Newsletter Aug 2023
Chairman’s Update
Dear Tri2O’ers
Welcome to your Tri2O August 2023 and a BIG thank you to each member who has taken time to contribute their knowledge, experience or race story for this issue.
I hope you enjoy reading the inspirational stories as much as I do, please keep sending them in to our Editor In Chief Sunil for future issues.
Well done to all members who have raced so far this season, some podium places and some personal goals achieved, please continue to share your “Post Race Selfies” in our Facebook Group no matter how you look!!!
We have had two wonderful social events over recent weeks:-
- TVT (Thames Valley Triathletes) kindly invited Tri2O members to their Social Triathlon on 22nd June which was well attended by both clubs. 50 Triathletes from both clubs, had a thrash about on the Hi5 lake, followed by a 20km bike around the Reading Tri course with a transition to the Cunning Man pub for a run along the towpath, followed of course for some serious refuelling in the Cunning Man garden. If we are invited again next year do join in the fun!
- Sunday 13th saw the rescheduled Tri2O BBQ, kindly hosted by our Social Secretary Clare Hawthorn and Husband Daniel at their lovely home in Farley Hill. It was great to catch up with everyone who attended, we had some of our usual swim/bike/run stories and banter. The food was excellent and Clare spoiled us with the choice of 3 Desserts, so I followed the lead of our Head Coach Georgia and had ALL Three!!
Keep your eye out for the next Social Events. It would be great to see you there.
Volunteers Needed Please:
Our very own Reading Triathlon is not far away now (Sunday 3rd September) Please do sign up to help your clubmates with the organisation on the day and/or on the preparation days. It is allways good fun and we need your help!
I hope you will have seen my recent email communication regarding the upcoming vacancy for Race Director for the Reading Triathlon Sub Committee if not here it is again…….
Tri2O have been proudly running this long standing popular race for the past 7 years, with the net proceeds being distributed to the Clubs charity of choice (currently www.sportinmind.org), back into the club to help fund members activities and to the volunteers for making it all happen.
Our core Events Team members have done a wonderful job of preparing and organising this popular local race and on behalf of every member of Tri2O I thank you for your commitment.
The Team is headed up by the Race Director Pete Gough who for the past 7 years has played a key role in developing a successful blueprint for the event. After this year’s race Pete will be stepping down from the Race Director role and we need to find a suitable Tri2O member who is willing to step into his shoes moving forward.
If you enjoy working as part of a team, have good attention to detail and would like to be considered for this fun and rewarding role please drop me an email chairman@tri2o.club or call me on 07919 555555 to discuss further……I really look forward to hearing from you.
Our current Treasurer Stuart Jay who has diligently fulfilled this role over the past 5 years is stepping down at this year’s AGM and we need a suitable candidate to take over this role. Stu has created some straightforward processes for the role and will provide a comprehensive handover. Please either contact Stu at treasurer@tri2o.club or drop me an email chairman@tri2o.club.
Enjoy your newsletter and I look forward to catching up with you soon.
Best wishes
Mike Nash
Chairman
Reading Tri Run Course Recce
Embrace summer running … yes the sun is back! Perfect opportunity if you are volunteering as a marshal or participating in Reading Tri to get the run route clear in your mind for race day! Join in a mid week run recce on Wednesday 16th 10:30 at the Hi5 Lake … suitable for all abilities. Alternative evening and or weekend recces also available – let me know (email : run@tri2o.club) if you would like to join and I’ll magic some dates and times for another group run!
Happy Running – Edwina
Future Triathlete
Many congratulations to Clare and Neil Harris on the birth of Ezra Harris on 1st Aug
Membership Update
We would like to welcome the following new members who have joined, since the last newsletter in June:
- Robin Denton
- Roberta Ceci
- Gregg Brittles
- Natalie Emery
We hope you enjoy training and being part of the team.
Please don’t forget to sign up to your sessions on Stack Teamapp in advance and join the club Facebook group. You will have had a welcome email with the links – please let me know if you did not receive this.
Coaches’ Corner – On yer bike!
As a triathlon club we’re in a tricky position – do we try to compete with swimming clubs, cycling clubs, or running clubs? Because after all, they all offer training, social and racing opportunities in all these disciplines. We can’t be all these three things, and I would argue that we shouldn’t try – we offer a community for people who want to do any combination of swim, bike, run, including just the single disciplines. One of the best bits about triathlon (for that read “multisport”) is the flexibility of options; I’ve been involved in triathlon for 25 years now, and my enthusiasm and drive for swim, bike or run has waxed and waned over those years, but I’ve always been actively “doing” at least one of the three single sports at any point in those years; the variety is what’s kept me hooked.
