This year was my second year of competing - but first of doing the whole thing myself. In 2012 I did a relay with two friends, Garrick and Nicola, for the olympic distance race. I did the 10k run (a week before my first marathon). It was really good fun and i knew that before the year was out I wanted to do the whole tri myself! So as soon as the early bird entries opened I got my name in - although it took me a while to decide which distance. Didn't want to risk the olympic incase training hadn't gone too well, but wanted to more than the super sprint. So went for the sprint distance. If I'd known I could have done an olympic I'd have signed up for that one!!
The venue was the ExCel in London, with the 750m swim in the Victoria Dock, and the cycle and runs were loops of the surrounding roads. 2 laps of the bike course, 2 laps of the run course. Getting there was really stressful - with road closures, huge holdups on the motorway and not liking driving in London anyway, it was not a nice experience. Worst part was crawling along the M25 thinking about what I'd do if I missed my wave (plan B, join the one of the later female waves, plan C, skip the swim, plan D, pick up my number anyway and try and get into one of the races the next day). Luckily it did not come to that and I got there just when planned having left an hour earlier than the sat nav suggested!
Race went well. The swim was very crowded (400 women in my wave - so had to split us into two sub waves!) so a lot of congestion around the buoys and the exit pontoon. Good fun though, as I managed not to panic and was fairly relaxed in the water for once!
Bike was great fun - always my favourite part of the tri. Mainly flat, only a few bridges and underpasses, and all closed roads. Not amazing scenery - with the exception of the O2 across the Thames and and Canary Wharf in the distance - there wasn't a huge amount to look at. The olympic-plus, with it's longer bike course, goes all the way to Westminster so better sightseeing there. It started raining quite heavily for about a third of the bike, although luckily not the thunderstorms that were due later that evening!
Run was alright, a better time than at Blenheim but still a slow 5k after all the rest of the race! Flat course and two laps meant two water stations, two showers - and two hills at the mid way point! I have just about perfected the art of unscrewing the top of my water bottle, grabbing a cup of water, pouring it into the bottle with minimal spillage, popping lid back on and throwing the cup in to the bin. As they were also giving out energy gels, I managed to scrounge three, although had no intention of taking them with less than 3 miles to go having devoured several on the bike. They fitted nicely in my tri suit pocket to be saved for another time!!!!
The finish line is actually back inside the ExCel, which is unusual. With each previous lap you run into the ExCel and past the finish line, before going back to do you next lap. It was tough in last year's 10k passing three times before finishing veering off to the finish! The finish line is good - loads of support and pictures taken as you cross. We didn't see Richard Branson this year though! Finish time was 1.50.30.
Goodies and freebies? Nice medal, although not quite a good as last year, swimming cap given out for the swim, a small hand towel towel (useful!), water bottle, energy bar and a bottle of recovery drink. Shirts and hoodies available to purchase.
Once I'd finished I took an hour or so to wander round the massive triathlon expo - and tried not to spend TOO much money! Bought myself a new medal hangar - a mini London themed hangar just for my VLM medal. It takes up to three, so room for more in future years! Plus an extra row for the one I already have, as it's, errr, rather full now! Also stocked up on recovery shake whilst it was on offer and some tights. I managed to resist any clothing, although did get tempted by the 75% off on trisuits at Tri UK and the gorgeous Zerod ladies suits. You can spend a good few grand there on bikes, bike parts, wetsuits, training and gear!
Certainly going to register for next year, for the olympic-plus distance (1500m swim, 80k bike and 10k run).
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