A Triathlon Race Story (Episode 3): Who are you becoming?

The Plan

It was crunch time for Kieran as he sat at his desk looking over the race brochure containing all the important information he would need for his race the coming weekend. It was twelve weeks since his first race and the palaver with the bike, and five weeks since his last race; a decent practice race where he finished 12th in his Age Group. Five weeks on and he was feeling a lot fitter.

In his last season he had qualified for the Great British Age Group Team for Sprint Triathlon and he was hoping to qualify again by coming in the top 4 in his age group. The upcoming race was his last chance to qualify for the 2025 team. He knew it would be very close after having to rebuild his fitness due to a bike accident earlier that year.

As he picked up the phone to speak to his coach Laura to discuss the race plan, he could already feel the nerves and excitement brewing. Laura was an experienced ex-professional triathlete who helped Kieran to maximise his training and think about race strategy, but today she also doubled as a motivational coach, giving a pep talk that rallied Kieran's confidence.

The upcoming race was a 'draft legal' race which meant competitors were allowed to cycle behind others to gain aerodynamic benefits, effectively meaning it take less effort to cycle at the same speed. But in order to be able to take advantage of this, competitors needed to be out of the swim with others who they can draft with.

So the plan was simple, attack all out on the swim for the first 200m, then tuck in behind another swimmer for the remainder of the swim leg. This should mean coming out of the water and onto the bike with others to take advantage of the drafting benefits, before putting every last bit of effort in on the run.

The Race

When Kieran woke up at 6am on race day it was the first time he'd ever had a great sleep before a race. Sleep the night before was often broken by the nerves of the following day.?

This race was a little different as he had his family in tow which had meant a more relaxing journey the day before.?

And to top things off, the Airbnb they had stayed in was exceptional creating an environment that encouraged relaxation and peacefulness.

As Kieran began to get dressed he thought back over the preparation to get to this moment; he'd improved a lot since the last race, taken a marginal gains approach which included shaving his arms and legs and had his family as support crew to help ease out that extra motivation. He couldn't have prepared any better.

The race was a short 20 minute journey away, being held on a car race track surrounding a small lake.?

When the family arrived, Kieran set about registering and preparing his transition area for maximum efficiency whilst his family found a bench to sit on that gave a great view of the lake and transition areas. Kieran then did a light running warmup to prepare and recce the course.?

But unbeknown to him, whilst he was gone a Marshall picked up his race mat and equipment and shook the Talcum powder off it; this was used to soak any excess water from the swim that might cause blisters. Fortunately, another competitor saw this and informed Kieran just in time for him to reset up the area. Why this happened was a complete oddity, but fortunately any potential issue was averted.?

And then the announcer called over the speakers that it was time for the pre race briefing to begin which meant it was 15 minutes until the start of the race.?

It was a warm day so the announcer explained that wetsuits would be optional. Kieran knew he was faster in the wetsuit, but 2 or 3 competitors chose to strip to just a trisuit.

Half listening to the announcer discuss the swim course for the 3rd time, Kieran's mind was running through the race plan and how he would start the swim.

And then suddenly it was 5 minutes until race time and all the competitors began to enter the water and make their way across to the start line; an imaginary line between two buoys about 50m away across the width of the lake.?

Kieran half walked, half swam in the 2 foot deep water trying to prepare his body for the task ahead whilst navigating the cluster of men trying to do the same thing.?

The nerves began to build...

2 minutes to go...

He arrived at the start line, noticing that he was one row back, not a major issue, but he would need to pause for 1 second when the race started to avoid being kicked in the face and hope the people in front were good swimmers.

1 minute to go...?

Kieran concentrated on the nervous tingling in his stomach, he took a deep breath in...1,2,3 and released accepting the nerves and steeling his mind for what was to come.

'200m hard' he thought to himself

And then the horn went for the race to start.

The mass of neoprene clad bodies exploded with energy as the jostling for position started. Kieran focused on strong fast strokes.

About 30 seconds in and this was going well. He was with the crowd and moving well. A quick sight to look ahead and he saw the 3 buoys that lined up to direct swimmers towards the first turn point. The first two buoys were just sighting buoys that swimmers could swim either side of, they showed the most direct route to the first turn buoy, so Kieran aimed at these.

About 90 seconds in and he could see there was a lot of splashing around him, signifying a relatively large group of swimmers.?

He was approaching the first sighting buoy just to the left of it, what seemed like a perfect position. He was still working very hard.

But then, as he moved parallel to the buoy, he felt an arm touch his left shoulder... the first time was just a tap. But then it happened again and this time the hand grabbed at his shoulder and pulled him under. He exaggerated the width of his left arm stroke trying to detach and breathed to his right.?

But then he felt another hand grab his right leg and pull it back and down. Still working hard, he was breathing heavily, but he had slowed down his kicks to conserve energy. At this grab from behind, he restarted kicking hard to push away from whoever it was clutching at his ankles.?

