Office Rivalry Part I - The St Davids Duathlon

When I first moved to Pembrokeshire, Wales in November 2013, it quickly became clear that the office was very into its activities, in particular triathlon. This was amazing. For the 1^st time ever, I had people to talk to about this crazy sport I had been training for all this time on my own in Dublin.

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• There was the boss, Peter who was in his 60s but still big into his surfing and also a strong swimmer. He was the swimmer in the office relay team and had done the 1500m swim in Broadhaven in 28 minutes – faster than I had done in either of my Olympic triathlon attempts!
•  Rhodri, who had just done his first Olympic Distance triathlon in Broadhaven in 2013 and seemed to be keen on improving on his time for 2014.
•  Jon, who was particularly keen on Time Trial cycling, but was looking to do his first triathlon this year. He had been cyclist in the office relay team in Broadhaven the previous year.
• James, a keen surfer but also up for a race and a bit of banter.
• Mark, who had done a few marathons in the past, but was always opportunistically up for an event.

 Coming off the back of a very quick season In which I took chunks of time off in my revisits to Skerries, TriAthlone and Cobh, I was full of beans, and suddenly became this triathlon ‘expert’ within the office (newsflash: I wasn’t). This resulted in ever increasing banter, lots of speculation about who was better and lots of bold statements, in particular from me! What can I say, I was pretty confident in my abilities!

There were a few things I hadn’t taken into account though…

1.  Due to the move, I was without my road bike for a few months and even though I had the hybrid, I hadn’t been cycling it at all. My apartment was a few minutes walk from work, so there was no need to cycle there, and this had been a big part of my training in Dublin – a 12km round trip 5 times a week, which I endeavoured to do as fast as I could every day. All of a sudden I was not doing this, and I didn’t appreciate the benefits I was missing from this.
2.  I had acquired an injury from the Escape from Spike Island triathlon in Cobh. A cyclist crashed into me as he came WAY too fast into a u-turn section of the course and since then my back was troubling me – basically, I couldn’t look right! – in short, I had not really run since I had moved over either!

Basically, by the time the first competition came around, the St Davids Duathlon in March 2014, I had done 4 runs and 1 cycle in 4 months. My confidence may have been misplaced!

ST DAVIDS DUATHLON, 2^nd March 2014

Myself, Rhodri, Mark and James decided to do this event as an early season opener, a teeny event with a 3km run and a 2km run either side of a 12km bike. It was a miserable day, defined by grey wet shitty miserableness. Mark gave me a lift, and it was my first opportunity to get a glimpse of North Pembrokeshire’s dramatic coastline on the way.

When we arrived, it was clear I had ‘over-dressed’. I was proudly sporting my ‘Pixels Pro’ kit, with all the sponsors that where printed on it I looked like a pro-athlete (physique aside) compared to everyone else, who had just turned up in standard t-shirts and shorts or leggings. I lined up with Rhodri my customary few rows back, hoping he would be someone I could pace off over the course of the race. James was just in front, Mark was just behind.

The gun went off and James bounded off like a gazelle. I knew straight away I wasn’t even going to try keep pace with him but my god the group started at a hell of a pace. Within a kilometre I knew I was not going to be able to hold this pace and Rhodri slowly pulled away. As well as Rhodri, people slowly passed me, who I tried to hold and failed. 2km in and I didn’t feel good at all, my calf was pulling up. I actually had to stop and walk. 2km into a race, and I was walking! I had been in my own space at the point with a gap ahead and a gap behind on windy country roads, and the next person that came up behind me was Mark. I started running again to keep up appearances, but basically told him I was fucked.

James, leading the race off in style

Mark, finishing the 1st run, me trailing in the background

Finishing my first run, already fucked

Into transition after 3 and half km, and I took my time fumbling through transition, trying to get some composure back after a shitty run. At least the cycle will be good, I thought. Wrong! I was horribly sluggish. I couldn’t get my legs moving at all, my gear changes were woeful on the hill coming out of a dip and my cornering was overly cautious and cumbersome. The only time I felt good was when I got on the main road into some headwinds, and passed Mark while I was on the tribars. I actually did start to feel a bit better at this point and passed one or two more people.

Starting the bike, trying to regain some composure

Back in from the bike, finally warmed up!! James on the right, starting his 2nd run

Mark, finishing the bike just behind me

Back into the run, and I vaguely felt like I could find a rhythm. The bike had clearly warmed me up, at least a little bit. It was a little over a mile, and I just about managed to stay ahead of the people I had passed, with Mark coming in behind me at the finish line.

Rod coming in, first of the bunch

James coming in not far behind

Finishing my run, glad to be done!

Mark coming in just behind me

James and Rhodri were already smuggly sitting there, like they had been waiting all day. Rod had smashed us all, getting bragging rights for the day, with James not too far behind. My race had been a shit show but I know I would get it back before the Broadhaven triathlon in June, especially with the swim to get me ahead.

However, in the week that followed another name emerged – a young lady called Catherine Marks. She had won the race overall, and for all our pre race banter none of us had come close to her! We had been chicked. This particularly affected James, whose masculinity seemed to have been challenged by being beaten by a woman. This would become a running joke within the office, with this lady becoming the ‘office nemesis’, brought up especially to wind up James, but also putting all our banter into perspective.

A week later, Jon showed his abilities at the Neyland Duathlon (which was twice as long in every discipline), starting with a sub 20 minute 5km.

The office rivalry had begun, and I was way behind!