This is getting silly...

[andygates]

...I mean, me, the baby-eating Bishop of Bath and Wells, at a triathlon training camp? With my reputation?

Sunday, Wellington. A chance to work out what the hell happens at transitions, and ride the route so I can gauge what gear to put on the fixie. Just barely enough time for a bike day and a Saturday swim. Holy crap, that got very real very suddenly!

I'm not there to leer at tri girlies. Really, I'm not. 'ello darlin', your number's a bit smudged, let me touch it up for you...

Comments

[arabis.livejournal.com]

Ugh, that sounds like hard work. Hope you'll enjoy it though.

[simoneck.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure if Arabis is talking about the triathalon or the leering. But good luck on both counts. I've always been under the impression that you don't get the 'fun runner' element in those that you get in the purely running events. All a bit more serious.....and more chance of being last.
What are the distances for each element?

[andygates.livejournal.com]

It is a touch mor serious... but I've only just grokked that you can do sport and be competitive within your own band - I used to have that Sports Day idea that first is all and if you're going to be 8th-16th, why bother turning up at all?

Distances in the novice event are short - 200m swim, 20k bike, 5k run. The swim's the challenge as I'm as aquababy as the Titanic; the bike is gravy and the run should be okay after the Half!

[simoneck.livejournal.com]

My impression of triathalon was that I wouldn't fit into any of the bands (and not in a good way). Finishing last, 1 hour after the rest of the field would just be depressing. Of course that may not be the case.
And at those distances I'm quite interested myself. I've been thinking of entering something to give my exercise a bit more focus and was thinking 10k. But since I swim and cycle too anyway, I'll take a look and see if there is anything similar in my area.
What time are you hoping for?

[andygates.livejournal.com]

My first dip into this whole game was a 10k run which I did in just under an hour - that was a Spring benchmark for last year's Half.

I really don't know what sort of time to expect. If I guess, it would be, say, 7 minutes in the pool (!), 40 minutes on the bike and 25 on the run, plus 3 minutes at each transition - so anywhere up to an hour and a half. That seems ludicrously long, though, doesn't it?

I'll be happy to survive. The pool leg will be really hard and I'm quite prepared to break into breaststroke just to finish it. Just think of Michelle Gayle in the Games and you're not far off... ...so yeah, my goal for this one is "finish in good order" - and afterwards I'll get fussy about times!