bit more comfortable, but my lower back and butt were killing me each time!! Oh well, just gotta get used to it. I signed up for this bad boy and was damn well going to do it!
Within a few short weeks, race day appeared. Luckily, a friend of mine was also participating in the triathlon for her work, so we decided to car pool to the Gold Coast together. A sleepover and 3:30am wakeup later, we were on our way. We arrived and had to park a few kilometres away due to road closures. We got out, put our bikes back together, and started on our hike to the starting area. Both of us were to scared to ride there, so we walked. All the way with people riding past us. Too scared to ride when we were about to do a triathlon. Crap.
It was freezing. Even after the long walk to the start area, we were both still shivering. We went into transition and racked our bikes, hoping that we remembered everything we had to put in there. Once back in our tents, the wait for our start was on. As it was a relay triathlon, there were three people in each team, and each person did the whole triathlon. I was the second person in my team and I had absolutely no idea how long it was going to take Kate, who was first, so I went into the transition area about half an hour early as it turned out. Standing on wet grass, barefoot, in skin tight lycra, shivering my butt off. For those of you who don't know me, that's a lot of shivering! Once Kate arrived and she handed over the timing strap, I was off! I immediately tripped over the starting grid, managed to recover my footing, and continued at a cracking pace that was barely above a stroll down to the water. I ran in and was thankful for the warmth!
By this time the tide had gone out a fair way, and about 80m of the swim was a knee-deep walk. Once I actually got to swim, the water was so stirred up by everyone that I couldn't see any more than a metre or so in front of me under the water. I started off heading for the buoy. This was where my history of water polo helped hugely, as I'd swim 3 strokes with my head down, then a few with my head up to make sure I wasn't heading off into the Pacific. There were lifeguards sitting on surfboards and jet skis everywhere which was very re-assuring. I wasn't worried about drowning. I just wanted to get out as quickly as I could. I rounded the buoy and headed on back. I passed a bunch of people and felt awesome! I came out of the water and ran up the beach, silently freaking out about the upcoming ride.
Once into transition I tried to remember what aisle my bike was in, and when I finally found it I tried to improve on my transition time (haha). I quickly dried my feet and put socks and shoes on. I had been told to put my race belt (with my race number) on top of my shoes so I didn't forget to put it on (big no-no to forget your race number). I ran my bike out to the mounting line, and jumped on. As I was getting on, I noticed a guy in cleats trying to get his shoes clipped into the pedals. He yelled across to the volunteer "Hey mate how do these work?" The guy responded with "seriously mate?". As he started to walk over and help, I was off, runners and all.
The ride was awesome. I still didn't feel hugely comfortable, but I didn't have to change gears as it was all flat, and I just stayed to the left and held a straight line. I came up behind a lot of people and flew past them. My speedo was telling me I was sitting on about 30km/hr, and I had no idea if that was good or not but it felt like I was flying! There were a few scary moments trying to turn around the hairpins at the ends, but in what felt like no time I was done. I was barely puffing and felt great!
My transition 2 was pretty fast as I just had to rack my bike, take off my helmet and put my visor on. As I ran out of transition, there were a few fellow workmates cheering me on, which was great. With a pep in my step I started the run. About 400m in I was hurting. Not cardio-vascular fitness, but my legs had nothing left. I was determined to not stop running. I ran through a water station and grabbed a cup of water (my first water during the race as I was too scared to take a hand off the handle bars to grab my drink bottle on the ride). I yelled a huge "thank-you!" to the volunteers, took a few gulps, and promptly starting coughing and choking. Noted: don't drink and run.
I struggled through the rest of the run. My legs were tired and I wanted it to be over. I alternated walking and running for most of the last leg, and when I knew the finish line was near I ran the last few hundred metres.
Pictured above: me dying.
I crossed the finish line and glanced at the clock. Just over an hour. I had no idea if that was good or not, but was just relieved I'd finished. I passed the timing band onto the last person in my team and wandered out in search of water and food. I was finished! Hallelujah!
I found Jenn and we took a victory/we're still alive photo. We ate, drank and swapped war stories.
I was relieved to have finished, and at the same time kinda loved it. It hurt like hell, but within 15 minutes of finishing, I wanted to do it again. That was it, I was hooked.
I got my times. Just over 11 minutes for the swim, 26 minutes for the ride, and 23 minutes for the run for a total time of 1 hour and 4 seconds. I was fairly happy with that effort for a first tri.
Within 2 months, I had a bike. But that's a story for another day. I think this one is long enough!
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