Triathlon Trepidation

It's been a great day.

After under achieving at Ride London I've continued to cycle as I don't want to be unfit for Swim Serpentine, however I also treated myself to a new pair of running shoes to build up a few miles as I intend to go back to running after the swim.

All year I've been asked when my triathlon is because I was a runner taking up cycling and swimming so it was a natural assumption. I'm still not 100% sure I could ever do a triathlon, however I looked up the components of a sprint distance event and decided to try them all in one day to see if it is mildly achievable - a lazy triathlon, if you will.

To do this I had to run 5km (3.1 miles), cycle 25km (12 miles) and swim 750 metres (0.47 miles). Granted they were in reverse order but I was invited to a BBQ 12 miles away that was right by the sea and realised I could try them all out in one go. I started running at 6.45am and had a bit of a gap until I jumped on the bike after which I had to don my wetsuit and threw myself into the sea at around midday. I genuinely enjoyed every aspect of this experiment and confidently believe I could do a sprint tri if not an olympic event which involves double the distances.

I don't have the willpower to practice the transitions so will put it on the back burner for now yet I was pleased to munch away at the grilled goods knowing that I had really earned them.

[N.B. I have done more than this during the week, I just haven't recorded it..!]

70/100

Everything was in place for last Sunday and every obstacle that kept me up was overcome. I got my bike to the start at the right time, had everything prepared as planned and yet...

After starting I was feeling pretty annoyed that it was raining. It's been hot all Summer, it's hot afterwards, why not then? This melted away as the rain soaked in as it wasn't too cold and, by mile 20, I was more than happy to ride in the rain. I was obsessed with punctures and took five inner tubes with me, finding people were out repairing theirs by mile 15. Some people had as many as seven over the course of the ride; I'd had none over 1,000 miles of training and, as it turned out, none on the ride itself. I believe this was because I've been running my tyres at 70 PSI, well below the recommended pressure but enough to keep the rubber inflated. 

I also managed to eat every fifteen miles - it was a Cadburys Brunch Bar every time yet it seemed to push me along just nicely. Every time my energy dropped I had some already waiting to burst out. Gels? Not for me. Oats and chocolate every time.

This meant I didn't have to stop at all over the ride and made it past Leith Hill and Box Hill, two adversaries I'd worried about yet I cycled up them both by dropping down my gears and just rotating away. At the top of Box Hill, on mile 70, just before the big downhill drop to the finish, my pedalling became too easy. My freehub had broken and I had no drive to the back wheel to which the mechanic told me I couldn't go on and there was no way for them to fix it. I was desperate, looking around for a spare bike regardless of condition just so I could finish the race. It wasn't to be and, two hours later at The Tree pub, I was picked up and dropped to the nearest station.

My bike had let me down after nine months on the road together. It took about an hour for me to accept that I'd dropped out and then I thought sod it...let's just go again next year. I got in touch with JDRF and they've offered me a charity place for 2019 which means I just need to keep up my training and push it up again next May. Ironically I have a 30 mile charity ride for JDRF this Saturday, the missing miles from my great Ride London adventure. Oh, and I still have to swim two miles in the Serpentine next month.