Swimming would be something new: I had never swum longer than a few hundred meters on a time before, so I would need to catch up on all points here. After getting my ear professionally cleaned so that the sea would not stay inside for an undue time, I noticed an advert for a Liveguard swimming course at my nearest pool - something I always wanted to do. To successfully qualify as a voluntary lifeguard, you need to demonstrate some competence in the front crawl style, so this would hopefully provide some incentive to look into this technique (along with distance diving). I have a major problem commonly experienced by male swimmers, that my legs are quite dense, and they tend to sink down if swimming too slowly. With the help of this course, I was able to extend this speed from a few strokes to two pool lengths.
To gradually see which swimming distance length was still manageable and to get used to the organisation effort, I registered for the middle-distance triathlon in Heilbronn, a well-established event an hour away by train. As I got on my way to the train, I noticed just before departure, that I had not placed the inner tube in correctly, and over time it had been damaged. Luckily, at the last minute that I found a bike shop wthat was still open. Though on the verge of closing and not having time to replace my tube, they still lent me some tools that were better than mine. Everything fixed on the spot, I made it to the bike check-in in Heilbronn.
The 1,9 km swimming took place in the Neckar river, the same river I pass or cross almost every day. Fortunately, it hadn't rained much beforehand, but the current that had to be swum against in the first half was still impressive. Since I could hardly make any progress with breaststroke and I could not keep up the crawl for long, I switched to the more forceful backstroke. Because the current was stronger in the middle of the river, I swam along the edge. However, this came at the price of occasional contact with vegetation and submerged rocks. Luckily, my old wetsuit was sturdy. The lifeguard course also helped ensure that I was not among those who had to give up. Thirty participants had to get out here, some with bloody knees. The way back felt like it only took a few minutes. I was not the last to finish.
The cycling part of the race was hilly, through fields, vineyards and villages. The local audience was also well involved, complimenting my bike with "condition over carbon". In Iine with this, I was still cautious to use the tria handlebar especially on high-speed downhill sections, and the gearing was more suitable for flat terrain. At registration, we got only one bib, which I attached to the front of the jersey. However, a cycling referee made me turn the shirt, causing a sunburn at the resulting neckline.
Apart from this, the running part through town centre was the least complicated, as expected. The sun was now behind clouds, temperatures in the high 20 degrees with a slight distant rumble of thunder that soon passed, as I steadily made it to the finish.
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