Many Tri2O members also belong to local cycling clubs. The more people out riding their bikes the better, and it’s a great way to get used to group riding, discover new routes (and cake shops), and you’ll get to know a wider pool of people you can ride with. Also, our membership covers a very wide area from Newbury to Bracknell and South Oxfordshire, so often it’s just more convenient to ride with your local cycling club.
However, we do have regular club rides on a Sunday at 8:30am from the lake. We are dependent on a (currently small) pool of members leading rides, and our membership is much smaller than a cycling club (plus people are also trying to fit in swimming and running!), so we are obviously a bit limited by who’s willing and available to lead a ride. If you’d like to see shorter, longer, slower, faster, flatter, hillier, etc, rides, then there’s nothing to stop you offering to lead one (or many!) No qualifications are required, and you will almost always find someone will join you.
As a general rule, you will be able to ride faster and further in a group than you normally would on your own. Most of the rides advertised are “non-drop”, which means you won’t be left behind, but if in doubt you can always post a comment in TeamApp to ask the ride leader. If you think you can manage 75% (figure plucked out of the air!) of the advertised distance at maybe 1-2kph slower than the average speed advertised, on your own, then you’ll probably be fine! It’s a good idea to look at the route in advance too, as obviously a hillier route will be slower. Even if you don’t have a GPS watch or bike computer, you can make use of an app on your phone such as MapMyRide to log a solo ride and give yourself an idea of what level you’re at.
If you’re looking for people to ride with at other times, that’s where our club FB group comes in. Anyone can post at any time, giving an idea of whereabouts you are, and what sort of riding you’re looking for and when. This could include off road riding (there are plenty of mountain bikers in our midst!) as well.
If you’re just getting started, and are keen to improve your cycling, for most beginners or less experienced riders, the best thing you can do is simply ride your bike more. Develop a regular routine, consistently week to week, and ride at least a couple of times a week. You don’t need to get out for hours every time – every little helps. If you don’t like hills, or aren’t very good at them, then you need to ride up more hills – sounds facetious but let’s face it, most people avoid the things they dislike or aren’t good at! And that won’t help you get any better! Use your gears wisely (don’t be afraid to change gears a LOT), anticipate a hill by choosing your gears early, using an easier gear if you’re starting out, so you can spin your legs relatively quickly, and pace yourself. Think about using your bike more for transport, as that’s excellent for sneaking in incidental fitness gains as well as helping the planet.
We have put on cycling skills sessions in the past, a few times, but these have been on the whole poorly attended. If this is something that enough members are interested in and willing and able to commit to, we can look to arrange this. Just get in touch to let us know.
Happy riding!
Kathy’s Jersey to France Swim
by Kathy Stevenson
Some of you will know that for the past two years I’ve been training to swim from Jersey to France. Two years because the weather didn’t allow me to attempt it in 2022. But on Wednesday 28th June 2023 I got my chance, and I BLOODY DID IT! It took a few days to process the swim and for the immense achievement to sink in! So much went well and I learnt lessons too!
These types of piloted marathon swims are individual swims that you sign up for years in advance. You contact a registered pilot and secure a slot in a ‘swim window’ of a few days and hope that the weather plays ball and you get to swim! Mine was a solo swim, but relays are also undertaken. The pilot chooses the best time to swim based on the tide and weather conditions and guides you on the most efficient route according to swim speed and said aquatic conditions!
This year I was fortunate to swim on the first day of my window, conditions were great, warm but not sunny, and a gentle breeze. The official observer greeted me with a big hug, which was so welcome as I was very nervous! All the training had come down to this one day. The start was fairly low key, I jumped over the edge of the boat and swam back to shore, to be greeted by an excitable dog, any other day I’d have loved that, but not today doggo!
The first 2 hours were strange, despite years of sea swimming I felt slightly panicked at a few points as the enormity of what I was doing sunk in. Just little old me in the middle of the ocean for *a very long time*, different to the channel relay I’d previously done, different to training along the coast, down the river and around lakes. I couldn’t help but think about the poor soul who lost his life in the English Channel the previous week.
The next seven hours were great, I calmed down and settled into the swim, my stroke rate was consistent for most of the swim and I felt comfortable with no shoulder pain. Despite a successful 10 day taper in the heat and warm waters of Crete, I’m glad that the 15°C Jersey water felt comfortable and not once did I feel cold!
