hobie298-blog - Tumblr blog

[hobie298-blog]

How does it feel to do a Triathlon?

Well, it all started about six weeks ago when a friend of ours asked if I wanted to accompany her to an annual Cross Triathlon in Akersloot which is a village only a few kilometers away from where we live. Her husband does Triathlons but did not want to do this one because the cycling part was on a mountainbike instead of a Time Trials bike.

Obviously I said NO because I can bike pretty well but I had not run in years as I had switched to biking and the swimming, Yes, that is really something. I can walk on the bottom of the lake but swim? No way! I can’t swim! I have negative buoyancy and sink so it is not going happen sorry!

My wife did the only appropriate thing when a friend asks for a favour at your party and she said: “Yes, he’ll do it!”

At this point I’m really worried! It’s only a 1/8th triathlon so that is a 500m swim in open water, 15km Mountain bike and a 5,4km run. It’s basically a warm up for an Iron man which is way longer but like I said, the biking and running distances are so short I normally wouldn’t change into other clothes to do them but that 500m swimming, that’s freaky. Why would anyone want to do that?

The other problem is time, I bike as much as possible but now I had to learn to swim and start running again and I had 8 weeks to get up to speed. (I have three daughters and my wife and we both work shifts.) Not very much time as you don’t want to injure yourself by beginning a new sport and going all out too early to get better.

The priority was the swimming so we are lucky to have an outside 50m pool in our town and I (my wife) signed us up so I could swim whenever possible. I started my first 50m lap freestyle and I was completely out of breath. Did another 50m directly after that and had to do the third lap breast stroke. Damn, that 500m seems really far now!

Lucky for me there was a lifeguard watching me and shaking his head. He asked me how I was doing and I asked him: “Whatta you think?! I’m dying here!” The lifeguards at the pool decided to take me under their wings and started giving me lessons for free. Try this, try that, use this board, here are some flippers so you can concentrate on your arms. Try breathing every other set, breathe left and right, etc etc.

They really helped me and I went from 3:00 to 2:15 minutes per 100m in a few weeks and I was doing 2500m in one pool session. I’m rocking this now! 500m is way easy!

Cycling was still no problem, going to my work and back would be about 100km round trip and sometimes I would just extend either the route to work or back to total about 150km. I was doing that once a week and mountainbiking once or twice as well doing about six hours a week on the bike.

Running was the easiest to fit in because 5km you can do in half an hour. Pull on your shoes and go, back in 30 minutes. I do admit for serious times you have to run much more but I had to concentrate on the swimming part.

One of the best things I bought was a Garmin Fenix 3 watch which gives you loads of information and connects with all your bike sensors and has a special Triathlon mode. I also bought a Triathlon short which you can swim, bike and run in. It was from Castelli and performed perfect!

A few days before the race I went down to the lake and checked out the area and wanted to go for a swim but I swear, the wind was really blowing, there were big barges going up and down and there was no one around. Not the safest way to get acquainted with open water swimming where you really want someone watching out for you. I had to do this because I did not want to get into that water for the first time during the race but I don’t know what it was but I was really spooked. I had so much trouble getting in the water. After about 15min i just got in. I wouldn’t be able to take the crap from everyone about not having got in so I did. I swam about 60m and got out. The plants and boats just got to me and I went home feeling a little uneasy about the race on Sunday. In the end it was good I had done it but I should have swam more in that lake.

The last part of the prep was watching every Youtube movie I could find about Triathlons and open water swimming. That really helped me out! Swimming techniques, gear checklists, and how to do the transitions from swimming to biking to running. You want to be as efficient as possible because the transition times are added to your overal time!

Race day! I got there early. I figured I wanted time to get my gear set up properly, maybe jump in the lake to get used to the temperature of the water to prevent cold shock just before the start which causes shortness of breath. Something you don’t want before you start your 500m swim.

At 5 minutes to the start I got in the water. The weather was not very nice with a strong westerly wind causing quite some chop and the sun was nowhere to be seen. It was pretty cold and most people were wearing a wetsuit which I don’t (yet) have. I had only my shorts on, no shirt, nothing.

I decided as I was crap at swimming I would start a little in the rear as most people would be faster than me. Bad move! The gun fires and we’re off! I’m trying to freestyle my way forward but I’m surrounded by 120 others all heading to the same point. It’s kind of like a bar brawl in the water and everyone’s heading to the same point. Damn, I haven’t been hit in the face this much since high school! I was still enjoying it though and none of it was malicious in any way. It’s just what you get when your swimming in close proximity to another 100 people.

However hard I tried I couldn’t get into my rhythm. I was swallowing loads of lake water due to all the arms and legs around me and the chop. This is nothing like swimming in a pool! I could not see more than 10cm in front of me and overtime I went into freestyle I would catch up to the group just ahead but I could’t pass them so I settled into breast stroke. I must admit, it was more like survival out there but before I knew it we were rounding the buoys. In the end I just was carried along in the group around me and did the swim in 13 minutes which was not as good as I had hoped but it could have been much worse. I climbed out and was still alive so I ran as fast as I could to my bike.

There I put on my chest strap for heart rate, my shirt was a real pain as I was still wet and it didn’t want to slide down my body and it got rolled up just under my armpits! Go for the tri suit really, It will save you time! Glasses on, helmet on, wipe all the grass off your feet and put your feet, without socks, into your cycling shoes. Good idea to train cycling without socks before you do your triathlon to prevent blisters! Grab your bike and go!

Now I was in my element! Full speed pushing as hard as I could. My heart rate was way up at 170+ but I didn’t care because I was so glad I wasn’t swimming!

Two loops of 7,5km which made it easier to judge how hard I could push on the second loop as I knew what was coming. I was passing people left and right and was hitting 37km/hr+ on the straights on my mountainbike. I still had my Nobby Nic tires on and I wished I had put on my Racing Ralphs which have a lot less resistance but I did not have the time before the race to change them out. As I was coming into the second transition guys were already finishing their first or second running loop! Shit I’m slow!

At the second transition I left my bike, took off all the biking gear and grabbed my running shoes which I had set up with quick fasteners so I wouldn’t have to tie my laces, and bolted out of the parc fermé.

Actually I forgot to tighten my laces but it was only over 5km so I didn’t bother to stop and just continued. I did have some trouble getting into my running rhythm and felt really out of breath although I didn’t feel like I was running very fast. I had been pushing on the wrong button on my Fenix 3 Garmin watch so I was not getting any heart rate info and had no idea where I was on the scale.

I settled into the run and after about a kilometer and my breath had come back. Later I was talking to other participants and they had the same problem so maybe the transition from biking to running is the difficult one which you should obviously train before your actual Triathlon.

Three laps and 5,4km later my first Triathlon was over. This was so much fun! I have done loads of running races and cycling races but this was definitely the most fun. The swimming adds a complete different dimension and the transitions make it really exciting! You also get to train three sports instead of one! All I can say is that if you have ever thought of doing a Triathlon don’t wait. Do it!