Well that came about incredibly quickly didn’t it. Where on earth did the summer go?

This weekend was my first attempt at the Olympic Distance for the Triathlon, for the uninitiated, this means 1500m of open water swimming, 40km on the bike followed by a 10km run.

It was pretty much our closest race to home being only a half hour drive away. This meant we were able to get registration out of the way the evening before, leaving the morning of the race to be much more relaxed.

With bags packed and bike stowed we headed over to Kraśnik to get the transition area setup. It’s now a quick and easy process, getting shoes and socks in the right place plus the helmet and glasses in the right order.

After that it was time to head to the pre-race briefing and then very quickly onto the swim warmup. A quick splash about in the new wetsuit (from Decathlon, of course!) left me feeling pretty relaxed… not that you can tell from the photo!

The swim was a two lap jaunt and my first thought looking at the first buoy that we were to swim around was “bloody hell that’s far away and we swim there twice?????!”. So off we went. Very quickly I found myself at the very back of the pack, then off the back of the pack and then in last place. It was a real struggle to get a rythm and I did end up having to breaststroke until I caught my breath.

After the turning poing on the first lap, suddenly things felt a little easier, my swim got smoother and I felt refreshed. Heading back to the startline and a quick run back onto the beach, round a car and back into the water, the second lap was much, much smoother. Still very slow but all in control.

Leaving the water was incredible, as I was on my own in last place. The cheers and clapping from the crowd was inspiring. Swim finished in a little over 50 minutes.

Through transition in orderly fashion, with one slight misshap where I nearly fell over (due to my cleats slipping on the pavement) and out onto the bike course.

It was a rough introduction as I came out in with the race leaders (who most of had already lapped me before heading out on the course!). The first person going round the corner at the start fell off, meaning I had to throw some bike control in to avoid running him over!

The bike course was essentially an out and back course, starting with a long downhill, before returning back up that hill. Going down the hill was fantastic. There was a strong tailwind so sitting at 40km/h + was easy. Unfortunately, turning around and heading up the hill into the wind was less than fun.

After 4 laps up and down that straight, enjoying and battling the wind, a time of 1 hour 22 minutes saw me beat my 40km PB by 2 minutes, which considering the wind and the swim before was brilliant.

Back in and after a very quick change it was out onto the run course. The wind was still there but it felt like a hairdrier, with the 30 degrees C temperature really starting to catch up with me. There were plentiful water points on the course and some very much needed mist points to help cool down a little.

The first lap of the course was really good as there were all the other athletes on the course, both from Olympic distance and the sprint distance races. This meant there were people to talk with, chase, follow and overtake. The second lap was a lot more lonely with the person behind me being 10 minutes back and the nearest person in front being about 2 minutes ahead.

Still, I managed to keep the tempo up finishing in just over 55:30 for the 10km a mere 6 seconds off my PB. If it had have been cooler I’d have definitely been able to run faster.

Finishing time in the end was 3:11:08, super happy with it.

It brings down the curtain on this Triathlon season. I’m definitely already looking forward to next season, hopefully bringing my times down and maybe, just maybe going a little bit longer. Half Ironman anyone?