The Training Mini-Tri

OK here is the deal on the training mini tri we did on Saturday. As I said before it was a 250m swim, 5k bike and a 3k run. For SOME reason it felt a lot harder than any of the sprint tri's we have done. We started out with the swim. Beach start which means you have to run into the water and start swimming. Well, I was in the water before the thing started and it was full of seaweed and murky as he**. You could not see underwater at all. So I was not looking forward to even getting in. Once out there I kept getting off course. I would be swimming out to sea and should have been swimming parallel to the shore. So I would have to get back on course and that would eat up some time. That happened a couple of times. Once I finally got out of the water in the back of the pack I had to run over to the bike rack where my bike was and get my feet cleaned off and get geared up for my bike ride. I got on the bike and immediately had to ride up Hurricane Hill INTO the wind which was very gusty that day. It's normally windy on that hill anyway but on Saturday it was very windy with gusts. So I got down the hill but the wind was in my face all the way to the turn around point which was just over by Camps Road (that's the Castrol Sign road for all you familiar with Nevis). After I turned around I noticed a huge difference on my pedalling. I was no longer facing the wind so I was flying back but still had to get back up and over that hill again. So I got over the hill and parked my bike. We had a friend video taping us so that was kind of fun. But I got off the bike got my helmet off, guzzled some water, grabbed my mp3 player, put on my hat and started running. As I got out onto the road I grabbed a bottle of water knowing I might need it. I had to get my mp3 player on so I stuck it in the waist band of my shorts thinking it would stay there as I bumped along. How stupid is that?!!! It dropped down into my shorts and as I was trying to fish it out of there it fell between my legs. I looked like a freak! I finally got it out of there as I was laughing and starting up that same helsacious hill. My calf muscles were cramping up and resisting what I was putting them through but I made it up the hill and the rest of my run was good. So I finished in about 48 minutes which includes all my transition times and everything. Not the best time but it was really just for training and practice. So I felt fine afterwards, no aches or pains or anything like that. You can poke around at www.neviscycleclub.com and see the results and other stuff going on here. And that is it. Adios from Dani B - May the wind be always at your back!