Headed off to Peebles at 8.15am today and it was dry, overcast but dry nonetheless. Got to Peebles and then headed for registration. Got my number on my leg and arm - 107 (which incidently was the number of Alistair and I's first flat after we got married!!!). Tracey was number 108 and was in the same swim lane and heat as me - result! Then we headed to transition to hook up my bike and lay out all my stuff - very professionally I might add on a wee towel and everything!!!
Then once Tracey and I done that Alistair took our picture with us both still smiling!
Then Alistair headed off back to Penicuik to pick up Rhona who was still in her pit when we left! Tracey, Eilidh (Tracey's daughter) and I then went back to suss out what was to happen next. Eilidh did at this juncture point out that we had an hour left before the start of the race. Tracey and I groaned and then we all decided to go for a wee walk to kill some time. Ended up looking at some ducks. I was absolutely terrified of the swim and was probably doing my usual "oh my god what am I doing, I am going to drown, why am I doing this" (sorry Tracey and Eilidh) what they don't know is that I do this at the beginning of every long run (half marathon and marathon) to the point that Alistair always b***ers off (precisely why he went back home for Rhona and breakfast). Finally, it was race briefing time and the excitement was building. Our heat time was here - 10 am. And it turned out that my rather natty white swim cap meant that I was first in the lane. (OMG!). We had a bit of a laugh, which turned out not so funny for my nerves, when we were all in the water the man in charge barked out orders along the lines of "lanes 1 - 3 swim anti-clockwise and the rest clockwise". Well my helpful other lane companions couldn't make up their mind what way was clockwise. Tracey kindly took charge when she could sense I was getting a tad ratty because the two men in the lane had me switching from one side to the other several times. Thank you Tracey, my nerves were shot to pieces at that point and may well have resulted in me shouting at the poor guys who were just trying to be helpful! Anyway, time to go, the whistle went and off we swam. I was determined not to drown this time (which I nearly did in my last triathlon) and took it easy for the first two lengths, easy to do with my pal behind me not hassling me to hurry up (and I mean pal in the non-college sense of the word). I actually really enjoyed the swim in the end and surprised myself with how good I felt all the way through.
I tried really hard to count properly and was delighted when the nice lady in charge of our lane clonked me on the head with a swim float and said cheerily "two to go". whoop whoop. Got to the end and tried to climb out the pool - not going to happen so had to skip under the rope and climb out by the steps. Everybody watching (triathletes in later heats) all gave us a round of applause when you got out the pool and a really nice man said "well done" as I left the pool building. I was a really nice touch, made me feel fab.
Then I headed for transition. Eilidh did catch me with her camera running with my swimmy cossy on (dear knows what that will look like but hey ho!). Have to say a huge thank you to Eilidh who gave me her very own special Mexican wave - you did make me laugh Eilidh. Got to my bike and had the longest transition I could probably have - if I do it again I know where I will shave off some time. Going to buy a tri-suit and stretchy laces!!!
Was really enjoying my bike ride and was delighted to see Rhona and Alistair at Cardrona. Tracey was on a flier (she had a time to beat in order to gain some sponsorship money) she passed me at Cardrona and just kept on pulling away from me - amazing - well impressed Tracey :))
My cycle wasn't that great, but to be honest I hadn't done much cycle training because I was busy training for the Edinburgh Marathon and finding time to squeeze in a cycle amongst 4 and 5 hour training runs was tough. But now I have the bit between my teeth and might well enter another sprint triathlon to try and get my bike time down!
Anyway, back to the race, once I finally got myself back to Peebles I hopped off the bike at the dismount point and wobbled my way down the huge slope back down to the pool. There was a guy shouting at me to just run down the hill "you are having a laugh I said I can hardly walk down this hill with my slippy shoes and wobbly legs!". Anyway, back to transition and at this point I realised the merit of owning stretchy laces!
Flung all my stuff onto the ground next to my bike (not so neat any more!) and then wobbled my way back out to the run.
Now, you would think that running is where I would feel okay again. Flippin' eck my legs were really wobbly, didn't feel like my legs at all. It took me a good mile before I felt like I was finding my stride. We were running round in a big circle and I kept seeing Tracey who was ahead of me, I think people must of thought we were a bit bonkers as we kept shouting at each other over the river and waving like mad things.
Finally, after two laps of the three bridges I was home. Tracey finished just in front of me.
And in true JaneyM fashion this Fetchie had to land and a very efficient Fetchie wingwave was executed!!
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| If you look carefully you can see the Fetchie coming in to land! |
For the number crunchers here was my breakdown of times:
swim - 22 mins
T1 - 5.06
bike - 53.19
T2 - 2.28
run - 31.28
Total - 1.54.21
I am very happy with my swim time, normal run time for 5K but my transitions and bike ride leave room for improvement! Will work on that I think - see hooked!!!!!
So that is my twotacklethree challenges finished, Tracey still has her big bike ride to complete next week and our target fundraising amount has shot through the roof standing at over £1,300 - a huge thanks to everyone who has sponsored us in this madness for the Haemophilia Society in Scotland.
Thank you to everyone who has supported us.
don't worry, be happy :)
We are fab!! Just like to point out the photo of me finishing looks like I am about to get overtaken by an old man in slacks!! Not a true reflection of the highly speedy run!
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