A triathlon?! Aren’t you an ultra-runner wannabe mixed in with some climbing genes? What are you doing? Well, see, that is a good question. I think the only answer is having fun.

For those who do not know what a triathlon is it is a swim followed by a bike section followed by a run. An Olympic Triathlon is the distance, not the venue (shame), which is 1500m swim / 40km bike / 10km run. Simple enough really.

I went in to this with about 2 weeks of notice which in hindsight was great and terrible. Great because there was minimal external pressure or expectation. Terrible because there was internal expectation and pressure because, afterall, I like performing and executing a plan. I did not have enough time for a plan.

Fortunately, ish, I was a pretty decent swimmer growing up having competed at school, county, regional, and a national level. So, I was heavily reliant on my history to carry me through a 1500m open water swim…I knew full well it was going to be painful but I had to make do. I managed to get one open water session in before race day which just confirmed to me that open water is HARD.

Race day whipped on by quicker than anticipated and next thing I know I am taking sexy gear shots pre race to distract myself from what is happening the next day. Do not get me wrong I was BUZZING. God, it had been so long since I had last race and finally I had purpose for all the damn training I was doing! Who does 14-16 hour training weeks without racing…this guy.

Anyway, race day. That is why you are here. Yeah, no, it was fine.

In all seriousness I felt slightly out of place with my non-aero TT bike and equipment, and maybe even slightly bitter about it…but I knew it was about the engine and not the bodywork.

Race briefing given, and into the Thames we go for 2 loops of 750m. The water was pretty nippy but not too bad, and I just tried to relax and enjoy the swim. Of course, that didn’t happen and I seized up and had a mild panic about 400m in as to why I couldn’t breathe properly. I almost got out to be honest. I had never, ever, experienced something like that in my life and it totally threw me off. However, I recovered and finished the swim 3rd male.

On to the bike I went which I knew was going to be my weakest section by a long, long, way. I just planned on holding on as best I could, not blowing myself up and trying to recover as much as I could on the run. I put down the 13th fastest split on the bike, but lost a lot of positions along the way. I believe I ended up coming off the bike in about 13th place in the end…a far stretch from the 3rd I was in after the swim.

I raced back into T2 muttering about “bloody middle aged men on their £5k bikes” to the amusement (I hope) of my girlfriend and my dad. Probably not, but I will pretend they found it funny. Anyway, T2 was rapid. In and out in 40 seconds and away I went onto the final 10km of this olympic tri. Now, I had known I was fit going into this. As in, running fit but I had set the goal of going sub 38 for the 10k which would be a HUGE pb on its own let alone during a triathlon. The first 5km was relatively eventful. I could see people with their sky blue bibs on and I chased them down as sensibly as I could. One down, two down, three down until I was clawing my way back into the top 10.

I went through the first 5k in around 18:5x and was feeling great with myself. Obviously, because, you know, I was overtaking people. I kept pushing the pace in the hopes of being able to hold on to the very end. My legs started to scream a little and I could feel the glycogen running low (I had dropped my one gel on the bike leg stupidly). But, I knew I was so close to the finish that it would be stupid for my legs to blow up. I made the final turn onto the park in Marlow and saw the finish line and picked up the pace. Or, at least, felt like I picked up the pace and stumbled across the finishing line with a final time of 2:16 and a 10km split of 37:08. The second fastest split of the day.

I finished 6th overall which, well, I would say I am happy with. Should have had a better bike leg to be perfectly honest, and a better swim (a solid 9 minutes off my 1500m pb) but that will come with more time in the water. One thing is for certain, I am hooked…and I may have entered my next one already.

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