A Novice in Saffron Walden

Phil Collins  June 2008

"Is this your first triathlon?" asked the marshal. I expect he intended it to be friendly and encouraging but in my state of nerves, I thought he was about to chuck me out for not being tri enough, or shaking too much, or something. "Er ... yes", was all I could manage to croak in reply. So much for the pre-race hydration programme - my mouth was too dry to talk. He must have taken pity, because a few minutes later I was in the Saffron Walden Lord Butler Leisure and Fitness Centre pool, starting my novice triathlon.

In my defence, this was never in the plan. I just started bringing my son along to the junior coaching sessions on Saturday mornings, and gradually found myself joining in. And when I'd supported and encouraged him through to his first event last year, he repaid me by turning round and asking, "Daddy, when are you going to do a triathlon?" And so here I was wearing nothing but an improbably sheer tri-suit in public, about to make a fool of myself in front of an audience of real triathletes.

Swimming was the biggest technical hurdle, since I hadn't ever done much before and last September could barely swim 25m of front crawl. But a few sessions with Dave Silk at the Leys has got me started, and I can see some real progress, even though I'm still challenging Moira for the tail-end charlie spot in lane 4 on Saturday mornings (on the rare occasions when I actually get there). For this "sprint" (ha!) event the swim was 750m which was further than I had ever swum in a single piece of front crawl before (somehow a length or two of breaststroke would always sneak in to my training sets), and I had been given lots of warnings about the perils of going off too fast. After agonising over the on-line entry form for a ridiculous length of time I had eventually put in 16 minutes estimated time for the swim. On the day, the adrenaline swept me through 30 lengths of reasonably controlled crawl, and my swim split was 15:52 - deep joy at completing my toughest discipline, but had I peaked too soon?

Into transition, and under race referee Moira's eagle-eyed scrutiny I fumbled with the helmet strap for what seemed like an age. As I ran out with the bike I could feel my stomach tighten as I approached the next big technical challenge. It all started when I read Dave B's posting about clipping your bike shoes in and holding them with rubber bands. The engineer in me was completely seduced by this, and no matter what the sensible coward said ("Don't do it! You're going to crash and die."), I had to try it. A happy hour's practice on Jesus Green (snapping half a pack of Staples' finest rubber bands) had convinced me it would be OK, but when it came to doing it for real that conviction was notably absent, and the mount line was on a ramp up to the road which was then uphill to boot. Anyway, too late to change the plan now, so here goes ... it was wobbly, and it was not fast, but it did happen and so my bike leg was launched.

Leaving the pool, I had been well down in my wave, but on the bike started to pick them off again, and set a new personal bike speed record (57kph) on the long hill down to the end of the first lap. I think I had taken the wave all back by then, but my triumph was short-lived as I had a chain-off on the climb at the start of the second lap. THIS NEVER HAPPENED BEFORE - WHY NOW!?! I think it was because in my eagerness I kept pushing too hard while changing down on the front gear. Anyway, the chain somehow jammed and it took me a lifetime (a couple of minutes - ed.) to clear it, during which the fastest other bloke in my wave (who later turned out to be Vincent from Newmarket) re-passed me - never got him back. At the end of the second lap I managed to undo the bike shoes and dismount without mishap. Dead pleased with the 25k bike split of 49:58 including transition.

Overlapped with Vincent again in T2, but that was pretty much the last I saw of him until we crossed on the out-and-back run. Nasty, spiteful hill at the start of the run was a killer but I got the running legs working after a while and managed to enjoy some of it. Somehow found the energy to put in a sprint on the downhill and run-in to the finish. Run time of 27:09 nothing to shout about for 5k but, boy, did it feel good to have finished, and to have kept going all the way!


Even weeks later (yes, this report is somewhat belated) the warm glow of achievement is still with me. It was great to see a few friendly faces around - Moira, Jared, and Geoff marshalling on the bike course - thanks all for your support. I am delighted and relieved not to have let them or the club down in my first attempt to become a triathlete. Finish time of 1:32:59 put me 47th overall, and runner up novice!

Family commitments have conspired to prevent me competing again for a bit, but I've entered the Roade sprint event in September, and am looking forward to it. See you there!