Never again.... (long first tri report)

[alpinerabbit]

… will I have to feel like I am about to puke before the start. I was soooo nervous. I went to the portaloo three times in the hour before the start.

Aneways...

I slept like a princess the night before. I had swim class and that helped a lot, plus one (really just one) glass of wine
6:45 Breakfast: pumpernickel, butter, jam, soft boiled egg, tea. Grab equipment that was laid out the night before.
7:45 Cycle to the venue (15 minutes).
8:00 check in bike. Phew, some knobbies around so I am not the only one without a time machine.
Walk around expo for an hour. Ogle at fancy bikes*. Had coffee and a croissant that I could not down. Tested some isotonic beverage that was yucky.

The weather is clear, partly cloudy, and cool (about 20°C).
We had very little wind, some head but mostly tailwind. We were lucky: at noon, as the Oly race started, the wind became quite brutal with gusts from the side. Yuck.

Walk over to swim start (another trip to the loo) and try to calm down my breath, clattering teeth and rubber knees using a short meditation. I stood to the back and side...

Swim
9:50 Boom. The start. The lake is not cold at all. I pull past some swimmers and start freestyling, then some breast stroke, pull past some more. The swim was long. Very long. My goggles fogged up and I had to breast stroke a lot to catch breath and sight. I got into some tiny passing struggles and quite enjoyed it. But it was harder than expected.

Out of the water they grab your hands and pull you up. What took longest in T1 was getting my gloves on my wet, shaky and uncoordinated fingers but I am glad I used them.

Bike
2 rounds were to be done.
Off on the bike leg and I am spinning at 30-32 kph most of the time sometimes even 34, tops 37. This is going well! My breath goes easy but nevertheless my pulse is about 175. There was quite a draftfest going on and I tried not to profit too much - but there was not much you could do, quite a crowd. I was a good girl and finished almost a bottle of water, plus a power gel after lap one.

Take it easy the last ~1K into T2, hop off the bike - my computer showed only 17K or so, average 30kph!
I was back in transition in 38 minutes. On with shoes. Glasses stay on, I like running with shades.

Run
2 laps to run.
Legs were a bit heavy on the first half lap but I felt ok. I was afraid I might cramp as I had a beginning cramp towards the end of the bike. Breath was steady but HR high (180 almost). Third half-lap my legs are starting to feel good. I see some peeps I met in Spain and holler, and high five as the wife crosses me on the run. On the last turnaround my hair raises and I am enjoying myself. Passing some people who are huffing and puffing. Had a drink on both laps.
Last half lap I was able to up the speed based on my breathing rhythm and in I am!

Finish -
Did not forget anything so I don't think I will get DQ'd...
I know I am about at 1:15, much better than expected.
Find boyfriend, say goodbye to the folks I know, checkout bike, roll home to a thai lunch.

Total time 1.13.14
Overall rank 39/134
Age group rank 21/70
I was NOT last *happydance*

Swim 13.47 (50 overall/25 AG)
Bike 37.18 (36 overall/20 AG)
Run 22.08 (64 overall/35 AG) splits 11.27/10.41

I discussed with a girl next to me in the transition zones that the distances could no way have been 20K/5K. Not with these times.

Lessons learned: dunno about the gloves. Don’t fret too much. Power gel is not half bad. I did not litter, not even the top. The bike is the most important for ranking. I think I’ll do it again.


Yours truly

Alpinerabbitfish

*Record components are almost better than sex...