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| Racked and ready to go at Blenheim. |
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| Concentrating on putting one foot in front of another. |
The hour of first meeting my new love dawned overcast and as Gordon and I made our way to Blenheim the heavens opened and there was no need to enter the lake as it was wet enough on the fields!
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| Eager to get going at Blenheim. |
Once back at the car, the rain stopped as I donned on my wetsuit (!) and the sun tentatively made an appearance and by the time I was in the water, the skies were beautifully clear and remained so for the rest of the afternoon.
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| Enjoying a bit of downhill. |
The first part was the swim and as soon as the horn sounded the water turned into a boiling cauldron as arms and feet flayed around. I was in the thick of it. My feet where being grabbed, my head was being kicked and every mouthful of air was also gulped down with a healthy mouthful of Blenheim’s finest lake water! I felt like a five year old on their first swimming lesson; over excited and trying too hard. After giving myself a good talking to, I settled down and stayed with the pack of “flying fish”. All the training was coming into play – thanks Jason and Jo. As I neared the exit, we crammed in close again and not rising quite like Venus out of the water, I felt more like a lumbering penguin who’s legs were suddenly no longer land-worthy. Was I enjoying myself?...Oh yes!
T1 was next and Gordon was right there shouting
encouragement. It took me an age to stagger out of my wet suit and not liking
wet feet, I even dried my toes! Everyone was streaming out of T1 and I followed
suit with my bike (well technically Gordon’s but 9/10ths and all that).
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| Nearly there! |
Now the hard work really began as I knew that my bike work had a lot to be desired and three times around the grounds of Blenheim (beautiful I think) saw me puffing and sweating and feeling like jelly at every turn. But the gang and Gordon’s encouragement really helped. Thanks everyone.
T2 loomed and I was grateful to leave the bike behind and with no shoes to change, it was a quick rack of the bike and discarding of the helmet and I was off, though not very fast as my running legs were nowhere to be found!
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| Blenheim. No longer a triathlon virgin! |
Two laps of the running circuit just about finished me off and the hills and heat of the day played their part in exhausting me but when I saw the finish line my running legs kicked in and I finished as well as I could possibly have hoped for.
Had I enjoyed it? Well that would be a resounding YES. My love affair had begun. When was I going to meet this new sporting buddy again?
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| Two happy Striders after Chatsworth |
I was lucky enough to take part in two more triathlons – Chatsworth House and Whitchurch. All of them were very different but equally brilliant. Each time I got in the water, I was like that five year old again so a good talking to my-self each time was necessary. Chatsworth had its own curveballs with a 10k cycle up a large hill and a great scary 10k cycle down followed by a 2.5k run up the top of another hill and back down again! Both Terry Coppenhall and I loved this one and although the water was freezing, we’ll be going back next year to conquer both hills again.
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| Terry, Jason and me at the end of the Whitchurch Triathlon |
By now I also realised that I could no longer beg and borrow Gordon’s or Hannah’s dad’s bike so a trip down to the local cycle shop saw me buying myself an early birthday come Christmas present and my new Ridgeback saw me performing better at the Whitchurch Triathlon which Terry, Jason and I thoroughly enjoyed. So much so that we are all doing it again next year…and a few others to boot!
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| Triathlon bunch enjoying the Blenheim beer |
My transitions are getting quicker as are my split times and I no longer dry my toes! Roll on next year. Just the small fact of now training through the winter, especially on the bike…oh and the swim…ok and the running!
Cheryl