#5150 Bela Bela – check
This last weekend my friend and I participated in our first ever Triathlon. It came about when we were thinking of a new goal for the year and we decided that triathlons would be something new and cool to do.
Initially we decided on the Sprints. We worked out a training programme and figured out that the #energadetriathlonseries would be great to do.
The 5150 race in Bela bela came up first though. It is an #Ironman event which was very cool. During the race, seeing the Ironman branding was quite inspirational.
I only trained for a month prior to the event, as I had initially thought it was too hard, too long and too difficult to do as a first race. I also did not have a road bike or that I did not know anything about trisuits, wetsuits or swimming in dams.
Plagued with winter flu and a distraction of a friends death, we kept training. I bought myself a #Trek Madone road bike with the grateful assistance of my friend @StuartHoy from #Lifestruck.
I was too petrified to actually ride it though, as the first time I ever sat on my mountain bike, I fell off it, still attached and in my driveway.
A week and a half before the race, we met up at the #KyalamiRaceTrack, which allows cyclists to ride on the track after 5pm Mondays to Thursdays.
I also invested in a black and pink #Orca Trisuit and a new pair of #NewBalance running shoes. I thought I was well prepared.
Two days before the race, reading the race rules, a shocking revelation that wetsuits might be mandatory in the swim and we had no wetsuits or what we needed them for.
Again, Stuart came to the rescue with a contact and two #Xterra wetsuits were in Gauteng from Cape Town.
The Friday afternoon saw me slightly hysterical waiting for a wetsuit, feeling nauseous about feeling unprepared and not knowing what to expect.
My friend took charge of the couriers and the wetsuits. Ensuring they all arrived safely and in time.
We were heading out of Jo’burg after work, so packing the car, getting the bikes on the back of the car and getting ready to wait for the traffic to subside so we could start the 90 minute trip to Warmbaths.
Tbc
