Muppet in the making

I have just returned from an extremely damp run through the hills around Berriew in mid-Wales.  As I was labouring up steep slopes and trying not to fall over coming back down them I wondered why I was training like this.  After all, the only thing I would previously have been thinking about in this part of the world was how pleasant the glass of red in my hand was.  My brother and sister in law always keep an outstanding table!

The unwise commitment I had made in May of 2012 had led me to an early morning get up in mid August.  The chiropractor had done a remarkable job on my back and I actually went into the novice triathlon in better shape than I had been in for years.  I had a new bike (a Specialised Allez Elite no less) and some proper running trainers.  Looking around at others taking part also made me feel better about myself, a lot of them were pretty ordinary sorts and there were all shapes and sizes.  My wife Flissy and daughter were in tow and we met up with my friend Andy.

What we didn't realise was that the sprint competitors were going off first and that we would have quite a lengthy wait before the start of the novice event.  Andy and I sat around in the sunshine resplendent in our newly purchased tri shorts, bellies hanging quietly over waistbands.  In hindsight we would realise that we had chosen the hottest day of the year for our baptism.

A snake swim of 250m (ducking under lane ropes and all sorts), a cycle of 12.5km, and a run of 3km.  Now it seems all very short, but at the time I was wondering if my body could cope.  Surprisingly for all concerned everything went a very smoothly, even the part where I had pre-clipped my bike shoes onto the pedals and secured with elastic bands.  I had picked this up from YouTube clips, you leap onto (or gingerly climb on in my case) and pedal with your feet on top of the shoes for a bit.  The elastic bands snap and you slip your feet in, no problem.  This went really well and I surmised that it was the way forward, something that would come back to bite me in the future!

I finished in a time of 51.39 which I was very pleased with, particularly the run where I was quite high on the leader board (lots of people had wilted in the sun).  Andy also did well and came in not far behind, particularly as he was on a mountain bike.  He even survived Flissy shouting at him to "stop faffing" in transition.

So no muppetry at all, this triathlon stuff was easy.  But of course that couldn't be the case.  I got home, stripped off and looked forlornly into the mirror at the pink lobster gazing back.  Perfectly white where the shorts had been.  My Gonzo moment this time had been leaving the sun cream sitting nicely on the bathroom sink.

Ringmer novice triathlon Muppet rating - 1 (sunburn)

Triathlon Muppet