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Last Sunday I took part in my first triathlon and I absolutely loved it! I came into the race with little to no expectations, I just wanted to enjoy it. I started triathlon club in mid-april with my first swim session (I wrote a blog post about starting triathlon if you haven't read it). Since being injured I have further developed my interest in swimming and cycling. My race didn't actually start until 11:20am but you had to be at pool side 15mins before the start for a briefing, I also wanted to work out transitions and set up etc. After a big bowl of porridge, I put the bike on the car and left, arriving at 10am. I wasn't very nervous for each part but I was nervous about transitions and how I would fair off the bike into the run. 10:30am: headphones in, music on and time to watch some of the races (it was in waves). They put in a new system in for the swim- a snake swim which meant you swam two lengths of the pool and then went under the lane rope to swim 2 lengths in the next lane - we repeated this 6 times before getting out. I wanted to check this out before going in as I was quite confused.
Time to swim; i got a bit distracted in the pool but when I got out and was running to transition, i settled into the race mode, chucking my googles at my mum and dashing to put my trainers on. Helmet on and time to ride. 33km ride lets go! I thought I would probably do it in 1 hour 20. I didn't do the race with my Garmin so had no idea of my pace for the run or the cycle. Half way into the course I was greeted by the delight of the hill; I don't mind hills that much but I did have a few issues with my gears (which eventually resolved). I had cycled the course before on my own so roughly knew the route, where the hills and potholes were etc. Oh my golly there were a lot of potholes, of which I managed to avoid; one of my main worries was getting a puncture and having to stop (lets just say I am very bad, actually awful at fixing punctures). With less than 10k to go I thought I had taken a wrong turning because I couldn't see anyone else and the only sign said Olympic distance triathlon, which was actually the right way but I just got a little panicked. I loved the ride and looking back I think it was my favourite part of the race, which I wasn't expecting to be honest. Into transition and I felt awful, I hadn't drunk anything on the ride (biggest regret) and it was now midday, I was very dehydrated and had low blood sugar so basically coming into the run I felt awful. Previous to the race I had only done one proper brick session so I wasn't really used to the dead legs off the bike. The beginning of the run was sore, I felt very weak and I wasn't sure I would be able to run the whole 5k. After the first 2.5km, there was a water station; I cannot explain how much I needed and appreciated this. I began to feel a little more comfortable and felt I had a strong finish. As I came over the line I was so shakey and felt quite sick; a mix of exhaustion, dehydration and low blood sugar. I was met by my family and Alice (who had ran from her house -10k away- to come and cheer <3) I then went to get my timings and was happy to have finished with a time of 1:39:39. I mentioned earlier that I was expecting to do the cycle in 1h20min but when I got my timings it turns out I did it in 1h09min. Seeing as cycling is my weakest area I was very happy with this. My family had to get back home and I said I was 'happy' to cycle home (I didn't really mind either way but I knew they had to get back!) because Alice and I wanted to stay and watch the awards, as well as have some of the free fruit haha. They did the awards for the podium finishers overall (both female and male). Well done to Leo who came 1st male and 1st overall. They then did the awards for 1st in age category... I was so surprised to get an award at my first triathlon, placing 1st U20 female (even if there were only 3 U20 females :)). I think Alice was more excited than I was to be honest, jumping up in excitement. Overall it was such a good day and I can't wait to take part in my next triathlon. I am currently at K2 whilst writing this, waiting for Alice's race.
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RACE RECAPS TRAINING BESIDES RUNNING SELF CARE BACK TO SCHOOL OVERTRAINING THINGS I AM LOVING LATELY TRIATHLON NEW YEAR Month/year
August 2023
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