NZ National Triathlon Race 3

Today we got up at 5am and got ready for me to enter my first National Triathlon. I had entered into the Tri My Sport section which is run first. It has a 350m swim, 15 km bike and 4 km run.

I must admit to being daunted by the sea swim. Even though I can swim well enough and can swim double that distance in a pool there is some thing scary about doing it in the sea.

At 7.30 our race started. We all put on our very attractive swimming caps and struggled into wetsuits and at the horn raced off for the start of the swim leg. By half way I was totalled exhausted. I had swollowed more than enough sea water - yes I have seen that email going round with the big sperm whale....... There was another lady who was not a very good swimmer too so we stayed together. I was 2nd last out of the water and run up the beach to get on my bike.........running while trying to wriggle out of a wet sticky wet suit is an art I have yet to master but at least I didnt fall on my face. haha

I managed to get my suit off and pull on my shorts and top. I didnt bother with socks and just rammed my feet into my shoes and was off. The TV crew were filming in the transition area and it felt rather odd to be half way through dressing to look up and find a camera 12 inchs from your face haha

The cycle leg is my favorite and I made up some time in that passing 6 people.

Here is me on the second leg of the run section. I was really worried about this as I am a walker not a runner. I really didnt think my knee would hold out for the whole 4 km but I surprised my self by running 90% of the race, a huge effort on my half.

My finishing time was 1 hour 16min. My final results were 15th in the Tri My Sport Womens section. In total there were 20 women and 14 guys so with 34 in the seriers its a good turn out. I am thrilled with my progress and now have a goal to train towards. I intend to do this again next year and better my time plus enter the chch race too.