#52 – Complete a Triathlon

The idea originally came from conversations with Gareth and Josh just general chat about ultimate fitness challenges. Triathlons always appealed to me but not being a cyclist at all I knew it was going be a big learning curve.

With Covid locking everything down I knew there was no better time to do a triathlon. I didn’t want to do a little half arsed one so went big and found a 70.3 (Half Iron Man) at Alderford lake with U.K. Triathlon.

The next thing was to get planning and training. Thanks to a lot of focus after my injury (May 2020) I recovered with a great physio, got my fitness back with Gareth in November before running 200miles in our January challenge. I decided to throw money at this and find a Triathlon coach to help me get organised. I ended up going for a guy called Laurence at Footesteps Coaching. He supplied the plan on excel which I liked, weekly calls and he was great. He worked with me to get good feedback to really understand how to keep getting the best out of me step by step.

I was lucky enough to drag my best mate Josh Burns into this also. Being best mates with Josh for 27 years it was amazing to go through this together. 

Run Training – as we are both physically fit this was our most confident section and we just got on with the running.

Bike Training – this was my weakest area of the triathlon. I bought a cheap bike (cheap being £250) in the summer of 20 when I injured my ankle to start giving it a go. Who knew a good bike ranged from £600-£1,000, but this orange little bad boy was good enough for me. We did a couple of rides just Josh and I to get started before Laurence joined to help educate us on how to use gears and the very basics. What I had hoped was Chris Noakes (an experienced cyclist) helped plot routes, as luck would have it he was back from working in Egypt and for once would settle into a routine. This was the saving grace, not only was it awesome to hang out us three for a couple of months most Sunday mornings for 3 hours but his expertise were crucial. Key things I took from it, how to approach and deal with hills, improving how to use gears another level and biking fitness and speed.

Swim training – due to Covid we were unable to get in the pools until April 14th so this was a slight fear initially if it would be enough time. I loved getting back in the water and getting stuck into it. Joined the pool in Newmarket which was v busy but did a job. The best steps for me were buying the wetsuit and swimming outdoors in Cambridge Lido at Jesus Green and booking in a coaching session with my cousin Georgina who’s almost commonwealth levels of swimming. Gina pointed out to rotate more with my strokes, worked on my breathing technique and lots of other tips that helped with marginal gains. After feeling confident with my technique and distance it was then time to get in the lake. Josh and I initially went in Milton lake for a session which was very weedy and I was not great at directing myself as ridiculous as that sounds. Booked in a coaching session with Laurence and he thought my stroke was okay, so we just worked on sighting and mentally prepping for race day and what it might be like. Sighting – AKA crocodile eyes, pop your eyes out the water on a particular side that’s comfortable and spot the next buoy to swim to. When racing don’t worry about other people, sticking to breathing and focus on next buoy, next buoy, next buoy.

The race day
The big day arrives and like the rest of training I was very organised. Hotel booked closed by and two lovely pubs for dinners Saturday and Sunday in between where Josh and Elisa and Lindsey and I were staying so it was nice and easy for us. U.K. Triathlon were great, very organised and set it up wonderfully. Got signed in and put our bike in the transition areas ready to go. 
Swim: 45mins – apart from NOT being in line on time to help the organisers ha the swim went really well. This was all about getting it done! I had a couple of moments where I was distracted by other swimmers but I kept to what I knew with my breathing keeping focused on that next buoy. It was two straight lines to begin with which I liked and then a bit of a zig zag before completing the first lap, jumping out, running for 10 metres and cracking on again. My arms were pretty tired especially my left arm but I was really chuffed with my time and happy to move on. 
Transition: 7mins
Bike: 3:36h – I felt really comfortable on the bike to begin with which was surprising, topping up with food and water. The course was fantastic, ups and downs but I was able to keep a really good pace rarely going below 14mph. The big challenge was on the 15th mile with a big hill which we had trained for so once we got that out the way we were back on it again. I lead the way the first lap and felt really strong and surprised by our half way time. Josh took the lead the second lap. I loved doing the same lap again as I felt comfortable with what I was doing and remembering key points. To achieve this in under 4 hours is in my eyes simply incredibly, I have a real sense of pride with 3:36h.
Transition: 8 minutes
Run: 2h – I won’t write long about the run because it was three laps of declining pain. I disliked the running course because you had to run past the finish line three times, before running down a boring straight road with no music, turning round and coming back up again. This being said, we got it done. The last lap was so hard and it was very tempting to walk but Josh and I just powered through together. 

Summary
If you’ve got lots of time, money and enjoy hard work I advise giving this a go. Use the people around you to support you.
The sense of achievement is amazing and I have continued to learn a lot about myself on this journey. The importance of consistency and training being number 1 lesson.