After two days of rest following Thursdays 4 x 1 mile repeats, Sunday was the Webster Lake Triathlon. I signed up for it because it was a full sprint distance - 1/2 mile swim, 12 mile bike, and 3 mile run - as opposed to the Sudbury Triathlon which was quite a bit shorter.
The other major difference was that this one was an open water swim. I've never cared for swimming in lakes and ponds - always preferring the nice clean water of a pool. However, most triathlons are open water swims - and there can be something to be said about simply swimming from point A to point B, as opposed to up and back numerous times in a pool. So, this tri would be a good way to gain exposure to open water swimming (with wave based starts), as well as see how I could do in a full length sprint distance.
The days leading up to the event, the weather was looking like it was going to be rainy. Fortunately, the rain held off, and we just had overcast skies - so it definately could have been worse. My main fear leading up to the thing was not the rain itself - I couldn't care less about it raining while swimming or running - but the potential for slick roads during the bike. I knew that this course had a good windy downhill followed by a very sharp and immediate right hand turn. So my concern was someone wiping out right near me and taking me with them, or my own bike slipping on the wet pavement and me taking a digger at 30 mph. Of course, when something like that concerns me, it ends up being a non factor because I'm much more willing to lose a little time and ride the brakes to keep from slipping. I've been through the 'I should have listened to the little voice in my head' situation too many times.
So - here is the stat line from the race:
Age Group: M 30-34
Swim - Age Group Place: 23 (of 39)
Swim - Overall: 216 (of 444)
Swim - Time: 16:09
Swim HR (avg/end): 166/176
T1 - Time: 5:59
T1 - HR (avg/end): 158/167
Cycle - Age Group Place: 35 (of 39)
Cycle - Overall: 279 (of 444)
Cycle - Time: 43:17
Cycle - HR (avg/end): 161/160
T2 - Time: 1:21
T2 - HR (avg/end): 152/159
Run - Age Group Place: 27 (of 39)
Run - Overall: 173 (of 444)
Run - Time: 21:59
Run - HR (avg/end): 171/180
Overall - Age Group: 30 (of 39)
Overall - Total Field: 233 (of 444)
Overall - Time: 1:28:47
So:
- The swim was actually my best event with regards to my age group and overall. I'm reasonably happy about that, but I know I am capable of doing better. First of all, being an open water newbie, I found I was unable to swim in a straight line - I kept veering off to the right. If I could find a way to swim in more of a straight line, I'm certain I could knock off 30 seconds or more pretty easily.
- The T1 time was very slow. Getting out of the water, I was quite winded - and saw my HR up above 181 soon thereafter. I ended up walking for a fair amount of the T1 - which was about 1/4 mile away from the swim exit. Most people had a T1 time around 3-4 minutes. I wonder whether I'd have been better off keeping the HR up and recovering on the bike - while it may have added a minute or so to my overall bike time - I may have been able to take 2 minutes off of T1, gaining me a minute overall.
- My cycling ability sucks. There's just no way around that. I did ok on the first half, which had a good amount of uphill - but I was being passed quite a bit on the second half, especially the last 3-4 miles. It wasn't because I was tired - my avg HR of 161 is something I can sustain for a while - I think I just didn't want to overexert and pay for it on the run. Another part to my cycling sucking (in addition to the fact that I just dont do it enough) is that my bike is > 30 lbs. I felt like in the last few miles I was able to 'feel' the extra weight I was having to pull along, and that it was accounting for a fairly significant degree of the exertion I was putting out - maybe 30%.
- The run was the highlight of the whole thing, performance wise. First off, I knew that the transition from bike to run is difficult and your legs feel like dead weight. So I was mentally prepared for this. Second - I also knew that although it feels strange, it doesn't necessarily mean the body is working a lot harder then it would otherwise. In other words, the HR stays fairly reasonable, even though it feels like a lot more effort.
During the run, I maintained a high 160's to low 170's HR - a pace I knew I could maintain for the 3 miles. I also tried a couple mechanical changes to see what the effect would be. One of the changes was to try and increase my cadence - take shorter strides and take them more often. This is a form difference that I'm going to be looking to incorporate into my natural running form because it ends up being faster and lower impact. The second thing I did was to use my calf muscles a lot more. Instead of pushing off with my entire leg - including my quads and hamstrings - I tried to keep my upper leg as still as possible, and get much more of my forward motion from my calfs. Partially because my calfs hadn't really been used during the swim or the bike, but also because that takes better advantage of the motion of the ankle, and makes it do more of the work of running.
The end result of this? I was able to maintain well under 8 min/miles (around 7:25), and I was able to maintain pace much more efficiently and smoothly while going up hills. In fact, even though the course was relatively flat - the small hills were where I passed a good handful of people. Finally, I was still able to finish strong and able to increase pace for the last half mile or so. This was a big difference between this tri and the Sudbury one - at the end of that tri I was pretty much exhausted and had a much harder time on the run.
Overall - I'm quite content with my results, especially the run. It is nice to see improvement, since thats the area I've been concentrating on this year in preparation for the matahon. I have to remind myself that four weeks beforehand, I was barely able to move thanks to a back injury. That pretty much sapped all ability to train for the month leading up to the event - aside from a day of running mile repeats in the final week. With that in mind, I have to be pretty happy with the results. However I know I can do a good deal better - but at least I have a bar for next year.
No comments:
Post a Comment