English
1
I am sitting in the car sipping on a chocolate For Goodness Shake as the rain lashes it down on the M4 on our way home from Dorney Lake, Eton to sunny Southsea. It’s hard to believe that 32mins ago I was crossing the finish line of my first triathlon of 2010 and as a Wiggle staff sponsored athlete. My name is David and I am a marketing analyst for Wiggle.
Flashback to 7am, we are loading the car up ready for our day of triathloning. Today we are both doing the Eton Super Sprint which is 400m swim, 20km cycle and 5km run, it’s a great distance for beginners and those warming up for the tri season. Triathlons involve a lot of kit; wetsuits, trisuits, goggles, swim hats, baby oil, race belts, cycle shoes, helmets, trainers, elastic laces, sunglasses oh and a bike! This year I am v lucky as wiggle have loaned me a Focus Izalco Chrono, it looks more like a missile than a bike and rides as such too! After several attempts at leaving we set off.
On arrival we head to the registration tent and transition to rack up our bikes. My nerves start to kick in as I see the water, 11C apparently! The swim should be the easiest part for me as I started swimming at the tender age of 4, and whilst on poolside my mum asked if I could touch the bottom, I responded “cause I can” and promptly turned around and slapped my own! Since then I have competed at the Great Britain National champs and swam the Channel in a relay team. So I was hoping I could get my ass round 400m!!
Finally it was time to lube up, shoe horn myself into my wetsuit and brave the chilly and murky waters…. 5mins and 53 seconds later I emerge from the lake wrestling out of my wetsuit and steamy goggles. I run out of transition and launch myself onto the bike, somewhat concerned that I may never regain sensation in my feet. After a miserable two laps of ridiculous wind, rain and overcautious marshals I was able to release the potential of my two wheeled missile, gunning down any competitors in its way. A quick shoe swap later and I was onto the run. As I left transition my calves started to cramp up, I gritted my teeth and altered my running style for a couple of hundred meters and managed to run it off.
Note to self – more brick training is required! At half way my calves were behaving and I was feeling good. I crossed the line in 23rd out of 95 and in a time of 1h 09m 03s, a new PB!
It’s now 7.30pm and I can see the Sea and Spinnaker Tower which means only one thing… Home … which means three things Bath, Beer and Bed.
Big Bird
