Like this:

Sunday was my first triathlon competition event in the Wintertriathlon in Wachtebeke. Here’s how that went. First of all : I think a bunch of people just didn’t show up because of the bad weather : it rained all morning and it was pretty cold, about 4°C. We started with about 89 competitors instead of the 111 who signed up. 

I arrived about 40 minutes before my start in the swimming event. I was scheduled to go in the water at exactly 10h17m55 in a kind of time trial system (every 25 seconds somebody starts). After registering I went to the swimming pool and did about 300 meters of warming up. I didn’t have much swimming practise the past few weeks and it showed : I ended in 13m01 for 500m. The first person arrived in just under 6 minutes ! Although the difference is huge, it’s not my goal to become the fastest swimmer in Belgium. If my time would approach 10 minutes I would be about average which is what I aim for. Now I was nr 84 out of 89 and had to start the mountainbike event more than 7 minutes after the first person.

The start of the second event of the day was planned at 13h00. Because it rained the entire morning the mountainbike track was very, very muddy. Fortunately by the time we had to start it stopped raining. That didn’t help me much however. The tires on my mountainbike are great for asphalt and gravel but are absolutely useless on muddy and wet terrain. As 90% of the track was off road and I guess about 60% of that was mud, I was royally screwed. The only place where I had some grip were places with grass or leaves on it. You can imagine how fast you go on that surface … My rear wheel must have slipped over a hundred times. And in some places I just had to get off the bike and go by foot. We needed to do two laps of 9km and just over halfway the first lap I thought about quiting. I could not make speed without slipping and going down the two little manmade hills was a little bit ‘unsafe’ to say the least. But somehow I made it through the first lap and apparently wasn’t last so I decided to just keep going. The second lap was even worse. My speed was very low and I mainly concentrated on not falling. I did fall once which I consider a real feat considering the circumstances. Luckily I was not going fast or downhill and got right back on the bike. I was really happy to finish the mountainbike part and vowed to never enter an event like this again without the best mud tires money can buy. I ended 79 out of the 86 people stll in the race.

As I spent quite a bit of energy during the mountainbike event, I didn’t force myself in the 5 km running stage. I did however manage to pass a few people and it turned out to be my best event of the day. Towards the end I did start to feel a cramp in my inner thighs so I concentrated on keeping a steady pace and not cramp up forcing me to quit afterall. This cramp feeling is quite new to me actually. A lot more practise would certainly help prevent this in the future. In this stage I ended 63 out of 86. Not bad but I know I can do so much better.

In the end I was 75th which is obviously not that great. But to me it was more a mental test than anything else : don’t give up if your equipment isn’t 100% or if you feel physical pain. And I also learned a lot : much more practise is needed to compete in such an event. Always try to scout the terrain and take weather conditions into account.

Some things did go well : My clothing worked well : the three layers for my upper body and my Gore running pants kept me warm without feeling to warm or not letting my skin breathe. My thick gloves were also a good choice : my fingers never felt cold and I had no problem using the shifters on my bike. The change from mountainbike to running also went without a hitch. I even took some time to grab a little piece of chocolate. I don’t think I used more than 25 seconds in total. Of course, it helps if you’re almost last, the pressure kind of dissappears

The whole thing was organized pretty well. At all mayor turns there were people stationed to guide the way so it was practically impossible to take the wrong route. My only complaint is that there was only one water hose available to clean the bikes with. When I arrived there was a waiting line of about 20 bikes. I decided to just put my dirty bike in the car and clean it at home (took me about 20 minutes, it was totally clogged up with mud and leaves).

Next event : winterduathlon in Geel 08/03/2009 (4km run, 24 km mountainbike, 2 km run). This time with the proper preparation and more importantly : the right tires (although they promise a dry track) and no swimming I just have to do better really …

More information and some photos : http://www.wtt2000.be/

Advertisement