Tri-ing

Well, I've finally done it. My first triathlon - not to mention my first race since the Great Nosh in June!



It is incredible to to think what has changed in my life since then :-) After Team Mango has had so many outings lately, it was time for Team Jen Jen (ie Mango) to step up to the role of cheerleader & official photographer today. And what a great job he did, thank you :-)

Today's club race was a memorial for a former club president who was killed in a training accident in 1999 so the format & distances were a bit 'different'. The short course race, which I did, was 200m swim, 10k ride & 2k run. The long course was 200/10/2/200/10/2. Ouch. The morning finished with breakfast - bacon & egg rolls. Perfect recovery food :-) .

I must say that I wasn't nervous about this race until I got in the water. The swim was ok. I had a 'moment'. Not a panic attack. I didn't hit or get hit. But at one stage very early, I felt claustrophobic & probably went out too fast. So to calm down, I started breathing every second stroke - which of course meant I went veering off towards the shore. Note to self - keep an eye on the buoy next time. Anyway, I got myself back on track & got out of the water in about 5 mins. Unfortunately I forgot to turn my watch on so I only have estimates of the splits.


* It's not your eyes. The photo is slightly blurry.

T1 was a bit too, um, leisurely. I felt a bit light headed when I bent over to put my shoes on.



I made a slow start on the bike as I couldn't get my foot into the cleat and so was quickly passed by another woman. I later caught her :-) It was a handicapped start so the girls had a 5 min head start over the boys. My uncle, who was doing the long course race, must have been slacking because he only passed me not long before I got off the bike ;-)





Onto the run & my legs felt heavy (as expected) so I just focused on my form & keeping my abs on. It took me about 500m before I started to settle into the run. 'High 5ing' my uncle as he went back past me on the run distracted me for a minute. I finished the 2k in about 13mins (which included T2) which I'm very happy with given that 6:30m/k is my current 'training pace' - not to mention the fact that I haven't run further than 2k since July!!






So I finished in 40:57 - far exceedingly R's estimate of 45mins and my estimate of 50mins :-)



From Black Stump to Six Foot to this - what a year it has been !