Friday 7 August 2009

From Triathlete to Hobbler



last sunday, i was triathleting; swimming/biking/running my little heart out.

then i entered the week after sunday, and i was reduced to the kind of hobble displayed by people who have just had surgery in places they don't want to talk about.

wednesday was my first day of resuming the upright stance while walking, and that night even managed a gentle 20 minute run. the following morning, time trials with the trainer. and so we're back on; hello again!

(it does make me wonder, when do you get to the point of calling yourself a Triathlete? does one sprint qualify? only after an Olympic? reserved exclusively for the professionals?)

i promised something last post, and since the promise there have been whisperings. some discussions, probing, guesses at what possibly could be what has been dubbed;

'the next challenge'


but before all is revealed, i have my overall placings from the London Triathlon - so time to reveal!

there were 549 women undertaking the Olympic in total, so where was i in the mix? as expected, i started strong, and then it was a sliding scale of strength!

swim: 114/549 (pretty damn happy with this one!)

bike: 198/549 (almost as happy with this!)

run: 391/549 (and let's just not talk about this one thanks)


my rankings in transition were actually pretty funny! due to my cramping issues, my first transition saw me rank at a terrible 352/549. however my second transition saw a complete turnaround of events and i came in at an incredible 9/549!

Overall: out of 549 lovely ladies, i ranked 236 :)



ok so now my unique ability to transition quickly has been revealed, let's move onto the 'next challenge' business and see where we're heading...

for those in the circuit of knowing what the difference between T1 and T2 is; they've guessed. it's the next logical step.

i started with a couple of running races.

then i did a couple of sprints.

next onto the olympic.

now it's time to head towards a whole new world of pain... here she is kids;

the half ironman!


ironman means a lot to me, more than just another (impossible sounding) race. in australia, we love an ironman. we love our ironmen + women. we put their faces on our cereal, we name health foods after them, and most saturday mornings we fill our television programming with broadcasts from the beach. i used to watch those races, on saturday morning, always with a sense of amazement. rightly or wrongly, i put them up there with olympians.

so edging even somewhere close to the sense of achievement is going to mean a hell of a lot to me. i don't know if i'll ever be capable of undertaking a whole ironman, but right now the half ironman (HIM) is going to be an incredible feat. and one which i'm stupidly excited by.

so upwards + onwards! right now i've got to concentrate on two more sprint triathlons left until the end of season, after which it will be a winter of HIM training. and that sounds a little bit too appealing right now. maybe it's that level of insanity which qualifies the 'triathlete' badge...




8 comments:

Donna said...

Woo hoo! 70.3 bring it on! Sorry to have missed you Sunday, we still need to figure out when / where to meet up. I am off to Parliament Hill Lido on Saturday (pre airplane death session) and then back end August...

Oh, and someone told me you are a triathlete once you commit to the sport. So if you are committed after one super sprint to keep doing super sprint, that makes you a triathlete. Or if you commit to doing a HIM, that makes you a triathlete. I kind of liked that way of thinking about it. I am such a commitment phobe it has taken me a while to take the plunge - so happy you are getting straight in there! :-)

Anonymous said...

How exciting...wouldn't a marathon in April be the perfect training race in the run up to the HIM?

Steve

Anonymous said...

Yeah the HIM, woohoooo!! Such courage. I'm in total admiration, you're an incredible and inspiring lady. Slightly mad, though! ;-)

And OF COURSE you qualify as a Triathlete, and furthermore, in my stakes, as an Athlete. Yep yep.

Bring on the Warwickshire tri. I'm actually starting to think that this really could be fun!

Anonymous said...

And sorry for the tacked on PS, but 9th in T2?!?! Wow!! Your next blog post should be "Al's Transition Tips + Tactics". By popular request. :-)

BILL MOORE said...

Half an ironman. I am not sure what half you get but me thinks it must be the part where one half of the brain is missing or has gone for a swim, or maybe a ride, or even a run. Its all to much for a muddled headed Aussie wombat.
Keep up the great work Al.
The Dad

Anonymous said...

:O That's official now you blogged it. No piking...

From,

Exercise :)

Jacky said...

Fantastic! Loved the race report - and love the new goal! My Half is on January 9 and I am way behind schedule - but only one way to get there right?!

I was told earlier this year by an amazing triathlete (he did a double Ironman ie. twice the distance all in one go - amazing (or mad)) that the biggest challenge is committing to do it - once you've made the decision you're halfway there. So go you!

And yes, in NZ we love our Ironmen and women too!

teresa said...

That is AWESOME! Go 70.3!