I did a triathlon

How very exciting for me. I thought it was a bit nonsense to have entered an Ironman having never done a triathlon (actually they are almost incomparable events, a sprint tri vs an endurance tri) but anyway I wanted to say I was a triathlete so I did one.

Here are the stats:
Swim: 20:25  
T1 3:40    
Bike: 54:57     
T2 1:08    
Run: 27:49  
Total 1:47:57

I'll do a more detailed report but essentially here's the key things I wrote to my coach about afterwards:

I was very tired. I was so out of it on Weds that I collapsed (I know I know) so while I felt better on Sunday morning I think I actually felt better compared to rock bottom not actually better.

I took the swim really easy. I realised on the way to the first buoy that I was tired so I swam for fun. Good news is that I was dead straight [I used to veer to the right]. I found the finish hard to sight as the map was hard to follow, you couldn't see it from the start and the briefing describing it was so bad we all laughed. It was a dog leg around  a paddle steamer so not typical...

T1 was fine - walked a bit to get my head straight then long run in prescription goggles to bike.

Loved the bike. Hadn't ridden 20k before except holiday wine tasting! Only realised that I had gears on the left hand side too the previous day! Rode the hills in low gears with high cadence and went up ok - stayed in the saddle and chicked three guys all up. Got passed by three girls all up - only on the downhills. I passed two girls myself on the uphills. I had less confidence on downhills and cornering - and there was a bit of fast downhills into roundabouts. Was just too slow into these and had a wobble on one when I went fast. Got too competitive and started racing some guy on the flats! Totally loved it even though I had no ever done anything like that before.

Unfortunately my heart rate was too high coming into the run (trying to race on the bike at last minute). I struggled initally - walked when no one was looking. Brain just wasnt talking to legs. Jon came to watch which helped but when he wasn't looking I shuffled and limped. My time was not that bad (only one min off a 5k PB  though I dont really race 5ks).

Overall given the state I was in I am really pleased. I got a lot of confidence, thought it was fun (except the run!) and nutrition plan kept my head on!

And here's more pics