The time has finally come.
The 10th Annual Rainbow Cup Triathlon in Tobago.
This is what I was training for. This is what my focus has been on for the last
3 months. All the hard work, all of the training was geared towards competing
in this event. Saturday 28th June 2014, I was about to take part in
my first Triathlon.
The SPORTT team traveled to Tobago on the Thursday before
the event to settle in at the hotel. On Friday night, the team met to discuss
departure time the next morning. We all agreed to meet in the lobby for 5:45am
and make our way down to the beach by 6am. After this, I got back to my room
and started to prep.
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| Everything laid out |
On Saturday morning, when we got to the beach, we went
through the final registration process of getting the timing chips and body
markings. The task was becoming more apparent, and as such the anxiety and
nerves were beginning to set in. I tried my best to stay calm and focused,
taking deep breaths every so often if only to appease the humongous butterflies
that had suddenly taken up residence in my stomach.
We did our best to encourage each other, reminding everyone
to have ‘fun’. Every time someone would say “Kairon..don’t forget to have fun”
I would try my best to muster a smile that was mixed with obvious discomfort
because I was so nervous. After some positive self-talk, I was finally able to
accept the ‘have fun’ mantra and was now mentally ready to start.
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| Shyv on hand to lend support. Nice T-shirt :) |
The start time was officially 8:01. The format was such that
the Olympic distance athletes would start ahead of the Sprint athletes. Just to
refresh, my course would have been one lap of the course in the water, 4 laps
of the course on the road for the cycle and then one lap of the road course for
the 5K. The starter sent off the Olympic athletes and then it was action time.
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| Race course |
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| Thumbs up. Ready to start |
Swim
The hardest part of the race, would have been the start, the
lovely swim. In terms of a strategy I already resolved in my head to allow the
more established and competitive swimmers to dash in the water and jostle for
position.
I was NOT about being the recipient of multiple kicks and punches in
the water which is apparently the norm for swimming in Triathlons. I took my
cool time to enter and then started.
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| Cool walk into the water. |
After rounding the first buoy, the pack started to even out.
Thankfully I didn't have a problem finding a space and was able to get into a
fairly decent rhythm. I even surprised myself as every so often I would pass
someone in the water. WHAT SORCERY?!?! Me?!? Swimming faster than someone else?
Without getting too excited and reminding myself that it is all very relative,
I just stayed with the plan. Stroke by stroke, I made my way around the course
and before I knew it, I was rounding the last buoy heading for the shore. The
swim was complete, now to transition to the cycle.
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| Heading to the first transition |
T1à
Cycle
After my ‘blistering’ swim leg, it was now time to bring my heart
rate down and move to the bike. As per usual, my faculties seem to go on
vacation at that very moment, so I struggled a bit to put on my helmet,
sunglasses and shoes. Once done, I ran to the mount line and started.
The ride was okay for the most part. I tried my best to
manipulate the gears, working between the inclines and declines. One thing I
noticed that I definitely need to work on is my cadence. I still haven’t gotten
to the point of consistent turnover and I realized how critical it is with each
athlete that zoomed past me on the course.
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| Start of another lap |
There was also a fair bit of excitement. The organizers
tried their best to have the course completely closed but was forced to accept
a compromise of police officers stationed at multiple junctions to direct
traffic. This meant that at times, the cyclist would have had to ‘share’ the
road with various types of vehicles who were making their Saturday morning
rounds. From normal cars, to buses, to trucks, tractors and even a few backhoes, the
cycle portion proved quite difficult and would have affected my time a fair
bit. At one point on the course, I was basically sandwiched between two trucks
in one lane and was unable to overtake as there was traffic in the opposite
lane. Not willing to compromise safety for that extra minute or two, I just
accepted it and made the best of the situation. All in all, I completed the
cycle and then was ready for the run.
T2àRun
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| Start of the run. |
On completing the bike, my transition to the run was a lot
smoother than I thought it would be. After putting on my shoes and heading out,
I tried starting my Garmin so that I could properly gauge the speed I was going
at so I will know if to speed up or slow down. Obviously I needed more
excitement in my life as the watch took forever to ‘locate satellites’. I
realized that I was focusing too much on getting the watch started so decided
to throw caution to the wind and run on instinct. Thankfully, I got into a
fairly good rhythm and stride, with controlled breathing and manageable pace.
The run is definitely my strongest leg and as it turns out, doesn't appear to
be the most favourite part of the race for many of the athletes. As a result, I
was able to pass quite a few persons.
As is customary, I tried to put in a final sprint at the end
of the race to finish strong. I ended up in a foot race with another athlete
with meters to go, which made good entertainment for the supporters on hand.
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| Sprint to the finish! |
I crossed the finish line. It was over. My first triathlon
complete!
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| Finally!! |
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| Me and my medal |
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| The guys who did the Individual sprint. From left: Sheldon, Me, Mikey and Jason |
Results
So I purposely left this for last. Remember I said that my
goals were 20 minutes for the swim, 42 minutes on the ride and 26 minutes on
the 5K run. 2 minutes for each transition giving me a total of 1 hour and 32
minutes.
For the swim, I was times in 19 minutes and 25 seconds. This
for me was happiest result of the entire thing. The swimming is my struggle,
and I have come a VERY LONG way in the last two months. It is surely a source
of motivation for me now as I move forward because I have to believe that I can
get better.
The ride was times in 46 minutes and 16 seconds. Not too bad
all things considered. There were a couple times I had to come to a complete
halt because of traffic so I wasn't
too disappointed
And finally the run, was timed in 26 minutes and 46 seconds.
I was happy with this as well. I felt if I had my watch I may have tried to
increase my speed to get under 26 minutes but all is well that ends well.
The total time was 1 hour and 32 minutes. More or less right
on target. I came 40th overall out of 120 participants and 10th
out of 26 in my Age Group.
Not too bad for a first try I think J
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| Results |
The full results can be viewed here:
http://www.odesseytiming.com/printable_results/4667-14-06-28-raincup-spr.htm
I want to say a special thanks to everyone who called,
messaged and sent encouragement to me before, during and after the triathlon.
It was greatly appreciated and gave me motivation to complete!
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| Most of Team SporTT |
How was your first Triathlon experience? Did you finish? Did
the butterflies set up shop in your stomach as well before the start of the
race? Would love to hear the comments.
