The Cowman ~ A prelude

Well it’s less than a week to go until my half-iron man....and I’m terrified! I don’t feel all that ready for it and I can’t get my head round the fact that I’ll be going to a race to ‘pace it’ rather than ‘race it’.  I entered the race back in November with high hopes of being a lean-mean-racing machine by the time July 2012 came round! No such luck! Although being in hospital through December and January with a kidney infection was beyond my control, I am pleased with how I’ve got my fitness back since then despite being so ill, but you can’t help but feel you could have done more!

I entered this race for a couple of reasons:

1)      To feel ‘proud’ just for finishing a triathlon (like when I first started), rather than always chasing times and positions

2)      To prove to myself (and others) that I’m not just a sprint athlete

3)      To show myself that my mind is stronger than I think it is and that no matter what....I won’t quit!

This isn't my first half-iron attempt.  In the lead up to this quite a few people have asked me if I’ve ever done a half-iron before and I hate that my answer is “sort of!” Sort of?! Let me back-track.

2010 was my first season in triathlon and I entered everything and anything....including the Cowman half-iron distance! I completely underestimated the endurance needed to complete it and felt like I was pretty fit so would get round regardless.  Anyway, I achieved far more than I thought I would in that first year and qualified for the World Age Group Triathlon Championships in Budapest at a qualifying race in May (which I nearly didn’t do as I didn’t think I had a hope in hell).  The Worlds weren’t until September and so everything then became about getting faster and sharper and the plans for the half-iron went out the window, I wasn’t really that bothered about it and now had something amazing to aim for......

.....that was until the day before the half-iron when I was bridesmaid at my friend’s wedding.  We were all having the most fantastic day and when it got to the evening and we were all beginning to feel a bit worse for wear I got a text off my friend Christa saying she was doing the sprint distance at the same venue as my half-iron and that she hoped I was having a great time at the wedding.  Well that planted a seed in my head (that really didn’t need to be planted!) that I should actually race too and that all the champagne wouldn’t affect me in the slightest!



As a bridesmaid at my friend's wedding....blissfully unaware that I was racing the next day!

Quite a lot of champagne later and "hurrah....I'm doing a half-iron tomorrow!"

So in the early hours of the morning, with my feet killing from the high heels and dancing and my vision slightly blurred, it was straight into a taxi home.  I think I scoffed a piece of bread and then got straight out of my bridesmaid dress and into my trisuit (only it wasn’t a tri suit, I put on the tiniest lycra shorts and a gym top as I thought this was better than a trisuit and that I didn’t need a shammy in my shorts for the 56 mile bike ride!).  Christa picked me up about 4am and I think she could smell the wine on me!  I fell asleep in the car but once we arrived there thought it was going to be the best day since sliced bread.  It took me forever to rack my stuff as I kept forgetting everything and I had to find someone to help me into my wetsuit as I couldn’t possibly snap off one of my false nails!  It wasn’t until I got into the freezing cold lake that it hit me “WHAT THE HELL AM I DOING?!” Too late to change my mind, I thought, and off we went.



Me swimming (and feeling sick) somewhere in that bunch!

Needless to say, the swim was terrible, I felt sick and dehydrated and just wanted to get out! Once I finished the 1.9k swim (in around 38 mins) the marshals pulled me out and I fell straight to my knees and then had a laughing fit because both of my calves had completely cramped up that I couldn’t get back to my feet! They helped me along and I hobbled into transition but struggled getting my goggles off because my false eyelashes had stuck to the inside of the lens and was hurting my eye! Eventually I had got sorted and off I trundled on the bike.  I tried to talk myself into it and that it was just a case of “Mind over matter” but as I reached down to have a sip of my drink.......I realised there was no drink! Or gels! Or food! Or anything! I had completely forgotten everything! People were overtaking me left, right and centre and they had a million gels taped to their bike and I was so jealous! 44 miles into the bike and I started to really tire.  The sun came out and I think my cheeks went green! It was about 2 miles until judgement time, do I do the last little lap on the bike and get round this race, or head back into transition and call it a day? I opted for the latter!

On a much better day....qualifying for my first GB Age Group race at Rother Valley, May 2010



Having finally made a sensible decision I cycled into T2 to hear my name on the microphone and the crowd going wild.  What was going on? I listened again.... “And here we have the first female competitor in off the bike leg, it’s Sam Anderson!” They started saying times and how far ahead I was and I was like “no, no, I haven’t done it!” to which the crowd responded “yes, yes, you can do it!” Haha! For a split second I almost thought “ooh shall I just carry on if I’m in the lead?!” Haha! I went to officially resign from the race and reported in with the marshals and then got my things and went to find Christa to see how her sprint race had gone.  I can only put that day down to a moment of utter madness!



Christa and a sober me (!!!!) at a race earlier that season



I like to think I’m a much stronger athlete than 2 years ago, and a much SMARTER athlete too! I may not be as prepared as I’d like to be for Sunday but I can’t be any worse prepared than last time! God loves a trier....and  I’ll try my very best to achieve my own personal victory against this half-iron race at the weekend!  Here goes.....