The Main Event

As I write this Tri Till You Cry is still going on, at almost 36 hours.

But I’m already out. In fact I was out after 18 hours. Okay, so 18 hours of non-stop triathlon might sound impressive, but I am disappointed. It’s not what I trained for, and it’s much less than I am capable of in terms of my fitness and general condition.

Here’s how it went. After the formalities, including the usual slightly uncomfortable speech by the mayor, we started at 11.30am on Friday. The six of us only had two lanes reserved as there were thousands (I may be exaggerating) of kids in the pool. But none of us were trying to swim fast so it was fine to be three to a lane. The first swim session was fine and we all came out of it thinking that this wasn’t going to be so bad.

Changeovers took slightly longer than we had planned, and to be honest, slightly longer than I wanted as I didn’t want to get used to stopping, but we were soon out on the bikes. The bike course was fairly traffic free but was too short a loop. This was quite good fun as Stephen and I, who were the only real cyclists of the group, were able to lap the others quite frequently as we spun round, and eventually I was on my own. I should explain that I wasn’t trying to go ‘fast’ but as I was riding my single-speed, I had to ride at a slightly higher pace just to spin more comfortably – as I didn’t have any easier gears to ride in. So for me, faster was easier and also less boring! The promised rain and thunder storms didn’t materialize and the first bike session was over sooner than we had imagined.

Then the first run. This didn’t start well as, due to some miscommunication, I was left waiting when the others had already gone. I trotted round the course, which was downtown through the busiest shopping area of Kingston, and back, and the first lap felt okay, but the second was horrible. My knees, I realized, were not going to take hours of impacting concrete at all. I struggled round, running a bit and walking a bit. When it was over, I was wondering whether I should even try another running leg. I didn’t really say anything to anyone yet. And I certainly wasn’t going to give up at this stage.

5.30pm Friday, 6 hours down.

The second swimming leg was not quite as good as the first. My goggles were giving me terrible trouble – I must have an unusually shaped head, and the adjuster on the ones I had been training with broke whilst I was trying to get them so that they either didn’t let water in or alternatively, were too tight and cut into my eye sockets. Vicki Keith came to my rescue with several different pairs. The only ones that seemed to fit properly, finally, were unfortunately ones that misted up all the time, so I couldn’t really see, but at least there was no water in eyes and they were comfortable. Then, in the last half an hour, something started to give in my left shoulder which meant freestyle became a lot harder, and I was almost swimming with one arm by the end. But the wonderful trainee masseurs from Trillium College did a good job pressing and prodding in the changeover!

The next bike ride was as easy and soon over as the first, then it was onto the second run. Again, this was horrible. I slowed right down to a mix of walking and occasional jogging, but even the walking was doing my knees in, and I really struggled.

11.30pm Friday, 12 hours down.

The next swimming session was cut a little short because we had out first official meal break. This was actually a shame, as although I still couldn’t see much, I was feeling a lot easier. I could feel the pain in my left shoulder but it wasn’t bothering me or stopping me doing my strokes properly, and my the end, I was very much in the rhythm. I’ve got to say, I didn’t really enjoy the meal. Everyone else seemed to appreciate the bland pasta stuff, but I’m almost the opposite in these kind of events, I need something tasty and interesting. In general feeding had been going quite well up to this point, but I had been getting quite painful trapped wind during the run, which generally eased itself in the pool – it’s lucky that by now into the night, we were swimming in our own lanes!

The next bike ride, until 3.30 in the morning was much less fun. Not because it felt physically any harder – I can pretty much ride indefinitely at these kinds of speeds and over these kinds of flattish circuits – but by the end I was having trouble not falling asleep on (or more likely off) the bike.

The third run was when I decided I really couldn’t carry on. My knees were so bad, I could hardly walk around one circuit in the time we had. There was certainly no running. I was also feeling quite sick from the after effects of the past – at least I presume it was that, because whatever else I had been eating before, I was generally fine apart from the wind! However, that would have passed so it wasn’t really a factor in my decision.

5.30am on Saturday, 18 hours down and I was out.

I could have down the next swim and ride session, in fact, I felt like I could have carried on swimming and riding for as long as anyone, but I guess psychologically I was thinking of this event in terms of blocks of six hours, and I didn’t want to start another block not to be able to finish it.This is going to make me rethink my direction in the next few years too. I’ll write more about this later, but basically, I am just never going to be able to do anything that involves large amounts of running, and by that I mean marathon or more.

Gary and Trevor carried on through another two blocks and finished on 30 hours, which was an excellent job – I wish I had been there with them. Sherry, Vicki and Stephen, who were the experienced endurance athletes of the six of us, having done marathon running, endurance swimming and Ironman triathlon respectively, were still out there last I heard…

Thank-you to all the amazing volunteers a the Kingston YMCA and people and companies who donated food, drink, time and effort to this. Special thanks to Vicki Johnson from CDC who stayed at night to support me. And sorry, to you and to the other competitors because I feel like I let you down a bit too – even though I know I had to stop.