It was a relief that all the training I’d put in over the past few years, expertly coached by Georgia, paid off. Even a very low swim volume for the six weeks prior due to a shoulder sprain didn’t seem to have made a difference. It felt counter intuitive to not be swimming so much but I trusted advice and the hard work that had gone before.
There were lots of jellyfish, mostly moon and compass, and I got stung by the one and only blue jellyfish I saw…not too painful but pretty itchy for days afterwards!
My husband Mark and friend Rachel were my expert crew and they didn’t disappoint, feeds were delivered efficiently and I could see they were always keeping an eye on me and encouraging me which was so comforting! I fed each hour rotating carb drink, tea and electrolytes, and choc milk! Always with marshmallows, banana and dates! It worked well, I didn’t feel sick, and I had enough energy. Messages from supporters were relayed on a white board and it helped so much!
As we got closer the water got warmer, and I could see the beach, but it didn’t seem to get closer, this is because the tide had turned and I’d not realised. I had been swimming parallel to the coast for a while until Mark jumped into the support kayak and came and herded me into shore! I was a bit emotional by this point as the demons had taken over and convinced me I couldn’t swim strongly enough to finish the swim! But finally, once going in the right direction I made progress and was able to stand up and walk on to dry land and collect a very normal looking shell as a ‘prize’!
It took me 10 hours 7 mins to swim 14.7 miles.
My First Triathlon at the Age of 68 and a Half
by Louise Watkins
I’ve done it!
My first triathlon at the age of 68 and a half! I’m claiming the half!
It wasn’t until I retired that the fitness bug took hold. I’d always enjoyed swimming but that’s where it stopped. After a couple of swimming challenges Jennie taught me to run and then to ride a bike. I had no intention of competing in a triathlon, I just wanted to stay active so I could keep up with the grandchildren. But then, about a year ago, I had a mad thought that seeing as I could do all the parts of a sprint triathlon why not have a go at putting them all together.
As the race got closer, I’d followed all the plans consistently but the doubts started to creep in. The swim and cycle were doable but after struggling on a couple of brick runs I was finding it hard to stay positive.
Excitement only set in just before the start of the race. I fought off the breaststrokers, joined the cycle without causing an accident and amazingly ran my fastest 5k. It took a couple of days to sink in that I had completed a triathlon but now I’m looking ahead, planning what to do next. I’m well and truly hooked!
I have to say a huge thank you to Jennie Jones for coaching me; keeping me injury free; for the laughs; teaching me that I’m on a journey and the need to be patient; that setbacks are a part of learning; to be positive, and to believe.
SIPE – Who knew?
by Siân Vaughan
Swimming induced pulmonary oedema or SIPE for short is a condition where the lungs fill with fluid and blood. Sometimes referred to as dry drowning. Caused by greater pressure within the pulmonary capillaries, causing a breakdown of the membrane separating the blood from the gas spaces. It occurs in swimmers and divers, particularly during strong exertion.
The symptoms are typically shortness of breath and a cough, often with blood-tinged sputum (frothy pink fluid). The condition leads to a low blood oxygen level, and the cough usually subsides when you stop exercise. However, if you continue in the race, it can be serious (sometimes deadly). SIPE can occur in all ages, and all levels of fitness.
I had never come across this despite doing many open water swim races and triathlons and working as a dive instructor for years and so was totally unprepared for it.
During the swim section of the Wargrave triathlon this year I experienced all of the above. It started a minute or so into the swim. I had extreme shortness of breath, similar to a panic attack, couldn’t catch my breath and couldn’t swim front crawl, basically couldn’t breathe. In my ignorance I thought maybe I had just over exerted myself or was panicking and so continued to finish the swim. Luckily by the time I was really bad it was the downstream section so could pretty much float back. I was asked a number of times if I was ok by both fellow triathletes and the water safety crew (in hindsight I should have twigged), I even remember saying to someone I knew that I was ‘really struggling’ mid swim. I exited the water walked to transition, there was no chance of running and was later told I had a bluish/grey skin tone on exiting the swim. The feeling eased a bit so after a brief rest in transition I headed out on the bike. During the bike it was pretty terrifying, I was coughing up frothy blood-tinged fluid had a crazy high heart rate for the speed I was going and felt like I was miles away from anywhere. If I had known about SIPE I would have stopped immediately on the swim (gone to the medics) and not even contemplated getting on the bike. I stopped after the bike as it was clear by that point that something was wrong and the symptoms eased however I then spent the rest of the day in A&E.
