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A bumpy race? The thing about being 12 weeks pregnant is that you don’t have a bump. No one can tell you’re pregnant. For me, however, it means that I spent the previous 6 weeks feeling nauseous and absolutely shattered. Not great preparation for your first triathlon. Exercise in pregnancy is a good thing. The critical advice is not to do anything you wouldn’t normally; don’t take up high-impact aerobics, climbing, canoeing, triathlons etc. if you don’t normally do it. Ummmm. I had wanted to do a triathlon and, having recently moved to Ardrishaig, was excited that there was a friendly one based locally. Although I’d not done a triathlon before, I felt I was familiar with its component parts; I like swimming, before motherhood always commuted by bike and I generally run every 1-2 weeks, if only for a few kilometres. I felt I could do each section so perhaps linking them together wasn’t really a new sport? My problem was that I was just too tired to fit in much in the way of training. Race Day My parents were visiting on race day which was great for child care, less good for my confidence. “Are you sure that’s a good idea?” I thought I’d give it a go. If I didn’t feel well, I’d just pull out. And I should remember not to push it. Swim If I was going to do a triathlon, I wanted to swim front crawl. The master’s sessions have been excellent and have certainly improved my crawl; I can now manage more than 2 lengths without collapse. I started 3rd in my lane and soon realised how hard it is to judge your swim time. The fastest estimated time in the lane turned out to belong to the slowest swimmer and the swimmer with the slowest estimated time was faster than me. After a few lanes of switching positions, the 4 swimmers in my lane settled down. However, I felt panicky – crawl does that to me. I switched to breast stroke for a length, seemed to maintain my position more easily and didn’t switch back. My time was faster than my 500m crawl time in the masters’ sessions. BikeI have a rubbish, heavy, bike. I don’t like it. I like to ride John’s bike but unfortunately it was poorly and went to the bike shop for a few days. I managed to borrow a bike – thank you Barbara! I racked a rather upright ladies bike, slightly too small for me, with a bell which read, “I love my bike!” Not feeling too professional, I changed, got the bike down and wondered which way to go. I had another drink of water until I realised from other people racing that it didn’t matter which way round the bike rack you went and took the shortest route to the start of the ride. From the first two aquabike sessions, I was confident that I’d get round the bike course. I should just try not to race. It’s hard not to try to race when you’re in a race. I really did try to go fast – I think the strong wind and the bike just weren’t in my favour. I remember a red bike overtaking and gradually disappearing from view. Run It really hurts when you try to run after swimming then riding. I didn’t expect this but once my body had got used to the instructions my brain was providing, I actually quite enjoyed the run. My biggest problem was pain on the outside of my left knee. I realised that my difficulty wasn’t doing 1 h 40 mins of exercise; it was that if you don’t train and don’t stretch, you’re more likely to get injuries. I’m really very proud of myself. The race went smoothly and, if nothing else, I’ve got a baseline time to improve in the future. If I keep exercising through my pregnancy I’ll be super-fit once the baby is born, and its weight and oxygen demands have been lifted….if I can find the time and energy to get out! Sarah Griffin
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