I have just completed my first triathlon of 2018. On Sunday I completed the Lydney First Tri. I managed to get round in 2:10:56.
Although not a great time, I am happy enough just to have completed it as I haven't really cycled since my last tri back in September.
I almost didn't make it to the start line as my shoulder was playing up in the week running up to the race (I decided that, with a week to go, I really should get out on the bike. I think the sudden move back into cycling and leaning on the handlebars got to my shoulder).
I was also very nervous. This would only be my second tri in many, many years and I think self doubt was creeping in and nagging at me that maybe I should wait until I'd done more training.
But, I managed to ignore my little inner voice telling me that there was no way I would complete the course, and got up, dressed and got to Lydney Leisure Centre for about 07:45.
I left everything in the car and went to have a look around. I like to get to the start early so that I can take my time figuring out where everything is. I found registration open earlier than I had expected and got my race number and number stickers. Trimax race number stickers are really neat. there is a single printed sticker pack. The pack contains one sticker for your bike (on the seat stem), one for your bag and then three for your helmet (front and each side), with each sticker being clearly labelled with where it should be placed.
So I went back to my car, got my bike out and put the sticker on it, put the stickers on my helmet and then took my bike to the transition area. I laid my bike shoes and my run shoes on a towel and put my helmet on my handlebars.
I ran through what I would need to do in transition and which order to do things (put T-Shirt on before helmet, that sort of thing) and then I stood back and looked at where my bike was racked so that I could find it after the swim.
Once I had a good idea of where my bike was racked, I left the transition area and went to find the pool exit.
The exit from the swimming pool was easy enough to find (although the doors were closed when I first noticed them). so I then started to relax as I knew where everything was. I then started to visualise finishing the swim, walking out of the pool and through to transition, finding my bike, drying off my feet and putting my socks a cycling shoes on, then putting on the rest of my cycling gear, grabbing my bike and heading out onto the cycle.
I also visualised the first part of the cycle route (which I had looked over using google's street view) to make sure I didn't take a wrong turn.
While I was wandering round making sure I would be able to find my bike and then also which route I would need to take for the transition from bike to run, I noticed a familiar face pushing her bike from the car park, another member of the BadTri club. Wow, what a coincidence. I thought this race would be too short for most members.
It was nice to see a familiar face. It helped me keep my nerves under control until the race start.
When it was about twenty minutes before my race wave was due to start I made my way to the pool and was given my coloured hat an timing chip (which you attached to your left ankle). The triathletes in my wave all assembled near the pool and put on their timing chips and when the organisers were ready, we went round the pool to be briefed.
The organiser went over the race format, and course. He made sure we knew how many lengths, and where to go for the cycle, and how to bring back the bike and transition onto the run.
and then we all got into the pool and started the race.
I had been worried about my shoulder playing up during the swim as it had been hurting for the past week or so. I even had to cut short a training session the previous Wednesday due to it beginning to hurt. Thankfully, it didn't play up at all during the swim and I got out of the pool feeling good.
I walked out of the pool and when I got through the doors, I jogged to my bike, dried my feet to put my socks and cycling shoes on. I finished getting ready, grabbed my bike and walked it out to the mounting area.
And I was off, it felt a bit easier than I had expected at the start of the bike leg, but as soon as I had gone round the roundabout and started heading back towards the leisure centre, I realised why. Heading towards the roundabout must have been lightly downhill, so now I was heading uphill. Oh. I knew I hadn't ridden much (at all this year), but I expected my legs to feel better than this.
The bike course wasn't exactly hilly so much as A Hill. It felt like we were climbing forever, and I had to get off and push the bike up two parts (much to my shame). But I did manage to get round the whole course and back to transition.
I racked my bike, took off my helmet, changed into my running shoes and headed off for the final leg of the race.
I was starting to look forward to crossing the finish line. 5K is a distance I do a lot. I understand that 5K at the end of a sprint tri is different to 5K when your fresh, but I was confidant that I could get round, cross the finish and pick up my medal.
The course was two laps with a nice run through a park and around a lake for each lap.
As I was heading round the lake for the first time, I felt my right calf muscle 'go'. I would say 'pop' but I didn't hear anything, just felt it, a kind of 'twang'. It's very difficult to describe, it felt like the muscle had cramped up, but I normally get some sort of warning if my muscles are going to cramp. This just hit me out of the blue, no warning, just 'twang'. I looked at my watch and it showed I had done 2K.
I stopped and tried to stretch my legs out (doing both to try to ward off my left calf doing the same. I then hobbled on a bit, stopped again and did a bit more stretching. Well, I should have realised that it wasn't going to be easy. The cramp (if that's what it was) didn't subside, so I ended up hobbling the final 3K of the race.
But I did manage to finish and get my medal. Now I just have to train and make sure that when I do the Lydney Last Tri in October (same course I believe) I can make it round much easier.