I wanted to raise awareness not to scare anyone off open water events, statistically 1.3% of triathletes will experience SIPE. I thought a bit of knowledge may help during a race as it’s hard to notice something isn’t right when you are hyper-focused on said race. I have been given the all clear and am writing this after my first swim back in a river since the event.
Swansea Middle Distance Triathlon
by Jim Lemin
As one grows old one should (possibly) grow wiser. Unfortunately, I think that only applies to people who reflect on past mistakes and adjust their lives accordingly.
As for me, 2021 was an interesting time, I jumped with two feet into a middle distance triathlon. I should have learnt but sadly for my wife, I did not, I thoroughly enjoyed the experience and came home and booked another event “Swansea 70.3”. Everyone said it was tough, don’t do it, you will regret it… blah blah blah.
Then the idea formed, I could do the standard distance triathlon in Sunderland.
Swansea, Sunderland both start with “S” so why not.
Pro’s for Swansea: we could take the caravan and have a week’s holiday. Sunderland, I could see my brother. Win! win!
Against participating in both events is that they are only two weeks apart, that was a challenge to be managed.
So in November 2022 I booked the two events, having cleared it with those who matter (wife and brother).
Early in 2023 I receive an email from British Triathlon asking if I would like to compete in the European Championships in Belgium in August. Wow, of course I would.
That’s my year sorted.
And then there are friends whose interests you want to share, so added to the list were the Farnborough half marathon, Reading half marathon, and, whilst having a beer one night Geoff (from Reading Joggers) slipped a question “Ever done an Ultra?”.
So added to the list was the Goring Gap Ultra.
James, Maureen’s son then invites me to The Great North Swim (2 miles).
I began to sink, under the pile of events, and then, BA suggested we had to use our vouchers (from cancelled holiday). Maureen booked a trip to Morocco to climb Mount Toubkal.
Trying to squeeze runs, swims and cycling in an orderly program went out the window, booking a coach was impossible.
My training for Swansea was based around swimming and running with many trips to the Brecons wandering around Pen y Fan and the Horseshoe ridge, 5-6 hours of weight training carrying a 20 kg backpack.
February-June was taken up with swimming, walking and running. I did manage to buy a new bike and cycle to St Albans (another distraction, the kids moved house and it was grandson’s birthday)
Grandkids? Yep, we got another one (in Nottingham) and of course we needed to go. Several times.
A month before Swansea I managed a 40 km cycle. My swimming had improved, 2000 m in 50 minutes, and I was able to run a half marathon in 2 hr 25 min.
Swansea 70.3 and the weather was a little damp with heavy rain and high winds. Funnily the rain eased off for the swim (41 min) and cycle (4 hr 4 min). I thought that was a good result, the run 2 hr 16 min – happy man with a second placing in my age group behind Alex Heron who lives and trains in Swansea.
So, the presentations came and we picked up our trophies, there was one slot for the World Championships in Taupō, New Zealand. Had a quick chat with Maureen, what if? Go for it if you get the chance
Cut a long story short, $780 later I’m in a spin, I’m off to Taupō, New Zealand for the Ironman 70.3 World Championship.
What happened at Sunderland? I had a fabulous time in Sunderland, swim 1500 m in 37 min, bike 1 hr 26 min and a 10 k run in 58 min, placing me 458th and 1st place in age group with five old codgers in the start list.
Next year is beginning to get crowded, Reading half marathon, Edinburgh Marathon, Great North Swim (5 km) and of course, I’m going back to Swansea.
Heading to Belgium for European Championships.
A holiday and chill time.
Hope you enjoyed my summer adventures.
