Things I learnt from my first sprint triathlon - very long!
For the past few days I've been searching the net for those last-minute brilliant tips and tricks to help my first triathlon. Finally I get to write my own - all of the things I learnt, from my first triathlon.
You never get to train as much as you'd planned. If you did, you wouldn't have a life.
You always have time to train too much too late, by socking out two hard work-outs in the week before the event. Not a smart idea. There's not much point in being in top shape 3 days after the event is over.
It's perfectly normal to have to enlist the help of total strangers to get dressed. If only they could help you undress too.
I thought I already did heavy-maintenance activities. But nothing creates more messy, muddy, wet gear to transport, sort, wash, hang up and dry than triathlon.
Triathlon is an obsessive's dream sport. There are checklists! Fussy little details! You can spend time finetuning how fast you change your clothes!
Swimming in a marshy forest lake is spooky. The water is black, there are strange stringy green things down there and for all I know the Kraken lives there.
No matter how spooky, once the lake fills up with 200 people desperately sloshing away I couldn't care less.
When they say "don't try anything new on race day" they really mean it. Even the most banal little details, like using two swim caps to keep your goggles from falling off instead of one, may sound look a good idea, but end up giving you a headache.
200 people in matching baby-blue swim caps look pretty funny.
Having a body that reacts badly to stress, hyperventilating and a skyrocketing pulse is not a great asset in competitive swimming. Even though it may look "ladylike" doing the breaststroke with your head above water, it's not the fastest way to get through the water.
A wetsuit may not be great for the breaststroke, but it's fantastic for assuring you you're not going to drown.
For someone happy to spend time, thought and money buying expensive special gear to make sure her feet and body are as dry as possible when biking under all weather conditions, there's something a little insane about running out of a lake and jumping onto a bike for a ride.
A short wet tri top is warmer than a long wet tri top.
I loooove biking. I also looooove passing people :D
Sports gels are just as disgusting as last time I tried them.
People with expensive tri bikes and plate wheels don't necessarily bike faster. It's always worth it to try and pass them.
What works during training doesn't necessarily work in a race. The watery blackcurrant juice I can ski for hours on feels like eating syrup in a 90 minute race. Plain water next time.
I can easily run right off the bike, but I can't run fast. But I can't run fast anyway. Running is boring, so anything that keeps my mind off what I'm doing works, like just following someone. Thank you to the lovely lady with the light feet that I followed today.
Race officials that cheer are the best, especially the ones that sound like they really mean it.
Friends that cheer are terrific, especially if they're positioned not in the middle of the bad hills where I feel awful, but at the top where I'm picking up momentum and feeling strong again. Friends with a good camera are invaluable.
You can be a terrible swimmer and still place well. I was among the last to leave the water, but ended up 21st of about 150 women.
It really is important to eat something after a race, even though nothing is appealing, if you don't want to almost pass out in the store two hours later.
You may feel like a hot shot triathlete, but when you're standing in the grocery store with fuzzy messy hair, dizzy with hunger and cross-eyed with lack of salt, buying chips and chocolate milk, the cashier girl can not see any difference between you and the merry junkies sitting outside.
