3 days on and still feeling tired in my legs, still walking like a duck and having difficulty to walk properly. That's what I got after doing my second Olympic distance triathlon in a time period of 3 weeks. I realise now that this is far too much for me and I'm paying the price right now.

This time around I had my parents invited from Belgium so they could have a look at their son who was always talking (read moaning) about his new activity or his new kit or his latest race (well they could read my blog). My mother in law was also present together with wife and son. Enough supporters to keep the pressure on.

Dorney lake is nice and flat and very good for family and friends to see you in action. During this Olympic triathlon they would see me passing 8 times on the bike, 8 times on the run and with a little bit of luck they could recognise me with my pink hat on swimming.

From the moment we arrived, plenty of time before hand, I went to the registration and transition area and prepared all my kit. I went to the water side at least 15 minutes before hand. This was a no-wetsuit race because the temperatures of the water were higher than 22 degrees Celsius (22.4). Initially when entering the water I was like: "Can someone please bring me my wetsuit ... ". Only 30 seconds later I realized that the water was ideal and very enjoyable.

Like a real pro I was warming up and swimming away from the start line with plenty of confidence.

The swim - 1500m

The swim was 2 laps of each 750m and we turned for the second lap inside the water. The horn went off and I settled in immediately into a good fast pace, I was in the front of the pack and didn't want anyone to swim over me. Obviously this was not going to be my race rhythm and settled back to a more comfortable pace. I was really enjoying the swim race, good pace and no problems with my goggles. I used for the first time my pool goggles and had no water leaks and they didn't steam up either. I was really on top of everything. To top it all I spotted a rope in the water which would lead me to the buoy and therefore had not to sight at all.

Swim time: 40:01

T1:

There was no need to take off the wetsuit but instead had to put my number belt on, normally I wear this underneath my wetsuit. This seems so silly right now but I lost some time putting my number belt on.

Time: 1:18

The bike - 40K

8 flat laps that's what it would take to complete this section. I was confident, I was relaxed, maybe too relaxed. Well I didn't cater for the wind and this was my mistake.

The wind had me really pushing hard from time to time. After two laps I was getting cramps and was unable to get rid of the cramps only until the last lap. I'm probably searching for some reasons which I could use to blame my poor performance. If you remember from the end of May, the 30K on the same track (or 6 laps) I completed well below the hour. Now to complete two extra laps I needed an extra 25 minutes.

What was that all about?

I clearly lost some time here.

Time: 1:21:21

The run - 10K

I came off the bike and felt my legs immediately, I was able to start with a good pace, not getting out of breath and even overtaking (yes me!) a few people. But this only lasted for one lap, during lap two and three I was very near to walk, for some reason I kept myself going. In the second part of lap 4 I was able to pick up my speed, obviously this was way too late!

Time: 56:15

Summary:

Total time: 3:00:10

I shouldn't forget that it was only 4 years ago I stopped smoking and that I was unable to run till the end of my street. For me completing an Olympic distance is a huge achievement but right now I feel a serious sense of disappointment. The same questions keep on coming up: Why can I not do better? Why does it look so much easier for others to fly on the bike, to push hard on the run? Why?

I had another triathlon in mind at the end of July but I don't think my body has recovered properly from the previous triathlon and therefore I'm going to recover first properly, skip running for a few weeks (my left leg is far from 100%) and do not put too much strain on my body.

One day I would like to achieve 2:45! 15 minutes faster but right now that seems a long way to go!