Giving it a tri

As I mentioned, I am doing my first triathlon in two weeks. It is the medium-sized one of the three that will be run on the day, with a 400m swim, 16.8km cycle, and 4km run.

The run I am not too worried about, but maybe I should be, as I haven't run that distance properly since November.

The swim and the ride I am slightly worried about.

I spent a lot of time in the pool as a kid, but almost none of that was spent swimming laps. I have so far done two pool sessions, and will aim for another two or three swims before the race, and while I can swim that distance, I'm not sure if I can do it all in one go, without any breaks to rest on the wall. Also there is no wall in a triathlon.

I am also worried I will panic in the water when there are lots of people around me, and/or if I am last by a lot (not an completely unreasonable assumption).

Since we went for our first long training ride, I am no longer as worried about the ride. I am worried I won't know where to go, as there might not be enough other riders around me to follow. I am worried I will do something wrong in transition and the marshal will yell at me. I am worried I won't be able to find my bike spot. I am only a little bit worried about being completely dead last, because it won't be as obvious by this stage, what with all the different races and waves.

Today we went to watch the triathlon that is before ours in a series of races. The distances were quite similar and I imagine the set-up will be almost identical. It hasn't convinced me that this is the greatest idea ever, but I do feel more comfortable now that I know what to expect.

As a result, we have the following list of things to do before the race:

• buy a race belt that the pro-looking people use to hold their numbers - done
• buy elastic shoelaces (no-one had non-elastic laces today) - done
• buy a swim cap, discover you don't need it on the day as they are provided - done
• rethink your outfit based on what everyone else was wearing. Refrain from buying new clothes - done and done for now (pending the results of our dress rehearsal)
• consider riding and running with no socks. Reject the idea of testing it out, based on how much it would suck to get ridiculous blisters at this point - done
• test out watch in water (it does say thirty meters)
• try an open-water swim
• try a swim-then-ride dress rehearsal, with transition
• try a ride-then-run, with transition
• Running Buddy needs to figure out to start riding with her shoes already clipped into pedals AND how to un-velcro her shoes and dismount without unclipping. Have fun with that!

And become a super champion swimmer, cyclist, and runner. Ready, go!