Had a great day out at the Midlands Ultra sprint event (600m/20km/5km) yesterday; it was not my first ever triathlon, but my last was in 1996 so I felt like first-timer! I did it with my son Matthew (his first multisport event) so that was also special. After a few cold rainy days Sunday dawned warm, bright & still and by 6am Midmar Dam was a hive of activity with over 600 individual entries in the sprint- and ultra- races, plus teams. No mist this year, so events got under way on schedule. I had not warmed up at all (besides a few stretches) and the mad rush at the start (plus altitude of just over 1000m) meant I was soon in oxygen debt and not at all comfortable in the melee of bodies despite starting near the side, and it wasn’t until the first turn-bouy that I started to feel more comfortable in the water. Anyway, got through the swim in one piece, into T1 (felt like taking a breather on the comfy plastic chairs in there) and out onto the bike course. Due to a number of factors the sum total of my bike training was a 10k ride the day before to set up my shoes, saddle, handlebars, etc so my goal on the bike was to keep the cadence up, spend as much time on the aero-bars as possible, and not fall off. Oh, and stay in front of my son for as long as possible, as I went through T1 ahead of him. The ride went fine, I had some good patches & some where my butt was sore & legs burned, I passed a few people and got passed by others, discovered that the smooth bits of road are much faster than the rough bits, and managed to stay ahead of Matthew until 2k from the end. I also hadn’t tightened my handlebars properly and they got steadily looser through the ride, but I made it into T2 just as Matthew was leaving. Quick change of shoes, changed helmet for a cap & I was out on the run. The first 1.5k felt like my legs weren’t mine and were still going round in circles, and it wasn’t until 2k that I could feel my toes properly, but things got better as I went and I managed to run the second half a minute faster than the first half which was great. Matthew also had a good run and proceeded to take another 3.5 minutes from me, finishing just over 4 minutes ahead at the end. All in all it was such a well presented event, the weather played along (but got hot & windy for the ultra-triathletes) and there was a very friendly vibe. Thanks to the B-Active Sports team. link to 2017 results: http://results.finishtime.co.za/results.aspx?CId=35&RId=2395