He took another breath. And then the hand to the left grabbed again, this time it was his head and it dunked him under, the owners body colliding closely with his. He fought to push the owner away.?

He missed a breath... swallowing lake water instead.?

Now passed the buoy, he moved to the right to find some space and the hand caught his right leg again. More kicks ensued to try to push this away.?

He missed another breath.

His brain was fighting between the ancient fight or flight part that wanted to panic and the experienced swimmer who knew this would pass.?

A moments rest bite from attacks allowed him to grab a few needed breaths and try to settle into a good swimming rhythm.?

And then, twice more his leg was grabbed and twice more he kicked hard to get rid of the leg. The interactions distracting Kieran from anything other than swimming forward and trying to breath.?

And then Kieran suddenly became aware that he couldn't actually breath, he was trying to, but he couldn't actually take a breath in that satisfied his bodies needs. Every breath he took seemed to disappear before it reached his lungs. Another sensation...heat...an overwhelming feeling of claustrophobic heat enveloped his torso.

He tried to regain his rhythm but no breath would satisfy. He clocked that the combination of hard effort, warm water and wetsuit may produced too much heat so he slowed down his strokes for just a few seconds... still too hot.?

He tried two strokes of breast stroke to double the breaths...

...ahh...

...relief...

he could breathe again.

But there was no time to pause, he began to swim front crawl again sighting towards the first turn buoy and trying to take stock of his surroundings.?

He'd lost the main group of swimmers.?

As his body went into autopilot, now it wasn't under attack, he realised his race plan was gone. He had lost the pack.

His initial thoughts were frustration and anger. This was his last chance to qualify for the Great British Age Group Team for 2025 (a feat he had accomplished the previous year, but due to a bike accident had been chasing still for the next year).

But very quickly his thoughts went back to the race plan. There's still a long way to go. 'Push hard, attack the swim' he thought to himself.

He moved his focus onto his stroke to make sure he was moving well through the water. He looked for competitors he could swim behind or just to the side of to take advantage of their wake.?

He was faster than all those around him, so he began to move through the field, focusing on the next buoy, the next competitor, then the next buoy, the next competitor. Making sure he was constantly pushing hard throughout.

As he rounded the final buoy he could see a group of swimmers ahead of him and he began to kick to help activate the leg muscles ready for the next leg of the race and to close some of the distance.?

He began to run through what he would do during transition (T1) onto the bike, hopefully where he could make up some time.

As he approached the edge of the lake the water became very shallow so he stood up and ran, slightly dazed from the effort in the lake and the blood flowing round his horizontal body.

He went through the checklist,

Goggles ...up.

Zip down

Right hand through

Hat and Goggles in left hand

Pull through and into arm

This all happened in a few seconds and he darted up the mats and into transition with his wetsuit round his waist.

"Come on Kieran, keep going" he heard his wife call from somewhere off to the left.

"Work Hard, get on the bike" another spectator yelled.

These suggestions focusing Kieran to not ease off on the effort, but to keep pushing hard.

Kieran moved swiftly through transition, exited ran bare foot to the mount line. As his bike rolled over the mats, he jumped on (the bike still moving), slipped his feet into his bike shoes that were held in place by elastic bands and began to pedal hard.

The start of the race was a sharp right turn up a hill and as he moved up he began to fasten his shoes and look around for other cyclists he could draft with.

He overtook one cyclist...too slow.

He saw another about 30m ahead and pushed to try and catch up with them, his breathing becoming more rapid. He tried to focus his mind on coordinating his legs to push hard on the bike. It looked like he was catching up gradually.

But as he turned round another sharp U turn he realised the cyclist was now with another 2 cyclists and they were moving together hard. He stood up to accelerate out of the turn aiming to catch them about 50m ahead as they tackled a steep incline that bent right, but despite the extra effort he wasn't getting any closer.

He arrived at the top of the hill and weaved through the tight S bend before a short descent turned into a long fast downhill.

No closer to the riders in front he pushed hard down the hill and tried to hold as aerodynamic a position as he could with his forearms at right angles to the direction he was going, his head tucked down but eyes looking forward.

This chase continued for a few more minutes as they navigated the race tracks twists and turns, Kieran not quite close enough to get any drafting benefit, about 30m behind.

And then, as Kieran heard the ringing of the bell signifying the end of his first of 7 laps, a large group of cyclist flew past Kieran, hugely benefiting from the dynamics of a group. At this point it was extremely tempting for Kieran to try to join this group, but unfortunately the race rules dictated that you couldn't draft in a bike pack that were further ahead and this group had already completed their first lap. This was indicated by the motorcycle following the group to make sure no-one tried to join.

It's worth pointing out that when someone is working to their limits physically and mentally, the ability to be able to count 7 laps on a bike course accurately, let alone track 84 other competitors and where they are on the course becomes a rather difficult task.

