Becoming an iron woman?

---

---

Don’t worry, I won’t. But I participated in my first triathlon last Sunday. And it went well. I’m all happy with my time of 1:51:29. 1:50:00 had been my plan. But I’ll tell you the whole story.

The competition took place in Gladbeck, which is about 350km from Hamburg. I had booked a hotel in Marl, about 20km from Gladbeck, and arrived there Saturday night. I shared the hotel room with my racing cycle, and I think the bike and I are really becoming friends. Before going to bed, I wanted to have dinner in the city centre of Marl, just to find that there was nothing like a city centre. There was just – nothing. But finally, I found a place to eat, and I did not do any sightseeing because there was nothing to look at. NOTHING. But now I will get to the point. The triathlon. It took place last Sunday.

The day started by not finding the location. I had printed it all out nicely, but then on the way, I got distracted by a phone call and took a wrong turn. Without a navigation system, finding my way was a true challenge from then on. But eventually, I got there.

The process is usually the following: You go and pick up the bag with your numbers (one for your bike and one to wear around your waist) and the chip they use for measuring your time (which you wear around your ankle). Then you check in to the area where you leave your bike. They check your bike before you are admitted to this area. Then you put your bike and all the other stuff (clothes, shoes, food, etc.) there and get it all ready. And then, the triathlon starts, first swimming, then cycling, and then running. In my case, it was 500m swimming, 22km cycling, and 5km running. You do not have much time for getting changed between the three disciplines (because time keeps on running all the time, there is no interruption for the time you need for getting changed), so it is best to wear a swim suit that you can use for cycling and running as well, and then just change your shoes and probably put on a jacket after swimming. Sounds too easy. And I managed to get through it all with some minor catastrophes.

My friend Anke would participate in the triathlon, too, as well as her boyfriend Marc, her brother Lars, and our friend Torsten. Anke, Marc and Lars have been doing triathlons for a couple of years, but for Torsten and me, it was the first time.

As Anke had already picked up my bag with the numbers, my next step was to check in the bike. The triathlon was to start from a stadium, so the place where the bike would wait for me was the paddock in the middle of the stadium. Unfortunately, it turned out that I had lost one of the plugs in the handlebar of the bike, and the guy checking it would not let me pass without it. He told me to provisionally fix the hole with some tape. I had about a million things with me, the only thing I did NOT have with me was – tape! So I asked around and finally got some in the van from which the event technology was managed. Finally I could check in my bike.

I walked over to the locker room to get changed. It was next to the pool where we would swim later on, which was a fair way to walk, especially because some of the gates to the stadium were inaccessible because they were reserved for the cyclists and runners. When I got back to where my bike was and wanted to arrange my equipment, I realized that the number I was supposed to wear around my waist during the cycling and running part was gone. “Okay, try not to panic,” I told myself. “You will most likely have left it in the locker room. Hopefully it is still there.” So I walked all the way back to the locker room and was totally relieved to find the number.

When I came back to my bike, there was not much time left for preparing everything. I opened my bike shoes and put the left sock into the left shoe and the right sock into the right shoe so that they would be ready when I would come from the swimming part. Next to it, I placed the windproof jacket and my sunglasses as well as my carbohydrate gel and something to drink. I covered the little pile with a plastic bag so that it would not get wet in the case of rain. The number and my helmet were attached to the bike. Then I built another equipment pile with my running shoes and my baseball cap as well as one more carbohydrate gel and covered it with another plastic bag. And I attached a bottle of apple juice spritzer to my bike. Finished. I grabbed a banana and a carbohydrate bar and walked back to the pool.

Our numbers were written onto our upper arms, then we were allowed to enter the pool. Usually you don’t jump in when the start signal comes because there are several people in one lane. So we queued up in the water. And then the triathlon started. I was one of last ones to start in my lane because I wanted to take it slowly in order not to waste all my energy in the very beginning. I was convinced that we were swimming in a 25m pool, in which we would have had to swim 20 laps. But when I was about halfway through my first lap, I thought that this was impossible. It was definitely a 50m pool. Oh well, only 10 instead of 20 laps.

