Loosing My Triathlon Cherry

Well today was my big day. I lost my triathlon virginity. The knee injury of a few weeks ago and the cold that still lingered had put paid to any ambitions of a fast time but I was very pleasantly surprised to exceed my expectations with a time of 2 hours 47 minutes. The swim was as bad as I had expected, getting swum over and kicked in murky river water is not nice and frankly after only 100m I felt like turning round and bugging out. I'm glad I stuck it out though as it got better after I warmed up. On the downstream leg of the swim I was getting into a rhythm and starting to gain a few places back. I was in such a groove I went 20m last the last buoy and had to double back to the exit pint. My legs were all wobbly and I felt dizzy getting out of the water. Transition went well as I whipped off t he wetsuit and got the bike going. Within a mile my hamstrings were cramping badly though. It was another 2-3 miles before I was able to start cycling properly. A bit of electrolyte drink (2L through the bike leg) sorted me out and I was able to start cranking the pedals. I was making good progress and was steadily overtaking people, and only being overtaken myself by some really fast guys. I took great pleasure on my 15 yr old steel framed bike overtaking £3-5K carbon machines ridden by people who obviously had all the gear but no idea. The most pleasing thing about the bike was the average speed being a shade under 20mph. Onto the run. There is a nasty hill up past Windsor castle that you have to tackle three times, luckily I'd stationed the family at the top so there was always an incentive to get to the top for cheers and high fives. The run was survival mode at the end but I was quite pleased with my time of 51 mins 56 seconds for the 10k. All in all a fantastic experience, not as hard as a marathon but say 2/3 the difficulty. Even so I've still been wiped out all day and having to power snooze regualrly.... and when not snoozing, eating and drinking. I'll definitely be doing another.