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SWIM 1500m > BIKE 40km > RUN 10km

London Triathlon
ExCel, Royal Victoria Dock, London - 7th August 2005

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After six months of very hard work the race that everyone (well just me) was calling THE BIG ONE had finally arrived. I arrived at the ExCel centre at about 10am on Sunday knowing that my destiny was fast approaching. I was ready to do battle and I had racked my bike on the Saturday so I knew that my steed would already be in position in the transition area.

I was feeling pretty relaxed about it all but there was always a nagging doubt in my mind that something could go wrong. There are so many variables in triathlon that I think it's probably only natural to think like that. The thought of me not finishing and having to wait a whole year to put things right as it were, didn't bear thinking about. Despite the doubts I was feeling so positive that my infantile grin made me look like a Spitting Image puppet of Tony Blair. I knew
I was in pretty decent shape and should be able to go the distance.

Due to the excellent limousine service I received from DC Cars
I arrived in a relaxed mood on the day.

After the debacle at Blenheim Triathlon earlier in the year there was no way that I was going to mess up the course again. I didn't want to get a reputation as the Homer Simpson of triathlon so I attended the very handy course briefing which gave very detailed, simple instructions that even I could grasp.

After this I set off for the transition area. To my surprise it was closed as they were letting the elite professional athletes pass through transition without the peasant age-groupers like myself getting in their way. I think the organisers could have worked this a lot better and in the end it meant hundreds of us standing there waiting for a few professionals. Eventually I got in but I had less that thirty minutes before my start time which was not ideal.

Now they tell me!

Twenty minutes before the off I lined up in the swim assembly area with the other 334 crazy people. It was a mixed band of first timers like myself and quite a few who were obviously more seasoned. I wasn't feeling nervous but
I knew that the next few hours were probably going to be reasonably tough.

This gives you an idea of the swim course. Believe me it's a lot further than it looks.

Having dived into the water I swam to the far side of the start line. The course was a simple out and back, anti-clockwise affair so the theory was that the faster guys would go for the inside so they could get to the turn first at around half distance. I would be well out of the way and unlikely to suffer a repeat of the pounding I took from some hairy foot slowcoaches at Blenheim. I wasn't too worried about any rough stuff this time as I had been working hard at Hampstead Heath Pond with my coach on swimming in open water. This time I was going to give as good as I got.

335 of the craziest 25-29 males in the world prepare to risk all in the name of 'sport' - and I'm
one of them!

The hooter sounded and we were off. I was the furthest on the outside of all the 335 guys in my wave and so I avoided any other swimmers as they all set off like the clappers and immediately went for the inside of the course. I was absolutely left for dead at the start. I had been practicing my 1500m in the pool and was regularly clocking in at around the 35 minute mark. As I saw the majority of the field disappear into the sunset I was actually very relaxed.
I was sure they had gone off too quickly and I would start to catch them up when I made the turn at 750m. In any event I was sure if I stuck to my pace
I would do the swim in around 35 minutes which I would have been very happy with.

I swam to the far side at the start where I hoped it would be safer. I started right next to that boat.

I realise now that 1500m is actually quite a long way. It seemed to go on forever. When I was treading water at the start I remember thinking that that I couldn't see the half distance buoy where we turn to come back towards Excel - it was that far away. Eventually I got there and started to swim back towards Excel I felt pretty comfortable so I decided I would try and up the pace. Try as I might though the arms and legs refused to move any quicker than the steady pace they had been knocking out for the first half of the swim. The majority of the swim field still seemed miles ahead so my rather smug little plan looked like it could be up the creek.

I couldn't find my zip after I came out of the water.

Eventually I stumbled out of the water and looking at my watch, I could see I had pulled of a rather uninspiring 46 minutes for 1500m. Obviously I was tired but I wasn't in tatters like I could have been which suggests to me that my technique can't be all that bad. I was fit, my technique was OK, but I just wasn't fast. Two out of three isn't bad. That swim coaching paid of!

I had a bit of a problem with my wetsuit zip as the zip cord got tangled up in my collar. I had my race gear underneath and it then started to occur to me that I had never got it wet before and that I could be about to have a rather embarrassing see-thru lycra moment in front of my friends, family and BBC TV cameras. As the wetsuit came off I looked down at my nipples and saw that they were not obviously visible and my modesty was safe.

46 minutes of swimming later I've bagged up my wetsuit and I'm off to find my bike.

After bagging up my wetsuit I ran up the steps towards the transition area.
I passed a couple of chaps who looked absolutely spent already and they still had two disciplines to go! On the way to my rack position I hit a wet patch and fell very hard onto my buttocks with TV cameras and several spectators looking on. I fell backwards and knocked my head (only very slightly) but all
I was worried about was looking like a total plonker! Fortunately nobody I knew saw it and the BBC did the honourable thing and didn't edit it into the highlights.

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