Kieran continued to push hard, but without knowing whether someone was on the same lap it was difficult to be able to gain any advantage from drafting, something that accounts for a 30% saving in effort required to go the same speed.

So, for the rest of the bike leg, Kieran cycled on his own, unable to join the groups of riders whose cumulative effort saw them whiz again and again.

As he completed more laps, his breathing slowed down and he focused on the effort his legs were exerting. Then on his 6th lap he started overtaking others, initially a few single riders, then a small group of 3. It was at this point that a group of 5 riders crept up behind him and began to overtake. Kieran continued to push but moved to the side to allow the riders and the motorcycle following them to pass. They have 20 seconds to pass.

5 seconds went by, and they were still only just in front, 10 seconds, 15 seconds. Kieran wanted to push harder, but the riders were only just in front. He had to slow down to let them go and not take advantage of the draft. The motorcycle now hovering to Kieran's left to ensure he followed the rules.

Another 20 seconds went by and they weren't getting faster. Frustration built up in Kieran as this group sauntered round. At this late stage in the bike he didn't want to try a max out effort around corners for several minutes to get ahead, but he had more energy that he wanted to give.

He looked to the motorcyclist to provide a signal that he was trying not to draft illegally but it clearly they had slowed down.

Another minute of this and Kieran was done, he set off, accelerating past the cyclists as he entered his final lap. As he did so, he noticed that the 5 riders had entered transition so had been slowing down to compose themselves before the run.

The final lap was a quiet lap with many competitors now running. Kieran finished the bike leg, popped his fluorescent yellow carbon running shoes on and set off for the final 5km of the race; 4 laps of winding course marked by cones.

By this point, Kieran knew that his chances for qualifying for GB had gone for the year. There had been so much build up that it would have been easy to simply stop running. But he gritted his teeth he simple said to himself, 'finish the race'. He began to overtake a few runners, but had no idea whether they were on their first or 4th lap. He used this as a focus point, concentrating on the next runner ahead and making sure he gradually caught up.

An important factor when someone is pushing themselves to their limits is to have a clear enough and important enough reason to keep going despite the ensuing pain; whilst muscles are straining and lungs are screaming. In this case, Kieran needed to find a new reason. So, as his watch beeped confirming that 1km had been completed and showed a reasonable pace, he said to himself "get a personal best for this season on this run".

No matter what had happened throughout the rest of the race, this was the one thing that was completely under his control at this moment, and this was the motivation he needed to continue to push his body through the pain. And that's what he did.

Post Race

Kieran finished the race knowing deep down that he hadn't qualified and hadn't finished in the position he wanted to. Disappointment and frustration filled his mind. Leading up to the race he couldn't have trained any harder, couldn't have eaten better and couldn't have recovered better. He was as fit as he was the previous year, but he didn't achieve the goal for this year.

He lay on the grass exhausted mentally and physically, not jut from the one race, but from the entire build up to the race throughout the whole season. His eyes closed, his face warmed by the sun, his heart rate gradually lowering back down.

And then he got up, gave his kids and wife a hug, thanked them for the support and began to pack up his gear.

Despite not knowing exact results, his mind was conflicted between knowing he hadn't qualified and knowing he'd overcome so many mental and physical barriers to get to where he was.

And somewhere in this haze he heard over the tanoy 'does anyone have any spare size 6-7 bike shoes' for a competitor who has forgotten theirs. The first time he didn't really register this, but the second he realised that he had some. As if reading each others mind, as he looked at his wife there was a knowing nod and he picked up his race cycle shoes and gave them to random stranger so they could race.

This knowing nod? Two races ago, Kieran had been helped by so many others that this was a moment of paying that kindness forward.

Conclusion

Kieran has one more race to go, The 2024 European Sprint Triathlon Championships where he'll be representing Great Britain [There will be on more story to cover this]. But he wont be in 2025.

The final race was not just a qualifying race, it was the British Age-Group Triathlon Championships, so the competitors included professional triathletes, those looking to qualify and a plethora of other UK triathletes who wanted to test themselves against the best amateur triathletes in the country. Not your typical qualifying race.

Kieran got a seasons best performance on all three legs and did one of the fastest transitions of all competitors from swim to bike. On the day the standard was exceptional with a lot of talented individuals racing.

Sometimes, not achieving a goal can seem like a failure and there is no doubt that frustrations and disappointment are felt. But goals give us a direction of focus, who we become during that process is incredibly important and builds foundations for every area of our lives.

However, Kieran will also be back for next year and hopefully without a bike accident at a critical part of the season, so watch this space.

About the Author:

At the writing of this, Kieran is a Great British Age Group Triathlete, CEO of Stryde and founder of The Deliberate Formula; a formula for helping individuals lead deliberate lives so they can be happier, healthier and more fulfilled. This is a true story.