The Little Piglet Sprint Triathlon

Well I woke hubby up at the crack of dawn, loaded the car and after having wee wibbles about the upcoming day hit the road bound for Market Bosworth.  First off I have to say I am so glad the rain stayed away – it was quite windy out on the bike course but you can’t have everything!  I completed the little piggy sprint triathlon in 2hrs almost on the dot and came 48th I think.

Swim:

This is what I had the most wibbles about prior but not one to back out of a challenge I lubed myself up to the eyeballs, squished myself into the wetsuit, felt like a sausage and got in the positively balmy 15C water awaiting the marshalls start.  I have to say not having ever swum any great distance in OW prior it showed and I got my a**e handed to me in quick fashion  masses of weeds, almost being kicked in the face and not being able to keep my feet in the water when I was swimming leads me to believe that I need a lot more practice at this portion of the event!  I ended up doing a smoosh of BS and FC and exited the water dead last but I didn’t give up, just sucked it up and kept on going.  I knew once I hit the bike I would be fine – it was just getting there that was hard work – Man those buoys seemed so very far away!

Time: 29.27

T1:

Transition consisted of me pulling the wetsuit off in quick time, whacking my helmet on and donning the pirate shirt – it occurred to me as I was doing it that perhaps putting it on under my wettie would’ve been the better idea but eh live and learn.  I grabbed a banana, and a couple of gels and decided to forgo the armwarmers and the calve comp gear as they would’ve taken too long to get on.

Time: 3.58

Bike:

Really enjoyed the bike and since I was last I just went hell for leather and caught one guy but everyone else was already long gone – so it was almost like a nice wee bike ride out but with arrows   I really liked the course – could be quite a fast one come September which makes me happy!  There was a headwind for the first 8 or so km but I just put my head down and kept on going.  My average moving speed was 15.2mph so I’m happy with that – room for improvement!

Time: 51:50

T2:

Decided to forgo hat and comp gear just put on shoes quick as I could and got out of there.  So quickly I forgot to grab my garmin off the bike!

Time: 1:47

Run:

It took half a lap for my legs to get over themselves and just run but once they did it was a good run.  I enjoyed myself and although I have to say running on the grass isn’t what I’m used to I also got over that!  With no garmin telling me my heart rate I just figured I would run at a comfortable speed that I could finish without stopping.  I did have to stop once when I grabbed a drink I went to sip it and ended up wearing most of it  I am soooo elegant – not!  I liked the flat flat course and that also bodes well for September!

Time: 33:24

So all in all for someone who has never done a tri before I think I did okay – my cycle and run times were a little slower than I was expecting but I think that was just a cumulative thing and I’m well sure I can improve on it.  Big takeaway message was that I need to get out in the OW and swim with the freaking fishes man!