Lady Mycroft: Competition
She was my opposite. The tall brunette was mouthing off. Hanging with her guy friends, she seemed very confident, with her loud talking and bravado. She was in my division. Racked her bike three away from mine. I was quiet. I stayed in my own head, kept to myself. Listening to music, my bright…
Lady Mycroft: To do
Body glide
Everywhere
Wetsuit up
Zip
Ear plugs, neon green cap, goggles, Gu
Breath breath wait
Wet feet
Wave starts
Swim swim swim
Stay on course
Swim swim
Rhythm fast
Stand
Watch my steps
Run up the beach
Unzip wetsuit
Ear plugs out
Goggles off
Swim cap off
Arm one out
Arm…
My first triathlon
I did it. It was brilliant. Well, my time wasn’t but the experience was fantastic. I arrived late which didn’t help and so I was a fumbling mess getting sorted in transition. But once I have got my wetsuit on and at the start I felt great. All the other ladies in my wave were really sweet and lots of well wishes and “good lucks” were exchanged. The whole atmosphere was amazing, loads of young and fit people hanging out with their mates and families messing about and having fun. There does seem to be a totally different vibe than at running events. Eton is a great location, both for the event and getting their from London. I can see the appeal of rushing out of London on a saturday morning to go and thrash around on your fancy bike. And there were loads. Lots of Planet X matt black bat bikes and a couple of SHIVs. Try not to get intimidated. Just because there are lots of very professional athletes here doesn’t mean you can’t have fun if your not.
The swim was my favourite disciplin of all and once I had got over the brain freeze of the first 50m I felt great and got into my stride (or is that stroke?). I will regret saying this but I could have done with it being longer to really make up some time, because the rest was all down hill. I spent ages in T1 and I wasn’t super fast on the bike. Probably because before today I had never cycled more than about 4 miles on my bike. ha ha ah a. The pancake flat course isn’t technical so I didn’t have any mishaps. No falling off because of my clip in shoes. I hope I have got that out of my system after going splat last week on my way home.
I run was horrible. Mostly because of lethargy at that point but a fair amount of jelly legs coming off the bike. All in all, a great morning out and a well deserved chocolate milk sitting in the boot of the car and eyeing up hot triathletes and their bikes followed. Yep, great day.
05/05/13
Out of my way ducky! My wetsuit fits, what a triumph. Thank you speedo. Also thanks for the clear googles. I look very professional now albeit slightly frightening after the guy in the store recommended them to be because they are slim and so won’t come off when you get kicked in the head. Good to know. I did grab another swim cap which I was told would keep my noggin warm by trapping air. Yeah right. It’s like taking a sword to a gun fight. This particular gun fight was my first trip out in open water with the plan of swimming. I have been in the serpentine before and a couple of lakes for windsurfing etc. but most of those trips were usually due to some kind of dare. This was all down to me. Truth be told the serpentine is a great spot. The water was thankfully pretty clear and the floor is harmless gravel. Nothing to worry about. Not that it stopped me. I have been physicians myself up for weeks over this. The only issue is BRAIN FREEZE. For the first few minutes I could barely do a couple of strokes before sticking my head up ‘sight’, well I say sight, what I really mean is the thaw my head, do a couple of strokes of breatstroke and go again. Brrrr. It turns out it’s much like the pain and discomfort of a marathon. The pain gets to a certain level and then doesn’t really get any worse. The cold does ever get any worse. You just got to suck it up and get on with it. And it’s very pleasant. There is no fear of drowning in a wetsuit, I am not a dry and flaking from chlorine and you feel all warm and fuzzy after. And starving as always. It’s swimming after all.
