Hi Susan, a quick word on the triathlon I completed on September 1st.

A quick word on the event.
It was challenging. Sheesh!
I initially signed up to do the Standard Triathlon along with my buddy Saul. But due to injury, I would do the Sprint (half the distance) instead.

On Saturday (the race was on Sunday) Saul and I arrived in Brighton. While we were at the registration desk, I had this unshakable feeling that the Sprint wasn’t enough of a challenge. Writing this, I run the risk of sounding a little big-headed but I’m fairly fit and felt that an 800m swim, 20km cycle, and 5km run wouldn’t be as hard as I’d like it to be.

And so, I decided to switch back to the Standard.

This meant:
1.6km swim
40km bike
10km run

Eek!

The night before – I was antsy. I slept restlessly with the pre-event adrenaline entering my blood. Saul and I were up at the crack of dawn – we weren’t exactly raring to go, but we were at least ready for the task ahead. This had been nearly a year in the making.

We made our way to the event, dropped our bikes and other bits in our designated safety boxes, and changed into our wetsuits. The next hour was tough because we were in the last wave of contestants, and with nerves jangling, and hearts pounding, it was our turn at the start line.

The swim.

Woah, Poseidon had it in for me. I ended up swimming for 1 hour 45 minutes!
Now, bear in mind swimming 1.6km in a pool takes roughly 35 minutes for me. Add a strong current and that takes the time to 55 minutes.
At around the hour mark – I looked at my watch and saw that 1.6km had been swum but I was hundreds of meters away from the shore.
Hmm.
At this point, a safety boat alerted me and a few other swimmers that we had already swum the requisite distance.
They explained that the strong current had extended the course by moving the floating buoys…
But instead of dropping us at the shore, I had to swim a further kilometre. Yay.
When I finally got to land – I had swum 2.6km and had been in the water for 1 hour 45 minutes. Bonkers.

The transition between disciplines in a triathlon requires speed. Strip off your wetsuit and speedily put on your cycling gear. But having spent over 100 minutes in the sea I was kinda knackered. Instead, I fuelled up (I hadn’t brought enough energy gels so a kind woman gave me a bunch of hers) and rather slowly made my way to the bike course.

The cycle.

The bike segment was smooth. 8 laps of a 5km course. My ride was cut short at 6 laps (30km) because they had to reopen the cycling course for regular traffic – not because I was slow, (I wasn’t – ego speaking), but due to the swim taking so much extra time.

The run.

I changed into my running shoes. Gulped another energy gel and jogged to the course. At this point, I had been moving for nearly 3 hours. My legs felt super heavy and my stomach was cramping, but for the next hour, I kept running. No walking at any point. Boy, it was hard. The midday Brighton sun beat down on the promenade. With every lap (there were 4 x 2.5km laps) I took on as many fluids as possible at the water station and even stood under the beach shower on the final two laps.

After 56 minutes of monotony and pain, I took my final stride over the finish line. Boom. What a feeling. Triathlon completed.

Brighton Triathlon:
2.6km swim
30km bike
10km run

Total:
3 hours 49 minutes.

I look back at the race and, honestly, I am proud of myself for sticking with it as there were times when I really wanted to give up. Now it is a memory to cherish – especially after all aches and pains have gone. It was made a lot more fun by sharing the training and the experience with my pal Saul.

’Til the next one.

Joe