10 years on, my first triathlon (Read 452 times)

Hi Guys, I just completed my first triathlon on the weekend and though i would share with you my history and a bit of a race report 12 years ago at the age of 21 I was diagnosed with Hodgkins disease which is a form of lymphoma. This is a cancer which basically attacks the immune system. (Stage 3b for those in the know.) After 2 years of pretty intensive radio and chemotherapy which included a double stem cell transplant I was given the all clear. Luckily for me Hodgkins disease has around a 90% cure rate. Around a year ago I mentioned to a friend at work I wanted to start running so we decided to go together. I always used to go to the gym, lift weights etc but was still very unfit. My first run I managed around 2-3 minutes but have progressively got better. Then at the work Xmas party the same work buddy and I, after way to many beers decided to set ourselves a goal. The goal we chose was a sprint series triathlon, so with neither us having much idea in the riding or swimming category we both started our training. So after about 2.5 months of training on March 30 we both competed in race 6 of the Gatorade Sprint Series Triathlon in Melbourne Australia. This also happened to be, by chance, almost exactly to the day 10 years ago that I was given the all clear. Distances for the tri was 750m/20km/5km which I was feeling pretty confident about The hardest part of the race was the swim, it was pretty cold that day in Melbourne and I and my two friends competing where not wearing wetsuits. We did however become a little worried when the race announcer said “those people not wearing wetsuits will never do again after today’s race”. As soon as I jumped in I found out why, even though it didn’t quite register at the time. I immediately felt a huge adrenaline rush and started having what I though was a panic attack. My heart rate was around 185, and I was breathing so fast I could put my head under water so I could get in a rhythm with my stroke and I felt very constricted around the throat. I basically had to do the majority of the swim as breast-stroke with my head above water which made it worse because every time I wanted a breath a wave would come and I would swallow have the a litre of sea water. This basically threw out my whole race and I spent the ride and run trying to get through pretty bad indigestion and a really bad stitch but in the end I was happy to finish without stopping. I was really disappointed with my swim and thought I was being a bit soft until I spoke to my friends after the race and they told me they had exactly the same thing happen to them. In fact one of the friends who was on his 5th tri was ready to raise his hand to be rescued after 5 minutes because he couldn’t get his breath back! Now in reflection I am now pretty happy to have finished and look forward to race 1 after the winter break. Thanks guys for indulging in my moment self pride. Times for the race where Total Time: 1:38:32 Swim Leg 18:13 Bike Leg: 46:23 Run Leg 28:40

Congratulations, hixsta!

Thats not a bad job at all for 750 meters or metres as you would call them. And yes cold water will take your breath away. There is a reason for those wetsuits. In the US you can often rent wetsuits for the week end, if you are only going to be doing one or two races. If if the water is warmer, the wetsuits will make you float better and would probably improve your swim time by a minute with no extra training in the swim. But it may take a minute or two to take the suit off too. If you get good at it, you can take off the suit in 8 seconds, but that takes practice. And yes salt water tastes nasty, hard to get it out of my mouth after the swim, and I usually swallow some of it too, and like you, it bothers my tummy the rest of the race. I find for me, that my run times are about 10 percent slower in a tri than during a run only race, because I am already tired before the run starts. Good job. And glad to hear you recovered from Hodgkins.