A Tale of Success, Failure, Redemption, and Surprises
by Mark Stokes
Twelve months ago I had recently completed my 4th triathlon, the Eton Sprints Weekend ETU qualifier at Dorney. I had performed well, recording 1:16:40, improving significantly on the 1:24:33 I’d recorded at last year’s Eton Sprints Weekend in the non-qualification race, my first triathlon. I’d achieved my goal of obtaining a qualification time, with my time being 116.07% of the winner’s time in my category – 1:06:03. In my first qualification event, with my relative inexperience of triathlon, I was pleased with the result – after all, it was my first triathlon that was a race with all competitors starting at the same time, my previous events had all been time trial format with participants starting one at a time. My preparation, practice and planning had gone well and proved successful, and with the goal of a qualification time achieved it was on to the next event, the ITU Qualifier at the Cardiff Triathlon…
Cardiff was different again; it was my first event that necessitated an overnight stay away from the comfort and familiarity of home. Fortunately, I wasn’t there alone, Tri2O clubmates Sarah Phillips and Amanda Gardiner were also participating and we’d all booked in the same hotel and arranged to meet up for food on the Saturday night. Spending time with friends had eased the anxiety I had felt building up and I felt relaxed when I headed to bed. Unfortunately, I didn’t have a great night’s sleep, an unfamiliar bed and unfamiliar build-up meant I couldn’t settle and headed to breakfast with brain fog… This was where all of the planning fell apart – the disrupted sleep and subsequent brain fog meant I was running on autopilot and reached for the breakfast foods I’d been eating when travelling with work staying at hotels. Not the slow-release carbohydrate rich food in my race plan, but the protein rich food that had been successful in managing my Type 2 Diabetes and body weight/body fat reduction since my Diabetes diagnosis in 2012. This fundamental fuelling error was a key contributor in what was to follow… After transition set-up I made my way to the swim start and had a banana about 10-15 minutes before the start as planned. Cardiff Bay was pretty ‘lumpy’ for the swim, but even so about half way through the swim I could feel that something wasn’t as it should be. Getting out of the water onto the pontoon, I looked up at the clock and it read 17+ minutes, and as I ran into transition I could see that most of the bikes were gone. T1 went well (the advice and guidance from Sean & Georgia was paying off!) but as I got out on the road and tried to ride with a couple of others there was nothing in the tank and I couldn’t generate the power that I could normally. All things considered I managed to put together a decent bike leg, but in doing so I’d burned up everything and after a decent T2 set out on the run leg. Running is my least favoured discipline – at 95+kg with an artificial hip, dodgy knees and ankles, it’s never going to be a comfortable experience, but the 27:37 of discomfort during that run in Cardiff will live me for a long, long time and is a personal aide memoir for correct race fuelling that I will struggle to erase! I managed to finally cross the line after 1:26:01 of absolute agony, nowhere near a qualification percentage, and all appropriately signed off by throwing my guts up a few minutes later. The race review that followed Cardiff 2022 has been the most useful one thus far – I’m still getting to grips with fuelling, my blood glucose levels are still prone to wild fluctuations and my diabetes medication is still being adjusted as I continue to walk the carbohydrate tightrope between being under fuelled for training/racing and taking in too many carbohydrates and the increased blood glucose that results.
After the ‘opportunity for improvement’ that was Cardiff 2022 attention was focused on the last ITU qualifier of the year at Box End in September. This event was different again, open roads and not draft legal, with an off-road & hilly run course. Like Cardiff it was an overnight stay, but I stuck to my fuelling plan, taking my planned breakfast with me instead of taking a chance about what was on offer. The race itself was uneventful in all the right ways, everything went to plan and my swim, bike & run legs were around my pre-race goals. I’d achieved my goal of getting a qualification time, with my time of 1:19:52 being 111.29% of the winning time in my category (1:11:46). In addition to this I’d rebuilt my confidence in my ability to perform and achieved a degree of redemption from the hilarity of the disaster that was Cardiff.
As the season drew to its conclusion, I had planned to swim the RNLI Round the Mount swim around St. Michael’s Mount in Cornwall but the unfortunate news of the passing of The Queen led to the event being cancelled – the RNLI had cancelled fundraising events nationally following the death of their patron. As a result, my season finale was marshalling at Reading Triathlon, giving back rather than participating – a different type of fun!
As Winter drew to a close the pleasant surprises started to arrive…
Firstly, I found out that I’d been nominated for two awards in the Tri2O Club Annual Awards; Against All the Odds & Most Improved Member. To be nominated for an award was humbling, to be nominated for two awards left me lost for words. Being presented with the Most Improved Member award at the awards evening was another wonderful surprise – thank you to everyone, as a former rugby player the team element is something I really draw energy and inspiration from and try to give back where I can.
Secondly, a couple of weeks after the club awards evening I received an email from British Triathlon informing me that I’d been selected for the GBR Age Group team for the European Championships at Madrid on June 4th – my plans for the season needed to change! I’d been looking at the ETU & ITU qualifier schedules and being selected for Madrid meant dropping Southport and SWYD to give Madrid the focus it deserved.
The 2023 season started in the same way as 2022 with the Hart Triathlon to shake off the winter racing rust, wake up the racing instincts and assess how recent test results reflect race pace reality. This year, everything went well with the exception of the end of the bike/entry into T2 where I’d completely forgotten to prepare my shoes for dismount and as a consequence T2 wasn’t quite as smooth as it would ideally have been – luckily there were some Tri2O supporters there who were able to pick up a bike shoe that I’d ‘shed’ from the pedal entering T2!
