I have finally managed to complete a triathlon, albeit with some Covid restrictions. I had signed up for the Dorney Olympic distance triathlon, which went ahead last week. Working out my possible timings for each discipline, I told myself I would be happy with any time under 2 hours and 30 minutes. So let’s see how I did…

It was an early start—I had to travel an hour and a half to get to the triathlon and needed to be there around 6:30 in the morning. This meant an eye-watering quarter to five wake-up time for a quick breakfast and coffee, then the drive to Dorney. I had packed my things the night before. I have to visualise what I’m wearing at every stage of the race to make sure I don’t forget anything. My packing list for the triathlon was as follows:

• Wetsuit
• Swim goggles
• Swim hat (just in case)
• Swim ear protection

• Tri suit
• Race belt
• Talc
• Towel
• Vaseline

• Helmet
• Warm gloves
• Cycling gloves
• Cycle glasses
• Socks - pre-talc’d
• Cycle shoes

• Bike computer
• Water bottles
• Bike lights
• Saddle bag

• Carb drink
• Carb bar
• Gel

• Run shoes
• Run jacket

Some of these items were extras, just in case they were needed.

I arrived at the event, registered, and headed to the transition area. After the mandatory helmet check and verification of my race number, I was allowed into transition. I racked my bike and laid out my bike and run kit neatly next to it. I then visualised the way in and out of transition for the swim-to-bike and bike-to-run changes. I have done triathlons before and sometimes struggled to remember where to go or where my bike was in relation to the swim exit. So, it has become a ritual of mine to ensure I know. After this, I got my wetsuit on and was ready for the start.

The 1500-meter swim was first. I had been told the water temperature was a chilly 13.5 degrees Celsius. Because of Covid, it was more like a time-trial start rather than a mass start, which was fine with me. It meant less hustling for position and more actual swimming. I slid into the water and set off. I swam really hard for the first 100–200 meters and didn’t realise how cold it was until it was too late. I was now out of breath from swimming too hard and experienced delayed shortness of breath due to the cold water. I couldn’t put my head under the water anymore. I started to panic a little, feeling an overwhelming desire to get out of the water.

I took a moment to try and calm down and pretended to adjust my goggles. I got overtaken by the swimmer behind me. This didn’t help, and the panic worsened slightly. I stopped again, then switched to breaststroke. I got overtaken again. At this point, I had a little chat with myself. I’m a fairly strong swimmer; it was just a little cold, I was in a race, and I was doing breaststroke. What was I playing at? I resumed front crawl, starting with a breath every stroke, then every two strokes, and after a while returned to my normal rhythm of a breath every three strokes.

There was a buoy rope line just under the water guiding the way. I latched onto this, and before I knew it, I was back at the finish. I swam hard. Open water is my favourite discipline, and I was a little annoyed at myself. It didn’t take long to regain my first lost position, and by halfway, I had retaken my second position. In the end, I overtook about four swimmers. I exited the water with a respectable time of 23 minutes 39 seconds.

I came out of the water and straight into transition. My hands were really cold, so transition took a little longer than I wanted, but I made it out in a slow 3 minutes onto the 40k bike ride. I felt fairly strong for the first part of the bike. However, I had done my normal training the day before, which was a 4-hour 20-minute ride on a hard, hilly route. Due to this, after a while, my legs and hips started to feel the strain. I pushed on regardless, trying to maintain a steady pace. I kept my heart rate in Zone 2, sipped my carb drink at regular intervals, and didn’t really push too hard. The last thing I needed was an injury or to ‘bonk’. The bike route was not particularly interesting—it was eight laps around a loop near the lake. One positive was that it was fairly flat. I completed the bike in 1 hour and 7 minutes.

Into transition for the final time, and my hands were still cold, which caused another delay. That’s my excuse anyway, and I’m sticking to it. I couldn’t do up my running shoes properly due to the lack of dexterity in my fingers. T2 took a time-consuming 2 minutes.

Out on the final part of the triathlon, a 10k run. I felt surprisingly strong. I set off at a blistering pace (for me anyway) of 6:30 minute miles, then settled at 6:50 minute miles. The first 5k was fairly easy, but I dropped my energy gel from my tri-suit. This probably had a mental effect on me, because the last 5k was tough. I maintained the pace, but mentally it was pretty challenging. I finished the run in 40 minutes 8 seconds—extremely close to a PB for me.

There are several takeaways from this event for my half Ironman at the end of June. First, I need to calm down at the start of the swim, get my bearings, and acclimatise to the water temperature. Second, I need to buy elastic laces, as tying shoes with cold hands is too hard and slow. Finally, I need to consider training the day before—either have a day off or make the route easier—so I can be fresh and get the most out of the race.

My total time was 02:16:55. I was over the moon with this. Considering I had done a hard session the day before, this time was well under my expectations. It just goes to show that all that training is paying off!