Trying Triathlon

Dawlish Sprint Triathlon, September 2023

After completing our first sprint triathlon earlier in 2023, I had on finishing the event decided that not only did I never want to take part in another triathlon, but I also had a newfound hatred of swimming.  However, later that same evening those strong feelings had evaporated, and I signed us both up to do the Dawlish Sprint in September.  There is something about all the events that we have done, regardless of how tough they are at the time that make you want to go back for more.

I decided that with the best part of four months to train we could easily improve on our times.  I downloaded what seemed like an achievable training plan from the internet, printed it out, laminated it and put it on the coffee table in the living room where it would be visible to both Jamie and I every day, several times a day.  I was keen to ensure that this time we took a more structured approach and allowed for a good balance of training across the disciplines, including some brick sessions where you do more than one of the disciplines back-to-back.  During that four-month period, I looked at the training programme once and did the suggested time trial for a 750m swim on which the intention was for you to use your recorded time to then plan future swimming sessions for the remainder of the programme.  Jamie didn’t pick up the training plan or even glance at it.  It did make a good substitute, wipeable lap tray for our TV dinners!  The said training plan was talked about on a weekly basis and that we really ought to look at it, but nevertheless, we did an excellent job of ignoring it.  It became the elephant on the coffee table

The Swimming

We swam three times a week and were lucky enough to be able to do some of these sessions in our local lido.  Each session was typically planned in our heads as we were getting into the pool. 

Like a lot of people new to triathlon, the swim was the part we were both finding most daunting.  Mastering the technique of front crawl was eluding us, but with perseverance we did notice a marginal improvement. 

With the event swim being in the sea we planned to do one of our training swims each week in the sea.  This should have been easily achievable living a 10-minute walk from the sea that is very accessible for swimmers and is used daily, throughout the year by various swimming groups.  Two weeks before the triathlon we did our first 750m sea swim.  We had discussed doing at least one more session, but this did not happen.

The Running

Not having a clue what the training programme said about what runs we should be doing, we opted to just take the dog out a few mornings a week for a slow meander, but this was halted due to him sustaining a bicep injury.  Most week’s I did a longish, hilly run of around 14 miles and even managed an impromptu 20-mile run, but this was unintentional and driven purely through my need to de-stress whilst going through the frustrating sale of our business.  During that four-month period Jamie completed a couple of 10k’s.

The Bike

Training for the bike element, for me, had to be the most painful.  When Jamie traded his old single speed bike in for a road bike and bought some new cycling shoes, I decided that I would also try cleats.  How hard could it be?!  Pretty hard as it turns out.  I knew the first time I went out in them I would fall off; I was told it was inevitable and a right of passage, blah, blah, blah.  I watched a couple of YouTube videos on how best to tackle it and went off to a car park where I hoped I would be hidden from view and could get my fall out of the way, in private, and then head off for our intended 20k ride.  And fall off I did, the first time neither of my shoes detached from the pedals.  Jamie loosened them a little which helped, but I still managed to spectacularly fall another four times, all within the boundaries of the car park.  After a lot of swearing, I threw my bike on the floor and declared I was going home.  Jamie drove us to a nearby café where, covered in gravel and greasy sprocket marks I hobbled in to find a large piece of cake to help heal my dented pride.

Feeling nervous of getting back on my bike I was keen to just get on with it.  We set off on a nice flat stetch of cycle path and I managed to not fall off once.  I was elated when we returned and thought to myself, I had nailed it.  A week later, feeling full of confidence I attempted another ride, again on a cycle path.  I got on my bike, clipped in and about to set off I immediately fell, smashing down onto the car park, my head narrowly missing a parked car.  This fall left me with a smashed-up knee, a big bruise on my bum and a feeling of intense loathing for my bike.  Jamie pointed out that I might want to make sure my bike is in the right gear before setting off.  Great advice, if administered at the right point in time!  I did manage one more 20k ride before the race without killing myself.  I am sure we should have been doing more than one cycle every couple of weeks, but not having referred to the training programme who knows what we should have been doing!  Jamie is a much more accomplished cyclist than me and his face never went anywhere near the tarmac.

Race Day

Having registered the day before, we were warned that due to weather conditions there was a possibility that the swim may not go ahead.  Jamie told me that if the swim was cancelled it would be a duathlon and we would just do the run and the cycle. 

As we arrived the next morning and were wheeling our bikes into the transition point, we noticed lots of people with their running shoes on.  We were then told that they had cancelled the swim as the conditions were not in our favour and the event would now be a duathlon.  Having never intentionally entered a duathlon I assumed it was just the run and then the bike, but then we realised it was a run, bike, and another run. 

We both thoroughly enjoyed the event.  The run route had fantastic scenery including a section alongside one of the most famous stretches of railway in the UK designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel.  Here you have the trainline to one side and the sea to the other.  Seeing the murky brown and angry sea smashing against the sea wall we were extremely grateful that the sensible decision had been made to cancel the swim.   The bike section was hillier than we thought, but still very enjoyable.

This is a great event to choose if you are starting out in triathlon.  Although we later heard that some experienced competitors had been shouting abuse at both beginners on the bike leg to get out of their way and also to the race stewards.  It is such a shame that people feel the need to be like that.  I think triathlon can be quite intimidating and behaviour like that certainly does not help.  I am always amazed at people doing these events.  They are out there giving it a go and that is what matters!

The event organisers and race stewards were awesome, with their smiling faces and constant words of encouragement.  They could have been tucked up in bed having their Sunday morning lie in, but instead they chose to stand on roundabouts and roadsides allowing us to safely navigate around the course. 

Two days after the event I entered us into a half ironman taking place next year.  So, plenty of time to download a training plan, laminate it, ignore it, and let it gather dust on the coffee table.