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tl;tr; One of the most amazing experiences so far. Amazing feeling. If you are into sports, you definitely have to try the Triathlon at least once.

It all started last May.. While chatting with brother M, the idea of hitting a Triathlon came up. I was already pumped from the 1st 5K run race I’ve been 2 months ago and we are both extremely into sports etc but we just had 1 problem. Neither of us knew how to swim :) Like real swim, not just floating in the sea. So the training had began..

Starting from just 20ish meters, slowly slowly progressing a few meters every couple of days and improving the technique, we’ve reached the 750m required by the Sprint Triathlon around mid-summer. For the Ride and Run the training was much easier as we had a better foundation.

As the Tri was closing by, month after month the pump was getting even bigger! But it was too good to be true.. Around one, one and a half month ago we both had an ankle sprain.. The timing couldn’t been worse. The preparations were suspended and the morale was getting hits under the belt. Fortunately mine was getting better and I was able to do some training, much lower intensity but still. On the other hand, M couldn’t recover in time, so this one is also for you brother \m/.

Race day! Finally, after so many months, it was time! Motivation overflow :) Arrived at the registration around 07:15 and got my tri-bag, some stickers inside but no idea where you put them. After following a few other contestants, I headed to the Transition area to find my position. There, I met a few guys that helped me a lot through this first time. Following their tips and looking around at the more experienced players I’ve set up my transition area. At around 08:30 we went with some of the guys for a swimming warm up. No idea if it was because of the excitement, but the water, although it was morning, it was warm like a summer day. A briefing followed at around 08:45 and yes, we were a few minutes from the big game!

Everyone gathered on the beach waiting for the start signal. Some of the guys next to me started warning me not to panic when we jump in the water as it’s a warzone until the first buoy. Why panic I said to myself, they are probably exaggerating.. Little did I know :) After the start mark, the war began. Forget about your swimming pace, 150 people rushing through the sea for the 1st buoy! For the 1st 200–300 meters I was moving at a pace of ~1:40, around 30–40 seconds faster than my usual pace but, not many options available, it was either go with the flow or not go at all. After the 1st buoy things started clearing out as the Super Sprint contestants were turning back to the beach. The rest of the swim was much more chill than the 1st part but the lack of breath was noticeable. Closing up to the beach, I was already visualizing my run to the transition and preparation for the Ride. *A tip here that the pros did, was that instead of running out of the water they were doing a kangaroo/ butterfly jump covering much more distance with less effort (still not very clear what it was :))

Arriving at the Transition area, I quickly dressed up, took the bike off and headed to the mount line. *Some valuable time was lost at T1 due to the dressing part, most of the contestants were wearing Tri-suits which allowed them to just wear their shoes and go. The Ride went very smooth, perhaps too smooth now that I’m looking at the average heart-rate of the activity. The course was 6 laps, giving you a lot U-turns. After each turn you had to get into pace again but it also gave you some time to breath. *A mistake at the Ride was the electrolyte consumption. As I was told normally you should add a double tablet and drink up the bottle to recover for the swim and prepare for the run but I just had half of the bottle with 1 tablet.

Transition 2 was much faster, just throw the cycling shoes on the towel, wear the running ones, have a final sip of some electrolytes and start the final part. Was feeling quite good when I started, as cycling allowed me to catch my breath but something happened after a few couple of hundred meters that would change the plan of the Run. A calf cramp appeared and threw me to the ground.. Thankfully one of the photographers, as it showed up, had some knowledge of the subject and swiftly applied some pressure/ massage on the calf and it temporarily took the pain away. He helped me get up, I gave him and biiig thank you and continued the run. I knew that the cramp wasn’t completely gone, so I had to drop the pace to keep it from popping back up. The rest of the run went steady, with the thought of “Slow pace is better than no pace” coming up on every small pinch of the calf. Closing up to the final lap, I was feeling much better, so I could pump up a bit the pace to gain a few extra seconds.

Finish line!

First triathlon, check! The feeling was simply amazing. It’s a complete experience that if you are into sports you definitely have to try at least once. For me though, it was just the beginning of many many triathlons to come with the ultimate goal of course, the great “Iron Man”!