6:00am my alarm rang and with tired eyes I made it downstairs to make my porridge. Last night I had a large bowl of carbonara followed by a large glass of strawberry milk, my typical pre race dinner. I had packed my bags the night before so all I had to do was get my bike in the car and we were off. It wasn't long before we reached the leisure centre and after setting up my transition area, as shown below, the whole crowd gathered together for a pre race briefing. The swim was split into waves and there were two in a lane and you just kept to your side, which was a bit of a squeeze, which meant you couldn't tumble turn. At 8:10am my wave started and I was off for my 16 lengths which I finished in 6:55, which is pretty slow but my swim had its problems, because my goggle kept letting water in so I think they must have a hole in. Once I jumped out the pool I made a speedy walk out the side door and then broke into a run once I was out the pool and made it to the transition area. With a quick transition I was off on my bike quickly and off out on to the course after a quick sip of lucozade. I haven't started to keep a water bottle on my bike yet, as I am a bit wobbly on my new bike with one hand, so I just try and rehydrate in the transitions. The bike ride was 25km but I started my watch a bit late so I wasn't sure how much further I had left for most of. The cycle ride was along lovely roads which were pretty hilly in parts but my new bike made it all so much easier. The route it is fair to say, was poorly marked with signs and marshalls and at one round about I circled it several times, then decided it must be the far point in which you head back from so I made my journey back to the leisure centre from there which was about 12km. The first km of my run was pretty slow because my legs felt like jelly and I thought they were going to collapse but the more I ran the more they realised that they were running and weren't on a bike anymore. The run was 5.3km and I did it in 25:20, which I was pleased with as my legs felt exhausted after the cycle. When I finally reached the end I was exhausted and happy to have finished. I was just so pleased that I made it around the whole course. After a short race they made a presentation for the top 3 men and woman and I was thrilled to have come second, I was so so happy. After a bit of stretching we then jumped back in the car and made our way home. My mood was so happy and I couldn't have been more pleased until I received an email from the organiser to say that I had left my helmet there and more importantly that he thinks I cut my course short... I was like what! After a conversation with him he said I should have carried on for half a mile more after the round about, which I circled many times. I was pretty angry at this because the course was badly marked and I had no idea which way to go. I had also previously looked at the course on google maps, but they had screens hotted such a blurry image of it, that it was hard to understand. I also felt pretty embarrassed as I had received my second prize trophy in front of everyone and actually I didn't deserve it. At this point you could think why do I keep trying triathlons as all it is doing is making me upset when things go wrong, but there is something which makes me want to keep doing them because I love them! Looking back at what has happened today at the triathlon, it makes me think that a lot of people went wrong on this turning because they only realised that I had gone wrong because someone told the organiser, I'm not sure how but he knew I had gone wrong. The official times have come out and I had a look and the person who officially came second now and she was 2.5mins slower than me and third was over 4 mins slower, which does give me some consolation that if I had just realised to do that extra bit of the cycle, I could have still got 2nd or 3rd, because it wouldn't have taken me long to do an extra mile.
Going on from this I am just going to get some more training in and book another triathlon for in September as I am still on a mission to complete one. I am sitting here writing this feeling pretty upset about todays triathlon because I couldn't be happier with the way I performed but I just wish they had had a few more marshals out on the bike course. It was the first time this triathlon has been run so hopefully next year that they will have picked up that the need more marshals as I would like to return to this course again next year. Onwards and Upwards, G x
1 Comment
Lee Jones
7/19/2017 07:34:00 am
That's terrible luck Grace! I am entered this year and will keep an eye out for That! Good luck for this year if you are entered again.
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HelloI'm Grace, a 18 year old runner, and fitness fanatic. Join me on my crazy journey through life, squeezing in an adventure in every second of spare time I have. Archives
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