First Post Race Report

Well that was the first Tri.  And after I showered when we got back home - this is where I spend a little time.   Contemplating the days achievements.

Contemplating

 

So what did I learn?

Training:

Well if I want to get any better I have to train harder.  That is fairly obvious.  I really wasn't prepared to exercise for two and a half hours.  All my training is 40 minutes to just over an hour, with about one and a half hour maximum,  I do the odd ride over 2 hours, but not very frequently.  However I also have to weigh this up with time and inclination.  I don't have a lot more time, I am already exercising over an hour a day most days of the week and while I would like to get better, how badly do I want to get better?  In the short term I think I will just try to better tailor my workouts to match what I need to do.

Note:  I downloaded all the results into an Excel and ranked everyone who had a finish time on; the swim, T1, the ride, T2 and the run.  This gave me a good idea of where I stand within this group on each of the legs.  The results include everyone (Men, Women, Relays) for all 212 that finished.

My standing were:

• Swim (26:59), 69th
• T1 (2:04), 82nd
• Ride (1:08:00), 48th
• T2 (1:45), 133rd
• Run (49:18), 103rd
• Overall (2:28:06), 62nd

Swimming - 26:59

I definitely need to practices open water swimming more, because "never" isn't exactly creating more experience and it will lead to more time in the wetsuit.  I really thought that swimming was going to be my weakest leg and it wasn't, plus I know I can go faster.  I probably spent 30 seconds on the beach and starting slow.  I pulled up into breaststroke 10 to 12 times just to stop swimming, to get my bearings or defog my goggles.  Probably wasting 5 or so seconds each time.  So I think there is a bit of improvement to be had in the swim without getting any better at swimming, just getting better at swimming in the specific conditions.  I am really glad it wasn't in choppy water like the bay, or the ocean as that would have really messed me up.  I think that an open water swim once a week in the wetsuit would make me a fair bit quicker than I was.

Transition #1 - 2:04

This wasn't too bad.  I think just being a bit more familiar with what to do, and having your kit in a good location would help enormously.  I certainly didn't sprint in and out and I took a bit of time getting out of the wetsuit.  I wasted some time putting sock on that I probably didn't need.   It seems like all the fastest people were around a minute.  I think I might be able to get back some of that, but not all of it.  Colleen told me about one of the leaders somehow getting his wetsuit off while running.  I am pretty sure if I had tried that I would now have a dental appointment to fix some teeth.

Riding - 1:08:00

There really wasn't any issue here.  One hour and eight minutes over 40km (24.9 miles) was fine with me.  I generally do my rides at 21mph for 20miles (~34km/h over 32miles).  This was flatter and I did it a bit faster, averaging 22mph over the distance (35km/h).  I need to figure out what was going on at the start after the swim as staying low on the aerobars made my hips uncomfortable.  Later in the ride it all seemed to be OK.  I am not sure if I need to just practice on the areobars, or it is just after swimming that it is uncomfortable.  I probably need to work on some core strength because going from the swim, basically stretched out flat, to almost folded in half using the areobars requires some strength in the mid-section, and while i have a mid-section it unfortunately has no strength.

Transition #2 - 1:45

Here is one I can definetly get faster at.  I pretty much walked in and slowly did everything because I was dreading the run.  Also having lace up shoes didn't help, not only because of the time to do them up, but also because they came undone.  Most people going fast were doing this in a minute - I think I could get closer to that than I am without too much trouble.

Running - 49:18

This was really odd for me.  I have always thought of myself as a pretty good runner, but apparently not in the Triathlon world.  Before the race I really would have thought that would have been closer to the ride as my "stronger" skill, but apparently not.   The average time for the run (doing my maths on the results) was 51:38, I was just over a minute under the average and middle of the field as well (103 of 212).  So I gather I need to work on that.  Before the race, making an assumption about how tired I would be I though 9 minute miles would be pretty good (5.6 min/km).  In the race I did a pretty good job of keeping it under 8 minute miles (5 min/km) so I thought I was doing great.  It was about the 4th person who passed me that let me know that wasn't the case.  There is nothing to do to fix this other than run more and run faster.  I will give myself a bit of a pass being just 7 months removed from ACL surgery (this pass expires at 12 months)

Tri Two?

The Silicon Valley International (link) in pretty much on the same venue on June 12th.  The swim is in the same lake, the ride is exactly the same and the run is different, going round the lake and not away and back.  But this malkes both want to and not want to do it.  I want to do it because it will be easy to measure improvement, but then again, it is just the same, no new challenge. Also in between now and then, on Sunday the 5th I am probably riding 100 miles at Tahoe which is going to be a significant challenge in itself and mess up the week before the Tri for training

Lets see how many people read this blog, in the comments I want a vote for one of the following.

1. Do the Silicon Valley International, but do the Sprint distance and do it with Colleen,
2. Do the Silicon Valley International, Olympic distance again to compare and see it there is any substance to the talk of being able to go faster,
3. I don't read the blog, or
4. None of the Above

You vote means something ...