TriAthlone 2008 - Like a Duck to Water

Websters English Dictionary describes excruciating as “causing great pain or anguish”. Well at 11:40am on Saturday morning in Athlone I found out firsthand what excruciating actually feels like. The Athlone Triathlon was planned as a learning experience for myself and Barry. Having never undertaken an event of this type before our goal was firstly to complete the circuit and secondly to make all the mistakes possible in the hope that we will learn from them and not make such mistakes on the big day in August. As Barry is such a good mate of mine I took it on myself to make all the mistakes for both of us and make it possible for Barry to steam ahead and post a very respectable time.

Our Athlone adventure began at 4:00am on Saturday morning 12th July. Barry arrived at my house in Lucan and we began by racking the bikes to the back of my car. Lucky for us this was not part of the timed event. An hour or so later after a number of failed attempts we managed to successfully get both bikes securely racked and headed off to Athlone. We arrived shortly after 6:30am and made our way to registration and to our individual transition areas. Barry was scheduled the go in the second wave (white hats) at 09:15 followed by myself in the third wave (orange hats) at 09:30.

The swim itself left from the pontoon at the top left of the picture below and went 350m downstream to the bridge. Around the turn and 350m back upstream to the back end of the same pontoon.

As you can see from the picture there were numberous members of the support and safety team in kayacks that followed the participants around the race area and provided assistance for anyone in difficulty or even for those who needed a brief rest. I can’t express enough thanks to these people for helping me get through this section of the race.

For a newbie I severly struggled adjusting from a swiming pool to the open water. It was my first time swimming in open water and my first time wearing a wet suit for anything other than falling off a surf board. (For the record I can swim 40 lenghts of a 25m pool in just over 45 minutes. So this was not a matter of lack of fitness on my behalf it was more so a lack of preperation). In the open water however I struggled and failed to swim my normal manner (breaststroke). After about 10 minutes in the water and having swolled half the Shannon River in the process I came very close to packing it all in and heading home.

It was at this point that one of the safety team who allowed me to rest by the boat encouraged me and said to “set yourself little goals and swim from one goal to the next until the end”. I took his advice and swam from one boat to the next until suddenly I was half way home. Then I swam from one pontoon to the next on the return trip (right hand side of the picture) pausing at each for a few minutes to catch my breath until I was back where I had started. The whole way along all I could hear were shouts of encouragement from the boats and from spectators. “20 more meters, come on you are nearly there”.

The feeling at the end when I got out of the water was firstly one of complete and utter exaustion. My arms and legs weighed a tonne and I could barely walk back to the transition area. Slowly though I began to feel much stronger and ready to finish this race. A sudden sence of achievement kicked in. I’d just completed the hardest part of my race and its all downhill from here I said.

Upon making it back to my bike I took some time to dry myself, put on the cyclig shorts and had a quick drink of lucozade sport (Sorry Caroline I mean Powerade). Hoped on the bike and I was off. The cycle was the most enjoyable experience of the whole event. 10Km out the “rolling Roscommon roads to the picturesque village of Brideswell” and 10Km back to Athlone. This description doesn’t do this section of the race justice. It was more like a leisurely Sunday morning cycle in wonderfully sunny weather out in the Irish countryside. Having just about recovered from my exploits in the water I made it back to the transition area to prepare for the 5Km run.

I racked the bike threw the bike helmet in my bag and headed off on the short run around the town of Athlone. It is only at this point that you truly appreciate the people of Athlone and the support along the streets. Your arms, shoulders and neck are sore from the swim. Your legs (every part of them) are burning from the cycle and there you are being roared along in a wave of support to the finish line. Everywhere you look people are clapping you on and urging you to finish it out.

At one point in the run I stopped to walk for a few minutes as my lower back was hurting me, when a fellow athlete ran past clapped me on the shoulder and yelled “come on 10 more minutes and your done, use the hill to get you started again”. Now I’ve played alot of sports in my time and I’ve been shouted at my team mates to keep going or had a manager encourage you at half time but never have I received such encouragement from a fellow participant who had nothing to gain themselves out of me finishing the race. You suddenly get that extra bit of belief and you forget about any pain and push yourself on to the finish line to the waiting arms of friends and family.

Now I didn’t break any speed records aside from possibly the slowest finish of all time in the swim category and possible the slowest transition times ever recorded, but it was truely an enjoyable and enlightening experience. I learned a huge amount about this sport, the do’s and don’t and what I still need to do before I can even contemplate the Chicago event. Mostly you realise that while it may be an individual sport and you are in essence racing against yourself, it is very much a team/family sport. Your fellow competitors will encourage you along and urge you to continue because they know the amazing sence of achievement you get once you cross that finishing line.

One very amusing moment post race was when Barry and I are sitting in a pub somewhere in Athlone drinking pints of water to rehydrate ourselves. When Ruth (Caroline’s sister) who had come all the way to Athlone with Caroline to cheer us on (hangover and all) sat beside me and remarked that her calves were “so sore” from all the standing around. A brief moment of silence were followed by eruptions of laughter.

So the results of the race have came in and I wasn’t far off on my estimate of 2hours and 30mins. I came in 738th position in 2hours and 20minutes. The breakdown of results are as follows:

Pos	Name	AG	Wave	Swim
215	Barry O'Sullivan	25-29 yrs	2	0:13:14
738	John O'Brien	30-34 yrs	3	0:45:24

T1	Cycle	T2	Run	Total
0:04:25	0:43:04	0:06:04	00:22:17	01:29:04
0:09:24	00:54:12	0:12:59	00:18:58	02:20:56

So after 2hours and 20mins I achieved my 2 goals for the weekend. Number 1 I finished the race and number 2 I made loads of mistakes that I need to fix. I have learned that the training I have been doing has actually been of some use and while I have still a huge amount to do it is not completely beyond me. I learned that swimming in a pool is of no reflection on how to swim in open water and finally that the people involved in this sport are some of the best around and I look forward to competing again in 2009.

So now it is on to Chicago and the the ultimate test of character and fitness. We have a long way to go and a long road to get there but I have every confidence in the support from my friends, family and fellow triathletes Barry and Shane that we are certainly on the right path to the Chicago Finish line.