Summer Sky, Triathlon and DNF

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Summer Sky, Triathlon and DNF

The slightly damp summer sky reminds me of the moment during a triathlon race when I had a problem and stopped moving my body and sat there looking at the sky.

Since the race is 10 hours long, there are a lot of cases where you can get into trouble during the race. For example, just looking at the bike part of the race, in overseas races, bicycles are carried in large carrying cases that are disassembled and assembled by the riders themselves. For example, the gears might not change, or the brakes might not work.

Also, in case of tire punctures, I always have a spare tire and an inflator attached to my bike so that I can fix it on the spot if a tire goes flat during the race. However, in overseas races where the road surface is poor, there are cases where all three of the spare tires are punctured and even the inflator breaks down.

In such a case, thinking that I might have DNF’d (DNF stands for “Do Not Finish”, which is the code written on the record of those who failed to finish the race), I pulled my bike over to the shoulder of the road, sat down beside it, drank my bottle of water, and looked at the sky. It’s moments like these that make the summer sky so beautiful. Such moments come back to me when I look at the summer sky.

In my mind, I’m in the mode of traveling to an unknown town, away from the world of hard work (racing), but God doesn’t make it so easy, and after waiting for a while, a technical support car passes by and fixes my tire, or another participant stops to give me his spare tire or pump. They will give it to you and bring you back to the world of hard work.

In the swim part of the race, this kind of trouble situation is rare. In the swim part, it is rare to have such a trouble situation; at most, my goggles are blown off in the crowd at the start of the race, or I am swimming with the swimmer next to me as a guide, only to realize that we are both off the course and I have to rush back. The swim part of the race was still in its early stages, and I still had plenty of time to spare physically.

The last part of the race, the run, is where the DNFs are most likely to be felt. In contrast, the last part of the run in a triathlon requires real “endurance” and when it is close to the limit, the word “DNF” comes to mind. The last part of the run in a triathlon is a veritable “endurance” test.

For example, it could be due to lack of nutrition, lack of water, or lack of motivation. In terms of motivation, the biggest drop is from the day before to the day of the race, but once the body starts moving, it is not in a critical mode. As for the lack of nutrition, triathlons have several times more aid stations than normal marathon races, where you can eat not only bananas and drinks, but also bread, rice cakes, and various other foods. It’s something you can get through.

The most difficult thing to do is to keep hydrated. Even if you drink frequently, your body will not absorb enough water in a race under the blazing sun, and you will easily become dehydrated. In such a state, you will see yellow, feel sick, and fall into another state of pain, suffering, and disgust during the race.

If such a condition is left untreated, you will not be able to move your body, resulting in a DNF, and finally, you will have to be taken care of by an intravenous drip. Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)