Tri and mighty: Why triathlon has a language all of its own

When April made her way towards her usual table she noticed  the  guys with shaved legs in animated discussion at the next table. 

The taller of the group, a  redhead with a Liverpool accent, she nicknamed ‘Scouser’ whilst the elegant executive type, who she thought Japanese, she nicknamed ‘Tokyo’.

She was soon listening to their conversation:

Scouser: “So how did it go this morning?”

Tokyo: “Good. I’ve been tapering so had a long easy, so I practised  with my new DI2.”

Scouser: “I prefer my STI. I cracked  some hard bricks today. My wattage numbers on my 810 were so high I nearly blew my bottom bracket!”

Tokyo: “You hear about John’s 70.3? Firstly he failed to get a draft and his T1 was really poor because of problems with his wettie because he forgot his Easy Glide.

“Then he mounts early and gets 15 seconds and drops his gels so he bonked and DNF’d.”

Scouser: “Oh man. Hey, you getting that P4 for your birthday?”

Tokyo: “Yeah, I am stoked. Trying to decide between 404’s or Fulcrum 60 back and 40 front. What’s on your list?”

Scouser: “A 2XU compression suit.”

Tokyo: “Sweet. I’ve got a mean TT tomorrow;  cadence at 100 and HR below 185. 

“Probably do an open water recovery afterwards. Will need my shake, compression and roller after that.

Scouser: “I’ve got a tempo and a fartlek later in the week if you want to join me.”

Scouser: “Maybe. What time is the tempo? 4am?”

Tokyo: “Yup. Don’t forget dinner Sunday around  4PM and we will eat at 5 so you can get to bed by 8pm.” 

Scouser: “Will bring a six-pack of Powerade. See ya.”

 As they  left April asked the waiter. “Who are those guys?” “Triathletes I think”, he answered. “I don’t speak the same language as them.”

Want a translation? Ask a triathlete. 

All characters are
fictitious and any resemblance to any triathletes you see training is a coincidence!

Meanwhile, Flora Duffy came third overall in the women’s Isuzu Ride the Rock Mountain Bike event in South Africa.

Bermuda’s leading female triathlete had a flat in Stage One but won stages Two and Three.