Event 2 - Sebamed Brighton & Hove Triathlon 2018
The anticipation in the run up to this event was huge and here's why. After completing my first ever triathlon two weeks earlier which went so well, I was hugely excited for the next one and couldn't wait. But semi-disaster struck a week after Southwater. My biggest fear, injury, raised its ugly head. I really didn't think this would be a problem so early on in the challenge. I had hip ache, knee ache and ankle ache and the worry of them all by event day gave me a headache!
These are all old injuries of mine that I thought I had in hand and the devastation of them returning put a black cloud over me in the week running up to the event. I was literally swinging in roundabouts with what to do, compete or drop out? My heart said go for it and my head was obviously telling me the opposite. I left the decision right up until the morning of this triathlon and when I woke up, I felt ok (well as ok as you can feel with an alarm screaming at you 5am in the morning!) so I went for it. Apologies to anyone in my path that week, I was on tender hooks.
The sky over Brighton was incredible that morning - red and majestic. I had my number one supporter my son Sebastian by my side and we set off for Hove. During the drive there, I couldn't peel my eyes off the sea. This was to be my first ever sea swim race and the sea looked threatening. I've lived in Brighton long enough to know when the waves are gathering strength and the signs weren't good. After sorting my things in transition and sorting Seb out with a hearty cooked breakfast we settled onto a bench on the seafront to watch the early waves begin. The weather took a turn for the worse and the wind really picked up. The swell of the waves just got bigger and bigger and then I heard that the Olympic swim had been cut short to the Sprint distance that I was doing. I was willing the organisers to cut our swim shorter.
The junior competitors were scheduled to start first and what an inspiration they were - some of them weren't even wearing wetsuits and the shallow water they had to swim in had such powerful waves they were courageous just getting in the water! The mens sprint were next and I was intrigued to see how they got on and to pick up a few tips perhaps as I'd never even watched a mass start sea swim before. My intrigue then turned to dismay and then worry as the majority of competitors were really struggling to get to the second buoy out at sea and the difficulties they were facing were very apparent. Yikes.
And then I was up, the pink ladies all gathered together for the race briefing, the nervousness in the group was palpable and words of encouragement were everywhere..."we can do it", "you'll be fine", "the waves don't look too bad far out". And it was rather daunting when at the sea edge we were told we'd not make it out of the water on our feet because of the undertow but not to worry - the stewards would be there to drag us out! The organisers began the safety briefing and announced the swim had been cut short. A huge cheer erupted and the intense atmosphere dissipated and it was smiles all round.
We all made our way delicately down the stone beach which as you all know cannot be done with any sort of grace at all but I really didn't care. A very tight wetsuit on a slightly overweight middle aged woman in a luminous pink swim hat wasn't a pretty picture anyway, so very ungracefully I went. Due to a slight delay we didn't get a chance to acclimatise to the water temperature so when the klaxon sounded I decided to take my time so I wouldn't be struggling for breath from the cold shock.
The swim was not as I expected at all, in fact calling it a swim might just be the wrong description. Wave bobbing, head above water and doggy paddle/breaststroke was the order of the day. The waves were so big that my feet were touching the ground right up until nearly the first buoy only leaving the ground periodically because of the waves forcing me upwards. I had to push really hard off the sea bed to make sure I kept making progress through the waves towards the buoy - so far no swimming, I was walking and thinking "this is alright" - I don't even have to swim haha!
Then my feet no longer touched the sea bed and the mass of competitors at the first buoy made it impossible to swim. I swear we all just seemed to move en mass together round the buoy - it was weird. Once I'd turned the corner I saw a clear path in front of me and started front crawl but after about three strokes I went to take a breath and a wave crashed right over me before I could close my mouth and I choked on a mouthful of seawater - gross. That quickly made my mind up that for this swim, my head would remain above water and thus the doggy paddle breaststroke began.
I kept looking around and there were quite a few ladies around me so I just pootled along and got to the second buoy. The next turn meant we were all swimming in the direction of the waves back towards shore so I just let the waves do the work and made sure I went into a dive position every time one came along and that got me back to shore pretty quickly. Oh the feeling of being on dry land! To be honest, all things considered I didn't think the swim was too bad and I certainly wasn't exhausted or out of breath due to almost no "swimming" having taken place!
My transition time was a bit rubbish but once out on the bike I felt ready and with huge amounts of energy still left I was going to go for it - I was determined not to let anyone pass me this time and reach a good consistent pace. The course was flat which is my dream. And it all went beautifully, I was passing other competitors! I still had the men on super duper bikes which must cost a small fortune (lucky them to be able to afford them) overtaking me but I decided that was okay, for today lol.
