Confessions of a Triathelite

Confessions of a Triathelite... Thanks to Paul Noble for the story :)
And huge congrats on his 19th spot in his first real triathlon, training pays off.

If I suspected I suffered from pre-race nerves at the Scottish Duathlon Championships, today confirmed that!! By the time I left the house, I had a tension headache ... was properly dreaming the &@£# out (thought this was supposed to be fun?). Last time I felt like that was my final professional exam! I use the term 'professional' loosely.

Managed to find the Torturedome pretty easily and thought I was early, only to discover I was the last Athelite there. Signed on and went to find the pool so I could see how this swim thing works. This was definitely causing my anxiety and I was confident once put the water I would settle into my race.

Met Frank in the canteen getting a feel for this was going to work as well... nothing like two newbies (one still freaking out) to reassure each other. Frank looked calm and confident! Once I had seen a start I went off to get racked! Missed the mandatory race briefing because it was early... 🙄

On my way to transition I met Alan, who very kindly offered advice and guidance. I believe this comes from Mark. Alan was certain having your shoes on the pedals would save him time (turns out he beat me in T1 by 30 seconds...must be something in not having to fight with ratchets!!). Off to watch the swimming and understand how this was going to work and fire a barage of questions at Alan, who patiently answered all of them.

Once changed, we met Tony and Mark in the registration hall. Spider was looking rather pensive!

As our start time drew nearer the nerves eased (marginally). Hat and goggles on and into the pool! My main goal was not to start like a rocket and die for 650m and then not hold anyone in my lane up (too much - didn't need to worry about that.) couple warm up lengths and time to wait for the claxon or whistle in my case. Then we were off! Push off the wall, torpedo to the end of the red bouys, swim easy to the wall, quick turn (well, maybe not that quick, but Lorna will be happy to know I didn't rest on any turns) I could have over taken the person in front of me by the end of the first 50, but remembered the tactic was to stay steady (I stole Alan's tactic of 'no overtaking in the first 100, unless they're breaststroking). Lost count spectacularly and was waiting to get tapped on the head for about 10 lengths 😞, just as well I'm not an accountant) The swim went well and I managed to catch and pass everyone in my lane and felt my pace was pretty consistent.

Into T1, I'm still not a fan of this discipline. Found my bike, socks slipped on (didn't expect that), fought with my ratchets...again! Everything else went smoothly apart from my number...couldn't believe I was struggling to step into a number belt 😂. Out in 1:29.

Onto the bike and I took off up the hill (turns out to hard) by the time I got to the turn I thought I was going to be ill, very ill! Heard Graeme shouting support/abuse each lap, thanks 😊. The descent back towards transition was amazing, brakes squealing, turn, back up the hill (this time in a much smaller gear). The bike section was good, set out too hard and then struggled to get into a steady hard rhythm. Ended up racing a woman in a TT bike, she would catch me just before each dead turn and I would race away from her after every turn. It was pretty windy at points, so you had to fight the wind, guess that's to be expected in bonnie Scotland.

Into T2, man that was a long way to run in cleats. This was a much better transition than the first, I even managed to run back and check my number wasn't next to my bike (not sure what I would have done with it if it was. 1:05

Into the run, felt more comfortable than I expected to (it still hurt), I managed to get a stitch almost immediately, which lasted for 3/4 of it. I think this was largely due to the gel I had on the bike (sweet drink next time, no gels!), which I could still taste after a bottle of water) When I got to the first turn on the canal path my heart was saying please be halfway, quick check of the watch...alas, 1km down 😳. Tried various things to shift it and it only really settled in the last mile, still happy with a 21 min 5k 😊. Heard Nicola shouting encouragement as well!

What a fantastic event! Well run and we even got the weather for it! Thank you to everyone for your support and encouragement! Roll on the next one 😊!

Well done to Frank, Alan, Mark and Spidey! Great effort and a great day out!