Well Whad’ya Know? I’m a Triathlete!
Well I’ve done 1 anyway.
As stated in my previous posts, by way of winning a prize in a competition, I got free entry into the For Goodness Shakes! Sponsored Sprint Triathlon (750m swimming, 20km cycling, 5km running) at Dorney Lake, Eton with less than 2 weeks notice!
I read the letter carefully which stated that registration would open at 07:30, the races will start at 10:30 and competitors should get there 2 hours before the race (i.e. 08:30). So I got up at 06:30 (after going to bed at 12:30 that morning), had some porridge, loaded all of my gear into my car (and the bike on the back) and set off at 07:30.
At 08:08 I arrived on-site to see a couple of traffic attendants and an empty field. There was 1 other car in front of me but he clearly wasn’t a competitor as he didn’t have a bike. We parked up alongside each other and I asked the parking attendant if I was the first competitor and he confirmed that I was. The person in the other car was just a spectator. The parking attendant then told me that the race start was 800m away. So I had to put my relatively large plastic crate 9containing all my gear) on top of my handlebars and awkwardly walk with the bike to the main area.
There I was presented with a registration tent that was closed until 09:00, some marshals complaining about how disorganised the set-up was (e.g. transition area barriers) and an empty transition area.
Empty transition area
Trade tent being set up
At 09:00 I registered (I think I was the first person to register) then I walked over to my bike which I had leant on the railings by the transition area. I then got talking to some friendly marshals. I told them it was my first time and they all gave me lots of really helpful advice – most of them competed too. Then another competitor came over and it was his first time too – it was good to meet someone else who didn’t know what to expect either!
Dorney Lake boat house and viewing balcony
After watching some competitors set their bikes up in the transition area, I decided to set mine up too. How does this look?:
Paul's bike in the transition area
Note – next time I will put the bike facing the other way to the other bikes around me (although it made no difference in this instance as I wasn’t elbowing for space in the transition area).
I was still nervous about the 750m swim which was going to be out to a yellow buoy, then right to a yellow buoy, then right again and onto land.
View of Dorney Lake from the transition area
There were going to be 4 waves (groups) of competitors, starting from 10:30. I was in wave 3 which started at 11:30.
Before the start I got kitted out. I put on my Tri-suit (which I had bought the day before)
Tri-suit
and waited until the last minute to put on the wetsuit (as it was a really hot day).
Then the time came. At 11:20 I got into the water with about 60 other people in my wave (age 30-34). Then the bit I hadn’t counted on – we had to stay afloat in the water (treading water) for 10 minutes while listening to a safety briefing! I managed to doggy-paddle to the side and hold onto the pier, but even that wasn’t easy because due to the buoyancy of the wetsuit, my legs wanted to go under the pier instead of stay beneath me! Plus I was right at the front of the pack which is not a great place to be – although I did keep out of the way at the start so didn’t get kicked and slapped too much.
Once the starting horn went we were all off and it was immediately obvious that I was in trouble with the swimming. For some reason I was finding it hard to breathe, plus I wasn’t used to swimming in a reed infested lake! So I gave up on the front crawl after about 30m and did the rest using backstroke, a little breaststroke and some other made up swimming methods. The problem with swimming backstroke is that you can’t see where you are swimming, so I was zig-zagging a lot. At one point I was even swimming back towards the start 
Plus I swam into the 2nd buoy which wasn’t good. I need lessons!
Once I eventually got out of the water (I wasn’t the last, but one of the last) I went into the transition area, took off my wetsuit, swimming hat, goggles and grabbed my bike. That part of the transition went okay. Then I crossed the white line leading out of the transition area and tried to put my feet into my shoes (which were clipped into my bike). I hadn’t practiced this before and it didn’t go so well, so I was forced to stop, remove the shoes from the bike, put on my shoes and then get on the bike. Once on the bike I was happy and I went for it, passing lots of people (and also getting passed by people on nice looking bikes!).
The biking circuit was 4 laps around the lake (each lap was 5km). It was fairly flat and quite an easy ride although one side of it was very exposed to wind which made it a little tough. I was in 16th/17th gear most of the time. At one point a girl rode past me and then stayed not too far in front, so that motivated me to overtake her. As I tried to overtake, she sped up and we were neck-a-neck for about 2km until she eventually backed off and I powered on and left her for dust 
After the 4 laps, I parked my bike in the transition area and put on my running shoes – which I should have loosened more as they were a bit hard to put on. I also need to get some clever shoe laces that you just pull instead of manually tie. Then I proceeded to do the 5km run at what I thought wasn’t too fast a pace, although I was overtaking a lot of people and only a few overtook me. It was really hot so I slowed down for the 2 water points to get a gulp of water and pour some over my head (I didn’t see anybody else pour water on themselves so maybe I looked a bit silly doing it, but it helped with the heat!).
At the end of the 5km a marshal hosed me down with cool water – which was nice, then I collected a For Goodness Shakes! milkshake and t-shirt, chatted with a few competitors, then packed up and left. After driving 5 miles I realised that I had left my phone behind, so I went back to get it – luckily it was where I had left it Then as I made my way back to the car park a girl (another competitor) asked me how to cycle to the train station. Although I had TomTom on my phone, as I was in a big field it couldn’t precisely show me where I was, so being a gentleman I gave her (and her bike) a lift to the train station which was 6 miles away. That was nice as I got to see a glimpse of Windsor Castle and the nearby villages.
My timings were:
- Swim: 28:11 (most people did it in 20 or less). I did backstroke the whole way. I tried doing front crawl but I couldn’t breathe properly. Because I was on my back I couldn’t see where I was going, so I kept zig-zagging – and was even swimming back to the start at one point which wasn’t good lol
- T1: 1:01 (plus an additional 45 secs or so I took when I was out of the transition area, trying to put my shoes on!)
- Cycle: 41:25 (not too bad)
- T2: 2:04 (I must make my shoes easier to get into next time!)
- Run: 23:16 (faster than most other other people! It felt slow to me. I’m really surprised! I even slowed to a walk twice at the 2 water stations!)
Transitions are easy to improve upon – and I hope the swimming will be too…
My positions were 313/360 overall and 58/62 in my class (age 30-34). So not very good really. If my swimming was 8 mins faster I would have been about 230th.
Although my swimming was rubbish, I had a really good day, met some nice people and am keen to do more!
June 30th, 2009 at 22:21
WELL DONE! I still can’t believe you just went and did it on two weeks notice – saying that you are the unltimate exercise junkie!
When are you doing the next one?!
June 30th, 2009 at 22:51
Thanks
My next race is a 6 hour Questars Adventure Race on the 18th July (http://questars.co.uk/18-july-2009-wiltshire-.html). I haven’t got any more Triathlons planned, but I’m sure I will do one soon!
I’ll get some swimming practice in first though.
July 8th, 2009 at 00:58
don’t forget to have a look at your official race photos Techboy. Sounds like the start of a great adventure ! GOod luck with your swim lessons and future training !
Anthony
July 8th, 2009 at 10:04
Hi Anthony,
I had actually forgotten about the photos! I’ll have a look tonight.
Thanks