A year after my ‘Swanage Sea Swim’ back in 2013 (note I am now giving it an upper case title, like it’s an accredited Olympic event) I tried a triathlon. Worth it for the nose clip alone. But hey – check me out – in a WETSUIT with SWIMMING HAT and wait for it…. a TRI-SUIT underneath. Gone are my amateur days of turning up in a swimming costume – pah. As if. #alloverit.
Actually, at the ‘tri’ (as we professionals call it), I hated the swimming. I know – I look ecstatic in the photos. I thought I’d be fine, I had trained and practiced in Eton Dorney lake where the event was, but from the off I was out of sorts. I had positioned myself to avoid the crowds but still the flailing arms and legs all around me placed me firmly in the position of a converse out of water fish, struggling for air, breathing erratically, flapping around. It was so damn hard. Oh and then just a bike ride and a run to go. Not fun. Not at all. The swimming actually really scared me and set me back quite a bit. It’s good to not get complacent I guess, but at this point I thought maybe I should perhaps leave this open water malarkey for a little while….
Thoughts of today: will I ever do a tri again? Maybe – I mean I bought a tri-suit and everything… I’ve heard this phrase ‘all the gear and no idea’, well that doesn’t apply to me. The tri-suit is totally adaptable to everyday life. I might even wear it to work.