I joined Trifactri in September, with a goal to start doing triathlons, and I completed my first olympic distance triathlon last weekend – the Germiston 5150. I won’t lie, I was a little blasé leading up to the race. After all, when you look at each discipline on it’s own, it doesn’t look that daunting. Swimming has never been a concern for me, I cycle more than 40ks at least twice a week, and I have run marathons before! BUT….add them all together, stir in 35 degree temperatures and some serious wind, and voilà, not so simple after all! Firstly, standing at the the swim start is nerve wracking, no matter how strong a swimmer you are. Suddenly, telling yourself that you swim double this distance twice a week isn’t so comforting, and those buoys look faaaaar away. It doesn’t help when the commentator keeps announcing how bad the conditions are. Thank you very much, but we can SEE the waves! At least I came out the water WELL hydrated…. Secondly, nothing can truly prepare you for transitions. Sprinting out the water and getting on a bike without really getting your breath back is pretty crazy, and I can’t even begin to describe the feeling in my legs the first few hundred metres of the run. So my first triathlon humbled me, but it only took half an hour (to get the feeling back in my legs and to demolish a Spur burger) before I was thinking about the next one. They are addictive like that. Thank you so much to the Trifactri team and my coaches Jess and Lucie. It was tough, but would have been so much tougher without you guys!
