Triathlon de Rumilly – 20/05/2018

It’s May and according to Strava I have already cycled about 575km! 😳

A Facebook reminder popped up the other day to say that three years ago I had cycled a very short ride in Les Gets (Sincerneret) as my first of the season.

After a year off the bike, last year for my first ride I DROVE down to Taninges, not because I didn’t want to cycle back up, but because I didn’t want to cycle down! This year, I set off for a 60k bike with friends as my first ride and was thrilled to not only feel so much braver but have my fellow cycling buddies remark at how my descending has improved.

The fact then that I have already also completed an Olympic distance triathlon and it’s not even the end of May yet is awesome.

I think I am justified in taking a moment to appreciate how much my confidence has grown and how my fitness is going from strength to strength, despite set-backs. A happy little bunny!

Working for Buzz is probably the answer and going to Mallorca training for a week. April and May have seen a very steep incline in my activity levels.

Having said that, I have not attacked training willy-nilly but with each year am learning more and more about the types of workouts that need to be done to make progress and get stronger and how to mentally tackle events. Regarding my running, the marathon programme I followed last autumn from Amelia has definitely helped me get faster and trying to run technically better. All was not lost in Nice!

I had meant to sign up to a sprint or super sprint in Rumilly, as I have done in previous years as my first tri of the summer, but when I couldn’t see that as an option, I decided to go for the Olympic distance. I didn’t have to race it particularly, just enjoy myself and make me feel good after some rocky experiences last year.

On Sunday, with my wonderful supporters, we set off to Rumilly.

Swim – 1400m

The swim was manic and I need to ‘man-up’. Yes, I didn’t position myself quite as well I would have liked and in future need to take a leap of confidence and get to the front for the start. Instead, I ended up in the mix and as expected was shoved about and kicked in the face. It took until at least the second lap for us to settle down and space out. This was when I finally felt I got into my stride and felt I was swimming well. Completing the longer distance allows for this to happen, for had it been a sprint we would already be out the water.

Transition 1

After a nasty experience running without socks last year and rubbing my feet raw, I had the faff of getting them on to wet feet despite having a towel. I think post-bike might be less time consuming for next time. Generally a faffy transition!

Bike – 37km

A steady cycle where I felt I was working moderately the whole way round with a few pushes here and there when this ‘no drafting rule’ was not being applied and I wanted to shake someone off. We avoided the stormy weather, which came in later, and enjoyed a pleasant ride in the sunshine and warm weather. The scenery was lovely and the route pretty pleasant and cruisey.

My left glute is tired and during the ride it was causing some numbness down my leg. My solution to that was to keep my legs spinning by not pushing too hard a gear, and to stand up out the saddle frequently.

Transition 2

A little quicker than the first! I do need to change my laces for springy ones, and not take my time tying my laces. I just haven’t got round to getting any!

Run – 9km

I had said if I could keep roughly a 5:30/km pace then I would be happy, and I did. I deliberately set off steadily and felt good. Just because I felt good though, I didn’t want to go too hard and suffer with the consequences later. Luckily so, as I was tiring towards the end.

A lovely ‘aller-retour’ with a couple of short and sharp inclines to burn the legs and lungs! At the turn around point, Bitter Sweet Symphony by The Verve was playing, my favourite song and a little boost for the way back! Not only that, but their km markers where slightly shorter than my watch was telling me – that was fine by me!

I wore the Tri Montagne trisuit for the first time and it was very comfortable! I applied vaseline all over, so whether that did anything or not I don’t know, but I came back with body and bike all intact!

An awesome day out! Olive and Hugo were positioned in good spots to cheer me on; thank you for all the photographs and some more of Olive looking cute. 😊

 

Olive I think was more worn out than anyone and decided to just collapse in the middle of the car park.

It was Hugo’s birthday and a birthday is no birthday without cake. As a bacon lover it had to be a Maple Syrup and Bacon cake – pretty tasty! 😋

Fingers crossed this great start to a summer of lots of swimming, cycling and running will continue!