John Limpus

Based on my experiences of my first half Ironman I can now comprehensively support the following ‘don’ts’ for any aspiring Triathlete:

DON’T - Leave your clothing bag at St Pancras Station leaving you with one pair of shorts and one Complete Equipe T-Shirt for four days (hand washed everyday might I add!)

DON’T - Try and take a bike in a cardboard box half way across London (for info – you can wheel your bike straight onto Eurostar!)

Despite these set backs myself and Laura, my Girlfriend, arrived in Antwerp last friday looking forward to a short break with the small matter of a half Ironman sandwiched in the middle of it!

The journey was easy and my overwhelming ‘do’ of the trip is this:

DO speak to anyone who looks vaguely sporty – chances are they’ll be going to the same comp and there is NOTHING more reassuring than realising that normal people, not a field full of muscle-bound monsters, are going to be in the race (we’d met 5 other competitors before we hit Brussels!).

After a busy Saturday morning identifying where to register and leave the bike etc, we were able to put our feet up in the afternoon and get down to the serious business of going head to head on the Crazy Golf course!

With victory behind me (after a three hole play off!), confidence was high and I slept relatively well that night after some late night kit preparation!

Setting off at 8:15am for the 11am start I registered my bike before heading down to the swim start. What I hadn’t planned for was the heavy rain that greeted us, and at this point I was really regretting leaving my clothes and waterproofs in London! At one stage I was strongly considering wearing the home made waterproof (see picture below) for the bike section of the course!

As the 300 odd competitors lined up in 6 separate staggered waves for the swim start, I had been placed in the third wave (this was done according to age).

Starting at the back of my wave, (I don’t class myself as a strong swimmer) my main aim for the 2km swim was to make sure that I beat the cut off time and also to avoid being hit by the many stray limbs and feet that were coming my way. Apart from getting a foot in the face after about 20 minutes I was fine and at times actually quite enjoyed it!

Finishing the swim in 40 mins I was delighted. This was 10 minutes faster than I had expected!

Setting off on the bike ride through a rather industrial part of Belgium I was relieved to discover that the route was pretty much flat and this left me the best possible chance of keeping to my plan of averaging 30km per hour for the 90 km distance.

After three long hours I was back in Antwerp and ready for the run.

Bizaarely enough due to the tightness in my hips and bottom from the constant cycling I was really looking forward to the 20km run, so that I could use some different muscles, and possibly begin to draw back some of the time I had lost on the bike (I am a stronger runner than cyclist).

Completing three 7km laps of the City Centre circuit was a great way to finish and although it was pretty painful towards the end I managed to get the half marathon section done in 1hr 45mins and complete the entire trithlon in 5hours and 36 mins.

As I hobbled back to the hotel I was left feeling genuinely content at an achievement that had taken a great deal of time, money and pain in order to complete but had been worth every bit.

Reflecting on it all I can honestly say I don’t feel PROUD of the achievement but merely GRATEFUL for being able to do it. I really could not have done it without the amazing support of my beautiful girlfriend Laura, and the expert guidance from my Triathlon Coaches Pat Leahy and Hugh Colvin at Pro VO2 coaching in Fulham.

Here’s to the main event, my first FULL Ironman, at the end of September!