IronTarsh - 'Weekend Warrior': Race 4 - First Olympic Distance Triathlon! F3 Events Maxifuel Marlow Olympic Triathlon

Today I completed my first ever Olympic distance triathlon, F3 Events Maxifuel Marlow Olympic Distance. Now for those who don't know about triathlon, the Olympic distance is 1.5km swim; 40km bike and 10km run. For this race the distances were adjusted slightly due to the poor weather we have had in good ol blighty. The revised distance for this triathlon was 1.5km swim; 37.5km bike and 7.45km run.

The drive into Marlow was easy, courtesy of Zipcar. Roads are nice and quiet at 5am in the morning. Arrived at Marlow carpark, or should I say mudbath. The rain over the past few weeks really had made the makeshift carpark almost impossible for the little VW Golf that I was driving to get through the mud, but I got there.

Registration was quick and easy. Love it when its like that, more time to get ready and mentally prepared. Got my bike racked up, laid out the cycling shoes and trainers in prep for phase 2 and 3 of the tri. Got my wetsuit on and chatted to a few triathletes around me (Mark Yeoman - MySmartCoach and Graham Page, a fellow Turbo).

Now for me this race was a training race, as I had never completed an Olympic distance tri before, I spoke to my coach (Liz Pinches - World Champs qualifier) and we discussed tactics. My race plan was simple - Relax on the swim, Power on the Bike and Breathe on the Run. This mantra has been working all year for me so why change it. We also decided that I was not to focus on time, this was all about putting all 3 distances together and getting a feel for it. My 'A' race is in November in Mauritius. In my head I estimated that I should finish in around 00:03:05.

Race Briefing commences and we are told that instead of swimming up the river, going around the buoy and swimming back we will be swimming downstream with a mass start and finishing at the bottom. ie we had the current on our side. So lets be real, this 1500m swim was going to be quick for everyone. It is a real test of my skill, no but as many experienced triathletes have told me, you can only race in the conditions that you are provided with. So who was I to complain that the current would be in my favour.

We headed up the bank for 1.5km's, got into the river and off we went in one mass start! I completed the 1.5km swim in 00:11:27!!! This is bloody faster than my 426m in the pool and my last timed 1.5km swim was 00:38:10, so you can see how this result for me even though amazing, is slightly not real. Ha Ha Ha.

Transition was fine, kept it under 2 mins. Pretty got in and saw Graham (fellow turbo), he was pretty much off out whilst I was getting my wetsuit off etc. Got out of transition in 00:01:39.

After getting through all the mud in the carpark, finally mounted the bike and set off on my 37.5km journey. I remembered my mantra POWER but let me tell you, the hills involved weren't overly steep just bloody gradual and long. I realised that I have a lot of work to do on the bike to get strong for my 'A' race. I am a great descender, so any opportunity to fly, I got down low and bloody went for it. I wanted to make sure that I took over some people. Overall the bike was tough for me today. My result for 37.5km = 01:32:54. Not bad considering in my head I estimated 2 hours.

Back in transition, got my shoes off etc, sock and trainers on however whilst coning through to transition I busted the strap on my Garmin, so my run leg was not timed for me to gauge how I was going. Was out of T2 in 00:01:22.

Onto the final leg of the race, the run. I stuffed that up as I started to run in the wrong direction, so I quickly turned around and headed in the correct direction. Let me be honest, the run was tough for me. I did stop a couple of times to walk but not for very long. I picked up my heels, remembered to not cross my arms in front of my body and repeated the mantra - BREATHE. I was quite alone on the run, but I kept my spirits high and remembered this was not a timed race for me, but a training one and to feel the distance. As soon as I remembered that, my breathing eased and I felt okay. The course was undulating, and bloody muddy, so during those components I could only slow down and walk fast wherever I could. I managed to pass a guy from Evolution Tri Club which gave me a boost mentally. I finished the 7.45km in 00:55:12. I must admit a lot slow than I anticipated but I was still happy to finish.

When I checked my results on the computer straight away, I saw my final time was 02:42:35!! I will never forget the feeling. I gave a squeal, punched the air and said 'YES'. A sub 3 hour finish. I was over the moon.