When we arrived in Munich at around 8:45am it was not only raining and windy, but at 5 (!) °C / 41F also freezing cold. I was more than happy that we were going to swim in the pool.
In case you are not familiar with the sport of triathlon, here is what you have to do: swim-bike-run, in that order. The athlete with the overall fastest time wins. There are a variety of distances, from sprint triathlons (500m/20k/5k) to the ironman (3.8k/180k/42.2k). The one in Munich last Sunday was a sprint distance one, a bit shorter even (425m/19k/5k). There were 4 groups: kids and youth, the "Volkstriathlon"/"everybody group" (women / men), and the "sprint triathlon group" for the professionals and serious triathletes. The kids were to go first, then the women, then the men, then the pros.
So the first thing we had to do when we got there was to unload the car, put rain gear on the kids (lucky Lily got to ride in the stroller), grab my bike and all my stuff and go check in my bike. There was a long line-up, and waiting in the freezing rain was not much fun. Finally it was my turn and while Neil and the kids took off for somewhere dry and warm I set up my "transition area". It was basically a huge fenced-in meadow beside the pool with long lines of bike racks where soon 1,500 bikes would be waiting in the rain. Contrary to most other people I left all my gear in plastic bags. If I was going to bike with wet clothes I wanted to have dry feet at least. And since I wasn't a serious contender for the title (ha ha) I figured a few minutes added to my total time wouldn't matter.
Then I went inside the pool building, got my race number written on my arm with marker, put my tri suit and my timing chip on, grabbed my goggles and cap and put all my other stuff in a locker. As it turned out the race was delayed for more than an hour, because the first group (kids and youth) had to have a 15min break between the swimming and biking as it was still so cold out. So I swam a few laps in the practice pool, ate a banana, wished I hadn't left my water bottles with my bike, wandered around for a bit, ate a cereal bar, waved to Neil, Finn and Lily who were sitting in the stands, ate some more banana which made me even thirstier, and so on.
Finally, we were told to line up (I was number 554) and people started jumping in the water 8 seconds or so apart. We all had timing chips strapped to our ankles and they beeped whenever you ran or biked over a timing mat. There were mats at the entrance and exit of the pool, at the beginning of the bike course etc.
The swim went well, but since I hadn't warmed up properly and didn't want to overexert myself right away I took it easy. Actually I took the whole race kind of easy. :) The 425m took me 10:03min. Then I jogged outside, found my bike, had a drink (finally!), dried my feet, put on socks and my bike shoes, my jacket, my race belt with my number, bike gloves, bike shades and my helmet. Then I got my bike off the rack and pushed it across the wet muddy grass to the exit of the transition area. I got on, crossed the timing mat, my foot beeped (the chip more precisely), and I was on my first of 5 laps on the bike course.
The bike course was something else. We biked around the "Olympiapark" and it was very curvy. There were quite a few 90° turns, plus there were all those puddles. I am not a crazy biker and I actually braked before taking those turns. I don't have a racing or triathlon bike, so I wasn't as fast as a lot of the others, but I wasn't slow either and I had fun! I actually really enjoyed the biking part, especially the fact that the sun came out and I didn't get any wetter than I already was. The race officials had said the course would be 19k long (5 laps), but when I came to the turnoff to the transition area the speedometer on my bike only read 17-something, so I actually went past, but quickly realized that that probably was a mistake. I finally stopped just in front of the timing mat and asked the race official on duty there if the course maybe was shorter? He asked me if I had gone over the mat 5 times and I thought I had, so I finally turned around and went back to the transition area. Turns out I wasn't the only one who had done this, and at least one guy I know of actually biked an extra lap.
So I got off my bike, walked across the timing mat into the transition area, pushed my bike to the far end of the meadow, found my spot, took off my bike shoes, helmet, gloves and jacket, had a drink, put on my running shoes, and jogged up the steep hill (ouch, my legs!) to the running course. Neil and the kids had waved to me and cheered me on while I was biking and I had told them I was going for the run, but I looked and looked and couldn't see them. The run was four laps, and since it was pretty much back and forth you ran the same length 8 times. My legs felt a bit heavy because of all the "stop and go" biking, and I didn't really push myself to the limit, but I noticed I still ran a bit faster than a lot of others. Then I was on my last lap (by now it was raining again) and still no Neil in sight. I crossed the finish line, and I had done it: my first triathlon!
I chatted with a few people, had something to drink, a few pieces of watermelon and a doughnut, and finally left the finish area because I was freezing. I went back to the pool where I had my cell phone in the locker and phoned Neil. He and the kids had just arrived at the finish line and were waiting for me. :) The kids had needed a bathroom and wanted some ice cream, and that had taken them a while. I took a nice hot shower and met up with them.
And this is how I did:
I placed 165th out of 267 women, and 24th out of 45 in my age group. This includes the women from the "pro" group though, who naturally all placed in front of me. I am actually quite satisfied with my individual times. I took a long time in the transitions though, the first one took me more than 4.5 minutes! My bike time was 39 minutes, which of course includes the little detour and chat at the end. There was no timing mat at the beginning of the running course, so I don't know my exact 5k time, but from the time I finished the bike course to the time I crossed the finish line was 28 min, so I am guessing my 5k time was around 25min. Looking at the results there are women who placed way better (let's say around 100 out of 267), but actually swam and ran slower than me. They just biked a bit faster and didn't hang around in the transition area as long as I did.
So, considering this and the fact that I didn't really give it my all I think I can survive the Olympic distance on June 13th. My goal will be just to finish (even if it means walking in the end), and anything under 3.5 hours I will consider a huge success. Now I only need to somehow shed this cold that I can feel coming. The kids are sniffling and coughing too.
And - Neil doesn't know about it yet, but I guess I wouldn't say no if a used racing or triathlon bike happened to cross my path some day. :)
Here are some pictures:
I'm in the middle, in the white cap
I'm in the middle, in the white cap
I'm on the right
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