Triexercise Pembrokeshire Coast Triathlon

3rd July 2010

Report by Rhian Bruce

Pre-Race

As a newcomer to triathlon I had only ever entered a couple of novice events and the longest course I’d attempted was the West Wight Tri on the Isle of Wight. I’d really enjoyed taking part but knew that I would never be able to commit to much time to training due to working full time as a teacher and having two small children under 5.

Last summer we were camping down near Little Haven and it happened to be the weekend of the PCT so I dragged my husband and two kids down to Broad Haven to watch the start of the race. That was the moment I knew I had to have a go. So after a very lazy winter of eating too much cake and drinking too much wine I decided to start some exercise!

When I entered the West Wight Tri a couple of years ago a friend of mine bought me a book called ‘Triathlon Made Easy’ which is kind of a beginner’s bible to the sport. I’d joined the Triathlon club but due to time constraints I found that the only real way for me to train was on my own when I could grab an hour each day either first thing in the morning or late at night when the kids had gone to bed. The book had 3 really good training programmes set out for different distances – Super-sprint, Sprint and Olympic. So that was it, the training began and my aim was to complete the course and no more. I knew if I followed the progamme I would at least finish the course. I was off!

The event drew closer and I was beginning to question if I was actually insane. Nothing could get in the way of my training schedule! I was also starting to panic about the course and wondering how I would ever cope with the sea swim. I knew I could swim a mile in the pool but the sea was another matter – I’d never completed a long swim in the sea before. Luckily for me the Pembrokeshire Triathlon Club had organised 3 taster sessions at Broad Haven that followed the course of the PCT for people to come and have a go. It was an added bonus that this fell during half term so I had a bit of extra time to play with. I hired a wetsuit from the good people at Tri-Exercise (which I ended up buying – good sign!) and toddled off down to meet everyone at the car park. Unfortunately, when we got there the weather was horrendous. The water was choppy with a big swell. Let’s just say it wasn’t calling me in! In fact I nearly hid in the car and pretended I’d just turned up for a spot of breakfast but I knew if I didn’t get in now I never would. So I got out of the car and felt like a new kid at school for a couple of minutes until everyone started chatting and I soon felt welcome and a little more comfortable. The swim was hideous!!!! I only went out to the buoy twice and had to be babysat by Dave Astins who somehow managed to encourage me through the ordeal. I came out thinking ‘well that’s the end of that!’  However, when I was told that it couldn’t be worse than that on the day I knew I just needed some extra sessions.

I continued to train as much as I could. Two weeks before the race disaster struck. I got tonsillitis!!!! I rushed to the doctor and got some antibiotics and had to lie around just waiting to get better and worrying about how much training I was missing. I chatted to people on the forum and they gave me good advice about just resting up and getting better. A week later I felt fine. I did a few gentle sessions for the last week and finally the big weekend arrived.    

We decided to camp at South Cockett Farm the night before so that I could register the night before and get a good early start in the morning. Bad mistake! Our mattress deflated in the night, my little one was trying to get in our bed and in the end I ended up sacrificing my bed and sleeping on my 2 year old’s Ready Bed which was a complete nightmare. So after about 3 hours kip I was up and ready to go!

Race Day

I woke up and the nerves kicked in immediately. My kit had been checked the night before but I got up and checked it again. Oh my god!!!!!! I’d lost my timing chip! Everything came out of the box, nowhere to be seen!! Frantically I kept checking and rechecking and eventually found it stuck to my freebie t-shirt. Panic over. Relax!  I ate some breakfast - a couple of muffins and a banana and tried not to drink my usual 3 cups of tea for obvious reasons. After faffing about for a couple of hours we set off down to the car park.  By this point a butterfly farm seemed to have opened in my stomach. We got out of the van and everyone seemed to be getting prepared, warming up and looking seriously professional. By the time I got to transition most of the bikes had been racked (and I thought we were early) but I managed to squeeze my little bike in and tried to memorise where I had put it. Funnily enough the bike I put it next to was a man’s version of exactly the same bike, same colour and everything – could have been amusing if we’d accidentally picked up the wrong one.

  The next few minutes were kind of a confused jumble of mooching about and moving my kit around. Then we had the pre race talk and we were off down to the beach. As we walked towards the sea like a procession of walking sea lions I was feeling a mix of emotions. I can’t say I was exactly looking forward to it, but I was kind of excited that the day had finally come – this was it! The horn blew and everyone charged in. I hung back and let the masters swim to victory, I didn’t want to be squashed in a mad whirlpool of arms and legs and get put off in the first 5 mins. The swim to the first buoy was a bit of a struggle. I found it hard to settle in to a rhythm and get my breathing steady. However as soon as I got around that bouy I was fine and believe it or not I REALLY enjoyed the swim. The sun was shining and although it was a little choppy it felt good and there were people behind me too – bonus!!!! I was slightly worried that I would be whisked out of the water by a kayaker because I had not completed the swim course in an hour and that would be the end of the race for me. At the end of the swim I ran up to transition and felt good. I helped a distressed man standing next to me who was struggling to get out of his wetsuit and frantically got my helmet on and fiddled about with my new shoes (only just transferred from toe clips to cleats).  I ran out of transition with my bike and suddenly realised that my race belt was still in the box! I muttered a few choice words, put my bike down and ran back for my belt. I should have taken advice and put it on under wetsuit at start!

    I was off on the second leg. I cycled up the hill and after a few miles felt a little need for a drink. I’ve got a horrible habit of dropping my bottle on a race and I had been practising putting it in and out of the carrier during training and didn’t drop it once. I was sure it wasn’t going to happen again but woe and behold it did! I was coming up a small lane whilst having a drink and a car came around the corner suddenly. I slowed down, went to put my bottle back in, wobbled, dropped the bottle, went to put my foot down, forgot I had cleats in and finally fell in the hedge! A helpful cyclist passing by turned and said ‘That was a disaster wasn’t it!’ I had to agree. I got off, ran down the road to collect my only bottle (Should have taken two) and got back on the bike. The rest of the ride was fine and I passed a few competitors which always gives you a boost.

 The last leg was my weakest discipline and unfortunately it is always at the end! My transition could have been quicker but I was in need of some water and an energy gel which I managed to drizzle all over myself. I ran the best I could and managed to get to the water station before having to stop for a few seconds to take a drink. The run was tough especially seeing as I was bursting for a wee. I couldn’t bring myself to do a ‘Paula Radcliffe’ so I had to just grin and bear it. Again, I managed to pass a few people on the way and that kept me positive. Long Lane is probably the most evil part of the course and it should be re-named Longest Lane in the whole of Pembrokeshire. Running down towards the beach was such a good feeling especially when I could see my family waiting there to cheer me on. I came round the last bend and nearly growled at the poor marshal who told me I had to run that extra tiny bit over the bridge to get on to the beach because at this point any extra steps were steps closer to me making a live spectacle of myself peeing in action. I ran along the beach towards the finish line and I knew I had completed one of the greatest events I have ever entered!  How I didn’t pee on whoever took my timing chip off I’ll never know. I ran straight to the loos and then came down to enjoy some welsh cakes and a trusty banana.

I crossed the line with a time of 3:14 which isn’t great but it can be worked on eh! Thanks to everyone at Pembrokeshire Triathlon Club for all the support and encouragement during the weeks prior to the event and for making it such a special day that I will never forget. Hopefully, it will be the first of many.