What's great about this triathlon is that its so central to Brighton and Hove, there were supporters and the public everywhere on the edges of the course and the cheering was such a moral boost. I can honestly say I enjoyed every minute of it. The four bike laps was (what seemed) very quickly over and I headed for "bike-in". You have to dismount before the yellow line and I went to get off my bike and nothing happened. Watch the video, its very subtle, can you see the panic in my eyes at not being able to move my legs? Wow they felt like lead weights and I believe I had to use my hip to swing my leg over the saddle to dismount as they were no longer working. Every step in the second transition was hard and the thought in my mind was "how the @%^& am I going to do the run now?"
On the start of the run course Sonia, Naomi and her daughter Bethany and Dawn were all volunteering and their words of encouragement were so valued - thank you. I kept going and my legs eased as I got further into the run. I had a few mishaps - my Compeed strips had come off in the sea so my heels were getting ripped to shreds again but my number 1 supporter was there to help. He'd run to the top of the run course to run alongside me and I told him my dilemma and he sprinted off to go and get more supplies, meeting me back at the end of the first lap. Two more strips applied later and I was onto the second run lap and my race number ripped off....not knowing the rules and not wanting to get in trouble for not having a race number, I asked one of the stewards to help me pin it back on. No way my hands were going to work getting a tiny safety pin in at this point in the race! That 15 seconds or so gave me a breather and I felt strong for the finish.
What an awesome feeling going over the finish line was, and not a single injury ache. Was it just my psyche/nerves bringing out the injury pain in the week before the race? - I just do not know! Its a week after the event now and I'm still injury pain free and long may it last.
And the results.....400m sea swim, 20km bike and 5km run completed in a time of 1 hour and 28 mins. I came 62nd out of 159 in my wave, not bad, not bad at all. My next event is Wolf Run on Saturday 29th September, a 10km wild run. I have 9 fabulous ladies in my Raquels 40 Race Challenge Team and we're going to smash it. Some of the obstacles look terrifying but this is a team event - we leave no one behind.
These are all old injuries of mine that I thought I had in hand and the devastation of them returning put a black cloud over me in the week running up to the event. I was literally swinging in roundabouts with what to do, compete or drop out? My heart said go for it and my head was obviously telling me the opposite. I left the decision right up until the morning of this triathlon and when I woke up, I felt ok (well as ok as you can feel with an alarm screaming at you 5am in the morning!) so I went for it. Apologies to anyone in my path that week, I was on tender hooks.
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| Some of the Junior competitors - some with no wetsuits! |
And then I was up, the pink ladies all gathered together for the race briefing, the nervousness in the group was palpable and words of encouragement were everywhere..."we can do it", "you'll be fine", "the waves don't look too bad far out". And it was rather daunting when at the sea edge we were told we'd not make it out of the water on our feet because of the undertow but not to worry - the stewards would be there to drag us out! The organisers began the safety briefing and announced the swim had been cut short. A huge cheer erupted and the intense atmosphere dissipated and it was smiles all round.
The swim was not as I expected at all, in fact calling it a swim might just be the wrong description. Wave bobbing, head above water and doggy paddle/breaststroke was the order of the day. The waves were so big that my feet were touching the ground right up until nearly the first buoy only leaving the ground periodically because of the waves forcing me upwards. I had to push really hard off the sea bed to make sure I kept making progress through the waves towards the buoy - so far no swimming, I was walking and thinking "this is alright" - I don't even have to swim haha!
Then my feet no longer touched the sea bed and the mass of competitors at the first buoy made it impossible to swim. I swear we all just seemed to move en mass together round the buoy - it was weird. Once I'd turned the corner I saw a clear path in front of me and started front crawl but after about three strokes I went to take a breath and a wave crashed right over me before I could close my mouth and I choked on a mouthful of seawater - gross. That quickly made my mind up that for this swim, my head would remain above water and thus the doggy paddle breaststroke began.
I kept looking around and there were quite a few ladies around me so I just pootled along and got to the second buoy. The next turn meant we were all swimming in the direction of the waves back towards shore so I just let the waves do the work and made sure I went into a dive position every time one came along and that got me back to shore pretty quickly. Oh the feeling of being on dry land! To be honest, all things considered I didn't think the swim was too bad and I certainly wasn't exhausted or out of breath due to almost no "swimming" having taken place!
My transition time was a bit rubbish but once out on the bike I felt ready and with huge amounts of energy still left I was going to go for it - I was determined not to let anyone pass me this time and reach a good consistent pace. The course was flat which is my dream. And it all went beautifully, I was passing other competitors! I still had the men on super duper bikes which must cost a small fortune (lucky them to be able to afford them) overtaking me but I decided that was okay, for today lol.
And the results.....400m sea swim, 20km bike and 5km run completed in a time of 1 hour and 28 mins. I came 62nd out of 159 in my wave, not bad, not bad at all. My next event is Wolf Run on Saturday 29th September, a 10km wild run. I have 9 fabulous ladies in my Raquels 40 Race Challenge Team and we're going to smash it. Some of the obstacles look terrifying but this is a team event - we leave no one behind.
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