After the 10th lane, I got out of the pool and ran back to the stadium – and could not find my bike any more! Oh no! The rows with the bikes in them all looked the same. There were signs on them telling you which row was for which group. But these signs were on the other side, the one I did not come from at that moment. Finally, I spotted my beautiful red bike with the big bag next to it. And wasted many, many minutes trying to get all the grass and dirt off my feet before putting on my socks. Put the bike shoes and my jacket on. Put the number around my waist. Put on the helmet and sunglasses. Had my carbohydrate gel and some water afterwards. Finished. Now, where to? I yelled at one of the volunteers, and he showed me the way.

You are not allowed to get onto your bike until you reach a certain spot. This spot, in our case, was pretty far away. I had to run halfway through the stadium, then out of it and up a little hill. And all that wearing my bike shoes! It is hard to walk in them, they are made for cycling, not for running! But finally, I could climb onto my bike and cycle. The first lap went well, there were some little slopes, but not very steep. Then, in the second lap, close to the end of one slope, my chain came off. “Okay, step by step,” I thought. “First release your shoes from the pedals. Then get off the bike and move to the side so that you are not in anyone’s way. Then fix the chain.” Luckily, this had happened to me before, and it was easy to get the chain back on. My fingers were pitch black, but I could cycle on. When I got towards the end of the second lap, I thought “It can’t be only two laps, you’re way too fast for that.” So I yelled at one of the volunteers how many laps I’d have to do. Roaring laughter from all the spectators. But I learned that I had to do four. And when I finally arrived back from the fourth lap, I was one of the last athletes on the track.

I had to get off the bike again and run back to where I had come from. Again, quite a long run in the shoes not made for running. I took off my jacket, changed from my bike shoes to my running shoes, had one more carbohydrate gel – and again did not know which way to run. So, one more time, I yelled at a volunteer who told me which way to run.

At first it hurt. I thought I would not be able to keep running. And in the very beginning of the course, there was a little hill that I had to run up. Oh no! But Anke had warned me that this would happen. And so had Mark, my trainer. So I just kept running. And eventually, it got better. This time, I had to do two laps – but did not know that until I had yelled at a volunteer again. I don’t know, my brain must have been totally blank during the competition. I had read before how many laps I would have to cycle and run, and I had also asked which routes to take out of the stadium for the cycling and running parts. But it was all gone.

Anyway. I was feeling pretty okay after the first lap, and so I decided to speed up a little bit, especially because I realized that if I did, I would remain below two hours’ total time. When returning to the stadium after the second lap and running towards goal, I was even able to speed up a little bit. And then, there I was. In goal. Oh my god. I had made it. I could not believe it. And I was not feeling like I would collapse any minute. I could feel my legs, and I could not have done one more triathlon, but apart from that, I was feeling alright. My friends gave me a big hug.

You can find the results here.

After having a shower, we had a look at the results. And I was all happy and proud to see mine. But we did not have time for celebrating, I still had a 350km drive in front of me, and the others had a fair bit to drive as well. So off we went.

I still can’t believe it. I had worked towards that day for months. I had been all excited, especially because I had had a low right the week before the competition. I had not felt in good shape. And so I was even happier to have finished it like I had. It is a great feeling. Wednesday morning, I went for a swim. My trainer had told me to take it easy and not to work hard. So I swam slowly and was overtaken every now and then. But I thought: “Hey, you can’t impress me, I did a triathlon.”

---

Photos

My bike
My friend I shared my hotel room with.

My outfit 1
Suit for swimming, cycling, and running

My outfit 2
Jacket

My outfit 3
Helmet & sunglasses

My outfit 4
Brake shoes

My outfit 5
Running shoes

Gear
Pulse watch, time chip, number

Comments

[auspicious]

Thanks
This was quite inspiring and enjoyable. Also liked the outfits for the various parts of the triathlon. Congrats and thanks for sharing!