First Triathlon Recap – Tri Series Kinloch 2015

I signed up for my first ever triathlon on a bit of a whim, it was a rather rushed decision which is most likely a good thing or I would have thought about it too much and never done anything about it. 

When I first signed up to compete in the Kinloch Sprint Triathlon I didn’t really consider how terrible I am at swimming, or the fact that 750m is actually quite a long way when you are swimming. I have written about my exercise philosophy before and doing a lot of cardio isn’t really on the agenda for me unless I am completing a challenge such as this. 

After signing up for the Triathlon, I completely ignored the fact that I was doing one for a couple of months until I realised that I only had about 6 weeks left until the event and thought it would probably be a good idea to get in the pool and see how far I could actually swim *cough* not drown *cough*. 

I won’t go as far too say I made a lot of progress in my training sessions as to be honest, I really didn’t. But I did learn that I could do the distance, even if it was slow and did not look very good at all. 

Race day approached very quickly and I was getting really nervous the last week in the leadup to the Kinloch Triathlon. The number one rule for race day is to not try anything new, I broke this rule over and over again for the Kinloch Sprint Triathlon!

I hadn’t swum in the lake until the day before race day, I’d never put on a wet suit let alone swum in one until the day before as well. I am not very good at drinking on the go on the bike and I had never tried drinking powerade while biking (which was VERY sweet but I needed the calories), I also hadn’t ever tried eating on the go as well.

Kinloch Sprint Triathlon Recap
I was feeling okay the morning of the triathlon until about halfway through my bacon and egg breakfast and this feeling as though I was going to throw up hit me pretty quickly.

We headed around to Kinloch (we stayed in Taupo) and went straight into transition to set up the items I would need over the transitions. After setting out the items I would need we made our way near the start line for a toilet stop and then squeezed myself into the wetsuit.

I decided it would be a good idea to go down and put my feet in the water just to see how cold it was so it wouldn’t be a shock on the start line. After a very short (and hard to hear) briefing we made our way over to the water’s edge where we would start.

I knew that the swim was going to be very hard for me and had resigned myself to the fact I would be one of the last out of the water, which did end up being the case.

The swim was a lot harder than the training swims were, which I suppose was to be expected given I trained in a swimming pool. It seems that no matter how hard I pushed I wasn’t getting anywhere, which of course wasn’t true it just felt like it.

Knowing that I had done the distance a few times before in the swimming pool without stopping, touching the bottom or pushing off the ends of the pool helped keep me going as I knew that as slow as I was, I could finish it.

About 50 metres before the end of the swim I could see Kyle & my parents and I knew that the hell that was the swim was almost over! As soon as I could touch the ground I was up and trying to get out of the water as quick as I could.

I managed to unzip the wetsuit and get it off one of my arms on the way into transition and had to get the rest of when I was there. Off came my top and shorts I was wearing and on went some padded bike pants and an exercise top.

Next I had to quickly strap up my ankle, shove a few jelly beans in my mouth and try to chew while putting on my socks, shoes and helmet and pulling my bike off the rack and heading out of transition.

I had no idea where I was going for the bike ride despite looking at the (very vague) map a few times. This made it difficult as I like to know what to expect.

I had mentally prepared myself for large hills, which I was presented with. However the hills were very long and gradual which I wasn’t really expecting. I kept hearing Kyle telling me to “pace it out” a number of times when going up the hills which really helped.

On the way out I noticed a huge hill that I would have to climb back up on the way back in to transition (the course was mostly an out and back course with a few side streets we had to go down), and I was mentally preparing myself for that on the way back.

My legs were feeling tired up the hills and surprisingly strong along the flatter areas which gave me the confidence to keep pushing. Next thing I knew I was passing the transfer station which I thought was after the big hill I had prepared myself for…. and I was right! The smaller hill I had just gone up had been the big hill!

That was the best surprise ever and I knew it was just either flat or downhill into town and back into the transition station for the last section of the triathlon and I began thinking to myself that I was actually going to complete it!

Back into transition and a quick toilet stop and I was back out on the track under foot power! I was feeling strong and had a pretty good pace going for the first couple of hundred meters and then my legs started giving up on me.

I managed to get through lap one without walking, although it felt like I was almost crawling and my feet were barely moving. I contemplated stopping to walk for a bit as there were a couple of minor hills on the run but knew that I had got this far and wanted to be able to say I completely the whole thing without stopping.

Lap two finally came and I was thinking to myself that this was the longest 5km I had ever run! By this point all I could do was think to myself, keep putting one foot in front of the other. The run was always my best discipline of the three and I knew I could run 5km easily, I also knew it would be HARD after the swim and bike.

When I finally reached the 4km sign for the run I began to get my second wind and pick up the pace a little, knowing that  I was 1km away from finishing a Triathlon!

As I headed up to the very high pedestrian bridge for the second time my eyes began to well up a little knowing that all I had to do was get up and over the bridge and just around the corner was the finish line!

I didn’t realise I’d picked up the pace that much as it didn’t really feel like it but I made it to the finish line a couple of minutes before Kyle and my parents thought I would so I must have been quicker the second lap.

Overall I’m really glad I did decide to do the Triathlon even though my lack of training and being so terrible at swimming did hinder me. I said afterwards that I won’t be doing another sprint triathlon again, and while I believe in never saying never, the likelihood of me doing another one isn’t very high!

I am competing in a shorter Triathlon in March as I won an entry, it is a 300m Swim, 9km Bike and 3km run which should be much more manageable for me. I may also look at doing some duathlons as I did enjoy the bike and the run portions, just my swimming let me down and I don’t enjoy it so have no desire to try get better when I could focus on disciplines I do enjoy.

Check out my tips for your first triathlon and my round-up post about the training I did and the costs of completing a triathlon. Thanks to Sovereign who were great support for not only me but also all the other athletes, also check out the Sovereign Yahoo page where they give some great tips on how to Take charge of your life! 

If you are considering entering a triathlon you can get a 10% discount on any of the Sovereign Tri Series by using the code SOVEREIGN1, there are still three events left in 2015!

What discipline would you most enjoy out of the swim, bike and run??