London Triathlon August 1st

[gerrard720]

I have decided to enter the full London Triathlon on my own on August 1st. As part of the obligations put upon every entrant, I am expected to raise £500 as a minimum for LandAid and therefore, I have written to you all to see if you can assist someway in making that happen.

At this moment in time, I am not entirely aware of what mechanism the sponsorship will take (whether it’s online or the old fashioned A4 sheet like at school). However, I am motivated to do this and do it well, so have no fear that if you do sponsor me, I will ensure the distance is covered.

I started training in the gym four weeks ago, bought the bike and have started to get some real miles in my legs and arms – so any tips, support or sponsorship would be greatly appreciated. And remember, this is in support of LandAid, is a property related charity.

For the record, I am entering the Olympic Distance, which is 1500m in a stretch of the docklands water, 40k on the bike and a 10k run to finish.

God help me - Cue relentless mocking from numerous posters on here.............

[ianh]

You havent given yourself a lot of time to raise that mate
What kind of property based charity, is it specific or does it just it just go in a pot?

[gerrard720]

LandAid is the property industry charity, whereby contributions are used by the charity to fund developments for those less fortunate than ourselves.

Details are here - www.landaid.org/

As for the £500 - I've had a pretty good response from colleagues through work and my employers are going to throw a fair bit at me for the day as it's viewed as a good marketing opportunity - me in the water with 249 other property related amateurs seems like a good way to make new contacts and hopefully win more work.

The more the better though so dont be afraid to say yes!! Once I get the sponsorship forms sorted, I will post the link of people have any spare change to help out.

[ianh]

stick me down for a couple of quid then

[gerrard720]

www.justgiving.com/tim-knowles if anyone fancies parting with any amount of small change.

Much appreciated in advance.

[gerrard720]

Tim Knowles completed the London Triathlon for LandAid on Saturday 1st August in 3h13m53s. A little insight into the events of a first time olympic distance 'triathlete' is explained by Tim below.

I barely slept on the friday night, naturally, and as I awoke at 630 on the Saturday, adrenalin already kicked in so I got up, triple checked my kit and drove the 70 miles to the hotel in canary wharf. One thing that had already struck me about this whole thing is mind preparation - you've got bike kit, energy gels, run kit, race belts, numbers, timing chips, the whole lot to get done - and all before you even think about your first stroke in the water.

I checked in, set my bike up and left for the venue at the ExCel Exhibition Centre, a mile from my hotel. With roads obviously closed for the bike route, even that part of the day was a touch exciting and time was always in my mind. In my mind that much that as I slowly rode up to a roundabout, I went to go, saw a car make a quick dart off the roundabout at my crossing point and I had to stop immediately. Off balance and only sharp enough to get one foot out of my cleats, Tim Knowles promtly fell to the ground, cut both my legs and knees and threw my first "f" bomb of the day at the driver. Nice start Knowles, nice start!

So I checked in, set up my bike and run gear in the transition area and headed off to meet the wife, get a drink and acquire my race belt for my number. 1427 was my number and as I returned to clip my number on to the belt and wetsuit myself up, I was 'racked' up next to England Rugby legend Rory Underwood, who was doing the full olympic distance too. If you watch the highlights at any point (16th August on channel 4 in the UK), you may see a camera with Rory on his way to the swim assembly area and some 6'4 plank behind him flapping and looking far too nervous - that'll be me!!!

You get to the waters edge and swim out to the official start line. The water in the Royal Victoria Dock is brown. I mean dark brown. Salty, filthy and quite daunting. Nothing prepares you for the difference between a heated pool at the gym and a brown dock!! There was a total of 104 people in my start wave and on the day, we were the only people doing the full triathlon distance. 1500 metres in the water, 40k on the bike and 10k to finish.

On the day itself, over 6000 people were there doing sprint (half distance) or super sprint (quarter distance) or team relay events on the same course. Only 104 did individual olympic distance. I was one of them.

The hooter goes and nothing like you have ever experienced happens. Carnage. There are arms, legs, heads, bodies, bouys and more arms everywhere. And this was a 'small wave' of people. A friend went in later and there was 400 in his wave - that must have been mental!!!

You simply cannot get a rythym, you cannot settle, the adrenalin and nerves vanish and its about survival not victory. I had to stop 6 times through people hitting me or cutting right in front of me and that does not help your swimming.

I got out of the water in 36 minutes or so and that's 6 minutes off my normal time. Some people would have been upset with dropping time, I was glad to get the hell out of the place and try to think about how to make my legs work again!

Transition to the bike is clumsy. Its such a vast venue that you end up running, stripping and bagging you swim kit for around 400 metres (up a large set of steps I might add!!) before you even get to your bike. Then I made my first big mistake of the day.

I got all the way to the cycle mount area after around 300 metres pushing my bike and I had forgotten my number and race belt. No number - no time. So back I went, got my number and did the mount. 6m50 was my transition 1 time which was dismal!!

Frankly, the ride was perfectly as expected. Its pretty flat, my times were exactly as expected and it was my strongest section. Two problems arose though. One was cramps in my hamstring and the other was people.

With so many others around you doing sprint or super sprints (or even worse - team sprints), you are constantly against people quicker than you. And that is really hard to get your mind over. The psychology of it all drains you and when you're starting lap 3 and 4, you see people racing past you and up to the finish section and you seriously get tempted to just nip up the ramp and finish the ride a bit early.

There's a solution to this problem. Energy gels and supporters. The man who developed the energy gel is a legend in my eyes. I had one before the race, 3 during the ride and one on the run and without them, I would have really struggled. Thank you Mr. GoGel!!

Supporters on the sidelines make the world of difference and when I finished the ride, I saw my wife and her mother at the barriers screaming at me in typically loud yank accents. That drives you on I assure you.

Then the run. All was fine until 2k in. Then my cramp got to the point that it seized up my left leg. I had to stop and stretch it and as I did, the other one cramped up!! Nightmare!!

I lost about three minutes just trying to walk again and then started all over again. For the rest of my triathlon I stopped around each 2k with severe cramps and had to stretch out or I simply would not have finished.

For the last lap (2.5k), my legs realised they were not going to beat my mind. I didn't stop again and finished in 3h13m53s.

Laura and her mum were there as I crossed the line and I almost collapsed. I was finished. In every sense of the word.

Physically. Emotionally.

My cramps meant I lost around 18 minutes on the run for my target time and transition was so big, I took around 9 minutes in total there too.

But that time will live with me forever.

I've raised over 700 pounds for charity, completed the olympic triathlon distance in the biggest triathlon event in the world and I have a medal to prove it. Less than 2 percent of people I know can do it and only 1 percent probably would do it apparently (so a stato friend told me).

We went out, had vast quantities of food and I had a few brandy's to celebrate.

When I awoke on Sunday, it all came out and I broke down in tears with Laura. One thing you cannot prepare for is the emotional stress an endurance event puts on you for your first time.

But I can guarantee the world - it will not be my last. This is the beginning, nowhere near the finish line.

Regards,

Triathlon Tim