Tri #1 – The Heritage Challenge Triathlon 2009

Back in mid June when I was 16stone and had lost about 8pounds from watching what I was eating and cycling a bit Mark suggested doing a Triathlon in September. 12weeks sweet that should be enough time to train. Then about 3weeks ago Mark suggests we do The Heritage Triathlon because it has a slightly shorter swim and a short cycle than the one in September.

Swim Cap First

Anyway it was today and here’s the report.

After eating pasta all day yesterday and drinking lots of water and electrolyte drinks on Friday Mark and I travelled down to Portlaoise and had an early night (kinda was warm and hard to sleep with excitement). We hot up early but faffed about a bit and were behind our timetable.

We set up the bikes, helped a few girls with their bike and getting the tires pumped up and then realise we didn’t know how to get to the next place. There was a distinct lack of Triathlon signs!! We followed a guy and arrived a bit late at the T2 area. After the briefing we got a bus back to the swimming pool and we were good to go.

The Race

Because of the pool swim there were three waves, I was in the first. The people in the lanes were meant to have guessed their time, as it happens they all all thought they were faster than they were and I was the opposite. The rules stated you could only over take at the end of the lane so I spent many laps just sculling water behind a slow person. I was ragin’ because the excitement of the race had me buzzing and I was swimming faster than I’ve ever done. In the end with all the hold ups I was second out of the pool at a time of 8mins 52sec but it could easily have been 7:30 – 8:00. Distance 440m

The Heritage Challenge Triathlon 2009 Mark Cycle

Even though I messed up the transition I passed the other guy as we got on the bikes and I started at the front of the race all the way to the start of the run. The bike ride was hard to keep focused but I managed to keep my average up a little on normal (17mph) at 17.83mph. Finishing in 36mins 36sec. Distance 19Km. http://connect.garmin.com/player/11701226

I messed up T2 a good bit. Was a little over excited and took my left shoe off to put my knee strap on my right knee. At this stage a girl and guy caught up with me. I then started the run and the first 400m are hard but after that it was not bad. However the guy with me pointed out that I still had my helmet and glasses on, so I threw them in the bushes to get later.

The run was quite hilly with an awful climb over the last half mile but thanks to my running mates I managed to keep a pace under 9m/mi and on the last hill left them both behind. Only to have the the guy sprint past me at the last minute. We were only passed by two people on the run so I ended up being the forth across the line. My time of the run was 30mins 43 sec. Distance 5.5km http://connect.garmin.com/player/11701225

However there were two other waves to come and the last one had all the big hitters in it.

By the end I finished 27th out of 37males in a time of 1h 19m 18sec I’m over the moon as at just under 15stone I’m still about 3.5stone over weight.

The Heritage Challenge Triathlon 2009 Mark Finish

I was doing it with Mark but he got a bad cramp on the bike which dogged him on the run and resulted in his time being a few second down on mine. I reckon he would have been about 5 or 6 minutes quicker otherwise. But being as over competitive as I am Ill take it as me beating him and overlook the injury. lol

Great day out the sun shone, we both finished and I think are both rather bitten by the Triathlon bug. The Next one is on the 12th September and is a longer open water swim of 750m, a longer cycle of 25K and the same distance of run at 5K, we heard today that the cycle is quite hilly but it will be fun regardless. My target for that one is 1h 30m.

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A big thank you to everyone who has sponsored me already.

Tags: Mark