This year the Eton Sprints Weekend qualifier was a ‘B’ race – but as an indicator how well winter training had gone, I’d improved my swim, T1, T2, & run times over last year. The bike was a little slower, but that’s more a reflection of how fractured to bunches were this year compared to last and I was happy with the improvement in overall time (1:15:38 – 0:01:02 faster) and qualification percentage (110.09%). Added to this it was the first time in a qualification race with a fellow Tri2O athlete, it was good fun to spend some time with Mike Nash on the road, hopefully the feeling was mutual and we get the opportunity to do it again this year…
Finally, Madrid and my inaugural GBR Age Group race (and hopefully not my last!). From the start you know that things are going to be a bit different and as well as having to get your GB trisuit sorted out (do you get it customised? Based on my experience… absolutely!) there are a plethora of options for other kit (I’d get a second t-shirt next time). Then there’s the travel to arrange (Nirvana are really good, but not the cheapest) – in my case I needed to get my passport renewed just as a Passport Office strike was announced!
Having got all of that sorted out, booked time off of work, then it was off to Heathrow for the first time in 5 years. The flight was fine and I knew that there were going to be a few friendly faces in Madrid in the form of Iain Gerrard, Nora Holford & Paul Gittings to lean on if it all went pear-shaped. Friday evening was the Sprint Team Meeting where we got to hear about confirmed schedules, etc. This is where the first rumblings of ‘water quality’ issues surfaced, of which more later.
The problems started when I started reassembling my bike after taking it out of the bike box – the headset retention cone had fallen inside the tube to the top of the forks and I had to carefully cycle around Madrid on Saturday morning trying to find a cycle shop that could help. Eventually the Nirvana bike mechanic was able to fix it and stress levels dropped back to normal levels. Once that was resolved it was time to head to registration and get our various bags for the transition zones, a poncho/changing robe, swim cap and race numbers/labels. Not dramatically different than a ‘normal’ event, but the poncho was a first for me.
After registering we were able to watch the Standard and Paratri events – these had been revised to Duathlon events due to poor water quality which was reported as being the result of recent rain. To be honest, the lake looked to be suffering from a significant bloom of green algae, along with the rumours of rats and Weil’s Disease. We were informed that Sunday’s Sprint and Elite events would be run as a triathlon and we headed to bed for an early night ready for an early start.
Sunday morning and off to set up T1… As we arrived it was announced that there would be a delayed start and the event would probably be run as a Duathlon, but this was to be confirmed. The delay was only 30 minutes in the end, but it was to be run as a Duathlon – our shoes were being delivered from T2, and they were still working out the route changes. The only certainty at this time was that the finish would be at the Royal Palace as originally planned. The eventual route was:
- An out and back 1st run leg to T1
- The entry to T1 was changed, but the remaining part of T1 including the bike exit remained as originally planned
- The bike course was cut short – the original course took us up to T2 next to the Royal Palace, but it now ended at T1
- The 2nd run now went from T1 up to the Royal Palace (up a 10 to 15% switchback climb!)
So lots of last minute changes, and for someone who doesn’t take part in Duathlons for whom running is their least favoured discipline, not quite what was hoped for. However, you can only run the race you’re in, not the one you’d like to be in, so it was a case of think about how to run the first leg (I went with option two):
- do I go hard and burn all my matches in the hope of being fast enough to be in the leading bike group?
- or hold back and see what develops knowing I’ve kept my powder dry?
…and then get on with it and enjoy the experience so that I’m better prepared for the next one (hoping it comes around).
The number of GB supporters is amazing, they may be there to support their loved ones, but they give every Brit a good cheer and if you’ve got your name on your trisuit they cheer you on by name which really gives you a lift, especially in the last part of the run!
All in all, it was a fantastic experience, despite all of the last minute changes and chaotic communications. It’s definitely something I want to do again and something I’d encourage anyone to go for if you’re looking for something to inspire and/or motivate you. 3 years ago I’d only just started running (very tentatively!) and hadn’t yet got on a bike, and if someone had told me then what I’ve just done I’d have advised them to get themselves assessed!
We would love to hear from you
The next newsletter will be in Oct 2023, please send your contribution to info@tri2o.club before 10th Oct 2023.
We would love to hear from you, particularly if you have taken on a new challenge or are new to triathlon.
