{"id":13832,"date":"2022-05-12T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-05-11T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/220triathlon\/?post_type=purple_issue&p=13832"},"modified":"2022-05-16T11:53:32","modified_gmt":"2022-05-16T09:53:32","slug":"state-of-play-a-comedy-of-errors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/220triathlon\/2022\/05\/12\/state-of-play-a-comedy-of-errors\/","title":{"rendered":"State of play: A comedy of errors"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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A COMEDY OF ERRORS<\/h1>\n\n

Triathlon demands mastery of logistics, but don\u2019t fret when starting out, you\u2019re probably more focused than those who do it for a living <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n

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Cutting through the spin of tri to address the issues that matter, Tim is a sports journalist who has written extensively on triathlon for the national press.<\/p>\n\n

One of the overriding concerns of the novice triathlete is properly navigating the amount of faff required before their first race. Kit laid out meticulously the night before with a \u2018I\u2019m sure I must have missed something\u2019 vibe will feel familiar. So too the \u2018What the hell do I do now?\u2019 emotions of arriving slightly stressed at Ironman registration to be handed different coloured plastic bags and a sheet of stickers.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

But you shouldn\u2019t give yourself such a hard time. I\u2019d wager that it\u2019s precisely because newbies believe they\u2019re so prone to mistakes that their diligence results in comparatively few. Of course, there\u2019ll be learnings through the event, a chance to do this or that better next time. Generally, though, it\u2019s nothing too calamitous. In contrast, as I\u2019m increasingly coming to believe, to the professionals.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

\u201cGiven the pros race for their livelihood, they should pay a bit more attention to detail\u201d <\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n

Perhaps because it\u2019s their job and they compete so relatively frequently, auto-pilot kicks in. But given they\u2019re racing for their livelihoods, I often think they should pay a bit more attention to detail.<\/p>\n\n

I was in Lanzarote recently for an early-season Ironman race and it wasn\u2019t the first time I\u2019ve seen the pros line up with little to no idea about how the turn buoys are laid out. Post-race chatter was that not everybody swam the correct route.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

Then as the lead men emerged with a potentially critical gap on the chasing pack, more than one athlete stripped their wetsuit to reveal a bare chest and be greeted with a shrill blast from the technical official\u2019s whistle \u2013 followed by a struggle to haul up the tri-suit from the waist and all those hard-earned gains in the water lost.<\/p>\n\n

Out onto the bike, and within the first half-mile there was a cobbled incline that proved the graveyard of aero bottles as all the nutrition was bumped out of its holders and showered across the road. An issue that would\u2019ve been prevented with the slightest hint of a course recce.<\/p>\n\n

The hydration issue was repeated at Oceanside a few weeks later by popular Canadian pro Lionel Sanders. He explained how he lost his supply of maple syrup early on the bike leg then found the bottles handed out at aid stations weren\u2019t the correct size to fit on his Canyon TT bike. Sanders\u2019 mea culpa also started with only bringing tinted goggles on an overcast morning and being able to see very little in the swim.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

These are just a handful of examples as space allows, but the point is not to show how ill-prepared the professionals of this sport are, but rather that if you\u2019re just starting out, don\u2019t get too hung up over every little detail.<\/p>\n\n

Even the best make mistakes and as long as you have a wetsuit to swim in (when needed), a bike to ride and some trainers to put on for the last bit, you\u2019ll muddle through. It\u2019s when you start getting good at this sport, that you really need to worry.<\/p>\n\n

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TIM HEMING<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n

TIM HEMING<\/strong>
Cutting through the spin of tri to address the issues that matter, Tim is a sports journalist who has written extensively on triathlon for the national press.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Triathlon demands mastery of logistics, but don\u2019t fret when starting out, you\u2019re probably more focused than those who do it for a living <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":14351,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ub_ctt_via":"","purple_page_number":"12","purple_custom_meta_purple_page_number":"12","purple_seq_number":"1","purple_custom_meta_purple_seq_number":"1","purple_source_article":"article_12-1.xml","purple_custom_meta_purple_source_article":"article_12-1.xml","purple_source_issue":"June-2022","purple_custom_meta_purple_source_issue":"June-2022","purple_external_id":"June-2022-12-1","purple_custom_meta_purple_external_id":"June-2022-12-1","purple_issue_code":"|0000083690||","purple_custom_meta_purple_issue_code":"|0000083690||","purple_android_product":"com.im.220mag.404","purple_custom_meta_purple_android_product":"com.im.220mag.404","purple_ios_product":"com.im.220mag.404","purple_custom_meta_purple_ios_product":"com.im.220mag.404","purple_web_product":"","purple_custom_meta_purple_web_product":"","purple_publication_id":"69718c89-6ce1-4a00-8e50-78dba8209b85","purple_migrated":"","kt_blocks_editor_width":"","apple_news_api_created_at":"2022-05-12T07:34:30Z","apple_news_article-theme":"","apple_news_api_id":"341ffbf7-3131-478a-b450-c48890293597","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2022-05-16T09:53:39Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABQ==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/ANB_79zExR4q0UMSIkCk1lw","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":true,"apple_news_is_preview":true,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_article_theme":"","apple_news_sections":"[]"},"categories":[16],"tags":[63],"apple_news_notices":[],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/47\/2022\/05\/19_heming.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/220triathlon\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"3","apple_news_title":""},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/47\/2022\/05\/19_heming.jpg",1000,1000,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/47\/2022\/05\/19_heming-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/47\/2022\/05\/19_heming-300x300.jpg",300,300,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/47\/2022\/05\/19_heming-768x768.jpg",768,768,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/47\/2022\/05\/19_heming.jpg",800,800,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/47\/2022\/05\/19_heming.jpg",1000,1000,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/47\/2022\/05\/19_heming.jpg",1000,1000,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/220triathlon\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Triathlon demands mastery of logistics, but don\u2019t fret when starting out, you\u2019re probably more focused than those who do it for a living","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/220triathlon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13832"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/220triathlon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/220triathlon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/220triathlon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/220triathlon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13832"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/220triathlon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13832\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14451,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/220triathlon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13832\/revisions\/14451"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/220triathlon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14351"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/220triathlon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13832"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/220triathlon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13832"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/220triathlon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13832"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}