Hear from Christina, Social Secretary to the best triathlon club in Nottingham, about her experience at Outlaw X Triathlon:

What a lovely race! Vreni, Paul and I kicked off about 7am Sunday morning. I had the usual seventeen pre-race wees. Two minutes before the start of my race, I thought I’d have one quick final nervous wee on the pontoon, queuing up to dive (plop) in. And of course, two minutes before I’m in the lake, half a mile from the transition area (it was the world’s*longest T1. *Not officially, but it was well long. Innit.), my period started! We don’t talk about it that much, but it affects a lot of us a lot of the time. There wasn’t really anything I could do, either pull out or just go with the flow, so to speak. So, I thought sod it, let’s just carry on!

Swim

The swim was lovely, two laps with an Aussie exit – lots of fun, lots of elegant and exciting jumps and dives, I opted for the elegant “sit down and plop in”.

Bike

The bike leg was amazing, road traffic management was so good! Beautiful views and rolling hills. Some period pain crept in so I had to slow down a smidge. T2 was quick, and technical official Bob was on hand to cheer me on!

Run

The run was spectacular, 3 laps, but very hilly. I started to get period cramp about half way through so had to walk and curse a bit, but I made it through (and ended up 1st female in my age category for the run!). Nigel, Gudrun and Adrian were there cheering us on – their support meant a lot and helped us so much, supporters are just as important (if not more!) than the training, I wouldn’t have made it round in one happy piece without them. All in all could have done without my period starting 2 minutes before starting, but it didn’t detract from a great race with great views, great organisation, and of course, a great technical official (thanks Bob!).