Tri to have fun

Something happened this Sunday…

Yes, I completed another triathlon. But I noticed something else.

Since completing the SuperHeroSeries triathlon this summer with my pal Pops, in aid of my favourite charity Action For Kids, I noticed a change in my mentality.

What is this ground breaking change I hear you ask?

It’s actually pretty simple… I started to enjoy it more. Of course I still wanted to get out there and smash my times as best as I could. Of course I wanted to improve on previous events results. But, the biggest thing I noticed was I was WAY more relaxed than I have been at any event previously.

My brother captured the start of our swim… and I think it perfectly captures my new found mentality to triathlon. Just have fun!

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If you’re competing for podium places then sure, you need to focus slightly differently, however, even with my silly arm waving and laughing jogging into the sea, I still finished the swim somewhere in the top 20 with a time of 12.38 (see, I still analyse my times!) and came 23^rd overall in my age group. I couldn’t complain.

What I also noticed was those around me with a similar mentality. Actually…very few in the mens heat were so relaxed at the start. The goggles were on. People were getting in the zone. Which is great of course, I’m trying to not deny anyone that takes it seriously, however a lot of that focus comes from nerves. People are scared of the sea. They wonder if they’re going to complete the course. How do you get round it? You relax. You enjoy it. And I think that’s why I found myself waving my hands up over my head. Part of it was because I saw my bro filming and wanted to act up, who doesn’t when family is about?, but maybe subliminally I was hoping it might help some others relax and have some fun!

Talking to various people in transition, it’s clear they echoed my new found mentality. A few of my kids parent friends from school were “competing” as well as some good pals all with comments like “just looking forward to completing it” and “having some fun on the course” and “seeing if I can knock you off the bike…” ouch! All were focused on enjoying it!

At the Brighton and Hove Triathlon, with such a huge part of the entries partaking in their first ever tri – the fun side of things should not be overlooked.  The lifeguards could have learned a thing or two here too… but that’s another story!

Sure, you have some machines cycling past you on the road course and absolutely, I need to improve my technique on the bike to keep up, but I actually I found myself being more aware of those around me on the run.

I was aware of those that were sprinting to get up the rankings. More so, I was aware of those struggling. There were a few women on the course who hadn’t quite finished their laps still, two of them with two laps to go, meaning they’d been out on the course for at least an hour more than I! I ran with them for a bit. We chatted or rather we panted a bit, but they got back up and running and (I like to think) I helped push them over the line as I turned for my final lap.  Awesome. 

There was another woman who was taking a walk, I picked her up, she laughed a bit about how bizarre this whole thing was and she went to the line running. That was fricken awesome!

There was a big chap in my heat, who I had led out of the swim, but he clearly had gone past me on the bike. On the run, he was struggling and I was catching up to him. We joked about the waterbottles actually being nice cold pints of beers and he kept on going. He finished just behind me (my competitive side wouldn’t let him past ;-)). Stoked.

My point? This is kind of why I started TriPals in the first place. I wanted to have fun with like minded people. Some want to push themselves further. Some want to overcome a one off challenge. Whatever it is, I want to help people have a bit of fun and get a bit fitter in the process.

More on our virtual triathlon club coming soon!