I am now a year into this strange triathlon experiment. I celebrated the anniversary by competing in a repeat of the very first event I had tried back in 2012. The Ringmer Novice Triathlon.
So what was the net result? How much have I improved, if at all? And how steep has the learning curve been?
The answer to the first two questions, in an extremely simplified sense, is 5 seconds.
If you look at the time I did last year and then compare it to the time I did this year, the difference was a mere 5 seconds.
But there is more to say here. Last year I completed the 250m swim in 8mins 37secs, whereas this year it was 5mins 12secs. A massive improvement over such a short distance (the fact I see this as a really short distance tells a story as well). Transition was in a different place and much further away, yet my bike time was roughly the same as last year (they include the transitions in the bike time at this one). Therefore I must have ridden quicker.
Ahem, er, now we come to the crux. I was feeling good on the run and glanced at my watch. A sudden feeling came to me that I was going to break 50mins and the person who had come 3rd overall last year got something like that. A shiny podium may be lying in wait at the end...... Then I felt lonely. Where was everyone? Why were there no marshalls at this junction? I had (and not for the first time) gone the wrong way. By the time I had retraced my steps and gone into and across the field I should have I was a full 2 and a half minutes slower than last year! Hence 4 seconds (I finished 6th).
In answer to my last question above I have learnt one thing this year. I am a complete and utter muppet!
Ringmer Novice Triathlon Muppet Rating: 5
Triathlon Muppet
