Womborne Sprint TriathlonPosted by Gazza on July 11th, 2009
My First Triathlon – By Brother Roberts
I got there with plenty of time to register and setup transition although no matter how long I looked at by box and towel I was convinced that there was something I had forgotten – turned out I hadn’t but nevertheless, the feeling were there!
We (me and my lovely wife, Sara) went to watch some swimming, with this being a pool based swim the event was run with competitors starting at 1 minute intervals, so you got chance to watch people doing their thing. This is a definite recommendation, especially because the guys and gals who go before you are those that have a slower estimated swim time, which means when you’re watching them you’re thinking you are better/faster (not in a negative way, just a natural reaction to watching others I think) – and that gives you a well needed confidence boost. On that subject, I have to say I didn’t feel any nerves to speak of, I was surprisingly relaxed and couldn’t wait to get started.
My time was coming so I went back to transition to get my trainers, leggings and t-shirt off and pick up my goggles. One last pit stop in the gents, thankfully just for a #1, enough said on that subject. And off to poolside, only to realise that the goggles and swim cap were still in transition (first mistake), duh! Back up to get them and then back to poolside where you get ‘branded’ with your race number. Just before you get to the poolside there were signs everywhere saying you MUST shower before swimming so I duly did, that’s my second mistake of the day as the nice young lady in charge of branding couldn’t write more than half a number at a time on me! I just waited an extra few minutes to dry off and then got it sorted.
My number was called out which was my cue to get in the pool, whilst holding on to the side the friendly starter told me I had 20 seconds till the start, then counted me down from 5. I was off and it felt great, I loved it right from the start, I didn’t go off like a wind up toy, I just set into my usual stroke. My only comment on the swim was that I do all my training in a pool that has an even depth from one end to the other, this pool had a shallow and a deep end, and I know its only a small thing but I misjudged touching the deep end end (if you see what I mean) for at least the first 4 turns that end – must have been the way the water depth effects your vision under water. But come on – if that’s all I can come up with then the swim must have gone pretty well!
T1 went very well, nice and fast, shoes on bike in advance using the elastic band trick, glasses on, helmet on and off I went. Very fast in fact, the slowest part was the run from the pool to transition, which probably accounted for halve of the time. Jumping on the bike and slipping the feet in did take some time but I remain convinced that its faster than getting the shoes on and then jumping on and clipping in. One minute into the ride and I hit the traffic lights (which you have to stop at – and if you do you get awarded a 30 second reduction in your time), I stopped for about 20 seconds before the lights changed but the action of stopping and starting again definitely impacts your time more than the 30 seconds (noted that everyone plays by the same rules to no issue in terms of competition but it will skew your personal time). It was as I was pulling away from the lights that a realised mistake number 3, and by far the biggest. I was devastated to realise I didn’t have my race belt on. Gutted. Worried. Frustrated. Anyway I piled into the ride not knowing if I was disqualified or not. I reminded myself that this was for me, I wasn’t competing (today), it was just for me. The ride route had been changed due to some unforeseen roadworks and I had no idea what to expect. The course was a little more hilly with a lot more turns and curves to deal with, but it was an out and back course so any hills repaid you with some nice downhills. On the way back I got caught by the lights again and this time for longer. This time (as I knew the marshal would not be able to see my number) I told the marshal my number to try to get my 30 seconds credit, at the same time I realised that the first marshal may not have got my number, all time lost would be lost forever 
(. Then up the hill that robs you of any dignity in t2, because by the time you’ve got up it you’re panting and looking like sh*t!
Got back into transition and I was spent, the first thing I heard was one of the marshals saying, “he hasn’t got a race number on”, once again, gutted. She asked me where it was, and I pointed to my towel (I couldn’t talk). Other than that T2 went well, although I had planned to get my feet out of my shoes before getting off the bike but that last hill put a stop to that, It wasn’t that I’d thought sod getting my feet out – I just forgot about doing it! And before I knew it I was at the dismount line. No great issue, I needed the extra recovery time anyway.
Needless to say the race belt was put on for the run. The start of the run was very hard, extremely hard, so hard after about 500 meters I was experiencing thoughts that’s of stopping! Stopping. Stopping is something someone like me just doesn’t do. Ever. I am not a stopper. But I tell you I was completely knackered. I didn’t stop. I applied the rule that is if you stop you are a complete wuss. After about 1.5k I had recovered and was getting into the run – and by the last couple of k I was beginning to feel alive again. The run into the finish was fine and I gave serious thought to doing a rolly-polly over the line, but I risked breaking my neck so ended up coasting over and grabbing my water.
That was it. I’d done it. I checked the results in the registration hall and I’d completed in 1:08:43.
A few issues though!
I was told that I’d be given a time penalty for not having my belt on in the ride section (although I put it on in T2 so no time was saved by me for not doing it), but I understand that ‘them are the rules’ so they must stand. I was told the penalty would be 2 mins! I was also told about the traffic lights time credit arrangement and I had to stop twice so that would be a 1 min time credit. So all in all I guessed my official result would be my time + 2min (penalty) – 1 minute (lights). So plus one minute in full.
That said Stuweb is showing my result as follows:
Swim: 7:35 (61st overall)
T1: 1:07
Bike: 34:35 (42nd overall)
T2: 0:55
Run: 24:31 (103rd overall)
If you sum all that up it is 1:08:43
But stuweb shows 1:09:57. I don’t understand why? All the figure above are stuwebs figures so why doesn’t the total equate to the sum of the parts?? No idea.
To sum up, I completed my first tri in 1:08:43 with two stops at traffic lights (probably cost me a minute in total). Which is a result as I was aiming for 1:15:00 or less.
Very pleased.