London Triathlon

The London Triathlon, the thing that got me into this crazy world in the first place! I did this race last year and was the first triathlon I signed up for and was also my first one at Olympic distance. Almost one year on (it was held in September last year because of the Olympics) and I was back. It might not be as long or challenging as some of the other events I’ve already done and will be attempting later on in the year but this, like Brecon, had something the others didn’t, a previous time! That meant I was feeling a bit of pressure last week. Granted, almost all of it I’d put on myself but still, the pressure was there. I wanted to beat last year’s time, not by much but just beat it enough to show an improvement.

The swim was held in the dock next to the Excel centre and as soon as the air horn was set off to signal the start I thought I had been transported to a boxing ring. There were arms and legs everywhere! Now I’ve done a few mass starts now so am used to a bit of argy bargy at the beginning but this was on a whole different level. I got caught a couple of times as well which was a first and the one hit to the back of my head had a decent connection to it so fair play to the bloke that threw it, his career in the ring will certainly take off! With the fighting aside, the swim went well although at the time it felt a little bit slow. However, once I’d finished and seen my time of just over 30 minutes I realised it couldn’t have been that bad.

The bike route was slightly different to last year but considering London is hardly full of mountains, I knew it wouldn’t make much of a difference and so my time from last year was still comparable. There isn’t anything really exciting for me to tell you about this part really. I just got my head down and got around the course as quickly as I could. The little nasty downpour that occurred during the bike wasn’t helpful but thankfully only lasted a couple of minutes so I can’t really complain. The bike in total took me just over 1 hour and 4 minutes which I was pleased with.

Finally the run stage which was 3 laps of what was a flat course for the majority with just 1 nasty little climb before entering the Excel centre to either begin the next lap or peel off for the finish line. Now when I say a nasty little climb, it’s not like anything you’ll find in the South Wales Valleys. Compared to that, it was a slight bump in the road but it’s surprising how sapping it was on the legs after I’d been running on the flat for the remainder of the lap. Anyway, that aside the run went really well for me. I got into a rhythm and stuck to it, only stopping to walk through the water stations. Doing laps suited me as well and I got into a little routine along the way. I couldn’t walk through the Excel because of the crowds of people, just after that was the section where all the charity supporters were cheering everyone on so again, I couldn’t walk through there. After that it wasn’t far to the water station so I just carried on until then knowing I could have a little 30 second walk to take on a drink. After that it was a short section to the turnaround point and back through again. I know it sounds a bit daft but having these little sections within the laps helped keep me motivated and keep me going. As I came around to the finish line I even managed bit of a sprint finish before looking up to see the time. I knew I’d beaten last year’s time and that I’d even gone sub 3 hours.

I had to wait then though for my time to come through on text which was an agonising hour or so. Finally it arrived. I’d done the run in just over 1hour and 4 minutes which for me is a really good time on its own, let alone after the swim and bike. Overall it took me 2hours, 47 minutes and 45 seconds which I am absolutely chuffed to bits about and was around 39 minutes quicker than last year. Now I know in the grand scheme of things that time isn’t the most impressive in the world and there is still a lot of improvements that I can make but for me right here, right now, it might as well be Olympic gold!