12.07
Apparently, when signing up for something as stupid as IronMan, it’s important to do a few shorter triathlons. Get used to the routine of how things work, get your body used to different disciplines right after each other etc. Ok, fair enough…I signed up for Mykonos before Jailbreak…the small test before the big test.
Saturday morning, we’re up (the gf and the kid came along). Pack the bakkie, drive the hour to the event. I’m green as grass to this, but I spot one or two people I know from the duathlons I did earlier this year and ask for advice. They’re very happy to help me and I rack my bike, prepare my little space on the ground with my running shoes, cycling shoes, water etc. Get dressed in the wetsuit and head to the pier. Jump in the water to get a feeling for it, swim around a bit and chat to Judy, a x-colleague who gives me some pointers. Soon its the briefing, we get ready, they let the TSA members in to the water first (it was a wet start).
*whistle blows* and the washing machine starts. I get in some sort of rhythm and try to swim, but I get bumped and knocked on the head a few times, and it’s just chaos..around the first turn, more chaos as I swim over someone else (sorry dude!) and then get smacked twice on the head again. It’s two laps of a 750m course for 1.5km swim. I take some time to catch my breath and chill out, this is fscking insane! Around another one of the markers I get tangled in a rope. Untangle myself, swim my own race, and I look around. Yup, I’m about last. Judy is next to me and encourages me to follow her. I follow her for the next 500m and get in to a nice rhythm. In my nervousness I didn’t clear my goggles before the start and they start fogging up. I can barely see where I am going, and I hear a ‘thud-thud-thud’ behind me. Yup, it’s the lifeguard boat. I am probably dead last. Let’s not panic, this is only my first competition swim, and I’m still alive. Eventually out of the water, 33minutes. Actually I’m happy with the time believe it or not. In to the bike transition area and I’m groggy as fsck! The area is EMPTY! There’s like 3 bikes left. Fsck!
I strip the wetsuit, calm myself down a bit, put on my socks and shoes, grab my helmet and sunnies, then almost get frustrated as one of my gels fall. This transition needs work. Second mistake, the bikes gear was wrong and I almost fall as I set off to try and make up some time. Eventually I’m on the road and almost immediately I start catching people. Check my new Garmin 310XT (more on that later), and my HR is settling nicely, so I keep my cadence up and get the speed going. The course is flat and there’s a bit of wind. I lose my bottle with juice in the first 10km’s and make a call that I can survive on water and two gels. Another lesson learned. Use small 500ml bottles, the big 750’s are difficult to handle in the tuck position. First 20km lap done, I’m feeling good and I’m catching people. I’m not last anymore. The second lap is going well and my HR stays steady in the low 160’s and I’m comfortably catching folks. This I know, this I can do. Before I knew it, the 40km bike leg was done and dusted! Now why couldn’t the swim be this easy?
Zoom in to the transition area again, park the bike, grab my running shoes and cap, and set off for the 10km run. It’s a hilly course with about 60m climbing every lap and it’s getting hot. No sooner did I get in to my comfortable running pace and some of people I passed in the cycle leg comes running past me. The Garmin says I’m doing ok for my first lap, but then the wheels started coming off, and eventually I take exactly 1hour to run the 10km’s. That’s 6mins a km, and I was hoping to do about 5m20s a km. On a positive note, I had great encouragement from people on the course, even the Urban Ninja as he passed me shouting ‘in a few minutes you will be a triathlete’. Thanks Raoul!
Yup, the gf didn’t quite know how to time this photo, but it’s the best I can do 
Swim: 33mins
Cycle: 1h7mins
Run:1h
Total time: 2h47mins (with 7mins total spent in the two transitions which I thought wasn’t too bad). If I do another one I will try for around 2h30mins. In all a good experience and some valuable lessons learned!
well done dude, well done!