Although not a great time, I am happy enough just to have completed it as I haven't really cycled since my last tri back in September.
I almost didn't make it to the start line as my shoulder was playing up in the week running up to the race (I decided that, with a week to go, I really should get out on the bike. I think the sudden move back into cycling and leaning on the handlebars got to my shoulder).
I was also very nervous. This would only be my second tri in many, many years and I think self doubt was creeping in and nagging at me that maybe I should wait until I'd done more training.
But, I managed to ignore my little inner voice telling me that there was no way I would complete the course, and got up, dressed and got to Lydney Leisure Centre for about 07:45.
I left everything in the car and went to have a look around. I like to get to the start early so that I can take my time figuring out where everything is. I found registration open earlier than I had expected and got my race number and number stickers. Trimax race number stickers are really neat. there is a single printed sticker pack. The pack contains one sticker for your bike (on the seat stem), one for your bag and then three for your helmet (front and each side), with each sticker being clearly labelled with where it should be placed.
So I went back to my car, got my bike out and put the sticker on it, put the stickers on my helmet and then took my bike to the transition area. I laid my bike shoes and my run shoes on a towel and put my helmet on my handlebars.
I ran through what I would need to do in transition and which order to do things (put T-Shirt on before helmet, that sort of thing) and then I stood back and looked at where my bike was racked so that I could find it after the swim.
Once I had a good idea of where my bike was racked, I left the transition area and went to find the pool exit.
The exit from the swimming pool was easy enough to find (although the doors were closed when I first noticed them). so I then started to relax as I knew where everything was. I then started to visualise finishing the swim, walking out of the pool and through to transition, finding my bike, drying off my feet and putting my socks a cycling shoes on, then putting on the rest of my cycling gear, grabbing my bike and heading out onto the cycle.
I also visualised the first part of the cycle route (which I had looked over using google's street view) to make sure I didn't take a wrong turn.
While I was wandering round making sure I would be able to find my bike and then also which route I would need to take for the transition from bike to run, I noticed a familiar face pushing her bike from the car park, another member of the BadTri club. Wow, what a coincidence. I thought this race would be too short for most members.
It was nice to see a familiar face. It helped me keep my nerves under control until the race start.
When it was about twenty minutes before my race wave was due to start I made my way to the pool and was given my coloured hat an timing chip (which you attached to your left ankle). The triathletes in my wave all assembled near the pool and put on their timing chips and when the organisers were ready, we went round the pool to be briefed.
The organiser went over the race format, and course. He made sure we knew how many lengths, and where to go for the cycle, and how to bring back the bike and transition onto the run.
and then we all got into the pool and started the race.
I had been worried about my shoulder playing up during the swim as it had been hurting for the past week or so. I even had to cut short a training session the previous Wednesday due to it beginning to hurt. Thankfully, it didn't play up at all during the swim and I got out of the pool feeling good.
I walked out of the pool and when I got through the doors, I jogged to my bike, dried my feet to put my socks and cycling shoes on. I finished getting ready, grabbed my bike and walked it out to the mounting area.
And I was off, it felt a bit easier than I had expected at the start of the bike leg, but as soon as I had gone round the roundabout and started heading back towards the leisure centre, I realised why. Heading towards the roundabout must have been lightly downhill, so now I was heading uphill. Oh. I knew I hadn't ridden much (at all this year), but I expected my legs to feel better than this.
The bike course wasn't exactly hilly so much as A Hill. It felt like we were climbing forever, and I had to get off and push the bike up two parts (much to my shame). But I did manage to get round the whole course and back to transition.
I racked my bike, took off my helmet, changed into my running shoes and headed off for the final leg of the race.
I was starting to look forward to crossing the finish line. 5K is a distance I do a lot. I understand that 5K at the end of a sprint tri is different to 5K when your fresh, but I was confidant that I could get round, cross the finish and pick up my medal.
The course was two laps with a nice run through a park and around a lake for each lap.
As I was heading round the lake for the first time, I felt my right calf muscle 'go'. I would say 'pop' but I didn't hear anything, just felt it, a kind of 'twang'. It's very difficult to describe, it felt like the muscle had cramped up, but I normally get some sort of warning if my muscles are going to cramp. This just hit me out of the blue, no warning, just 'twang'. I looked at my watch and it showed I had done 2K.
I stopped and tried to stretch my legs out (doing both to try to ward off my left calf doing the same. I then hobbled on a bit, stopped again and did a bit more stretching. Well, I should have realised that it wasn't going to be easy. The cramp (if that's what it was) didn't subside, so I ended up hobbling the final 3K of the race.
But I did manage to finish and get my medal. Now I just have to train and make sure that when I do the Lydney Last Tri in October (same course I believe) I can make it round much easier.
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