From IT Geek to Triathlete

Start of the Salomon Sprint Adventure Race Series

Adventure racing is becoming a very popular sport in South Africa. I did one event last year and it was simply brilliant. I loved it. It’s like a triathlon with amazing scenery. What more could one ask for?

This year I’ll try to complete each event in the Salomon Sprint AR Series. The first event is scheduled for next weekend and will be held in Paris in the Freestate. Yes, we have our own Paris… How weird is that? The town is located in a picturesque area next to the Vaal river, which is one of the biggest rivers in the country.

The race starts with a 5km trail run, followed by a mountain biking section of 25km. There will also be a water section, which is a surprise. Let’s hope we get to do a bit of rafting! I went rafting there before and had heaps of fun. Not as cool as the Hazyview rafting, but still very much worth the effort.

I can’t wait!

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Learned a little swim technique today

As I progress with the swimming I’m constantly learning new things. I try to focus my training on endurance and technique.

Today, I figured two things out:

1. Lift your butt, and
2. Don’t take huge strokes.

As I got tired I noticed that my body started to sink more, with only my head and shoulders sticking out of the water. This obviously causes a lot of drag, since your body is angled in the direction your moving. I lifted my butt on the final lap and it felt much easier to get through the water.

The second technique is to take strokes closer to your body. Hmmm… how can I explain this. Say your friend is on top of a sky scraper, and your waving to him telling him to come down. Something like that. I bend my elbows a bit more and try to increase the area that acts as my paddle.

These techniques might not be the best way of doing things, but it helped me a lot tonight.

I’m struggling with my kicking action, though. I’ve got it pretty consistent now, but it doesn’t feel as if it’s really helping to push me forward.

Suppose the best thing would be to join a swimming group or get a trainer. I’ll try to get my time around 2:00-2:10/100m for 2000m and then I’ll join the local Tri-group.

Workout:

• Type: Swim
• Date: 03/06/2008
• Time: 17:45:00
• Total Time: 00:34:31.00
• Calories: 291
• Distance: 1,500 m
• Average Pace: 2:17.93/100m

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Cycle - 1.5 hours - 03/05/2008

Workout:

• Type: Cycle
• Date: 03/05/2008
• Time: 16:45:00
• Total Time: 1:27:42.00
• Calories: 1133
• Distance: 32.35 km
• Average Speed: 22.13 kmph
• Max Speed: 48.9 kmph
• Ascent: 350 m

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Run - 0.7 hours - 03/04/2008

Workout:

• Type: Run
• Date: 03/04/2008
• Time: 17:30:00
• Total Time: 00:46:06.00
• Calories: 479
• Distance: 7.95 km
• Average Pace: 5:47.83/km
• Ascent: 110 m

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My second sprint triathlon

I did another triathlon on Sunday. I desperately wanted to beat my previous time of 1:34:47. For some strange reason, I only managed to shave-off around 30 seconds. I’m still waiting for the official times, but according to my watch I finished in 1:34:20. I’m a bit disappointed, but relieved that I wasn’t slower.

Guess it was just one of those days… We all know those days where you’re not quite on your peak.

I think my biggest mistake was not sleeping enough and eating a bit too much before the race. I’ll experiment with these next time and try to determine if this was in fact the problem.

As for the race itself: It was again a perfect day. Couldn’t ask for better weather. I enjoyed the swimming a lot more than the previous time. The water was quite flat and I was able to gun it for most of the swim. I shaved a massive 2 minutes off my previous time.

T1 was a bit of a disaster. I was easily 30seconds slower than the previous time. I approached it all wrong and took ages to get all my cycling gear on.

I also felt a lot better on the bike than I did the previous time. I spared my legs a bit, but still managed to average a bit higher at 28.2kmph… I’m not too sure if my Garmin’s measurements were as accurate as the previous time. It measured the first lap at around 9.9km, which is a bit off.

T2 was much better than the previous time round. Brad’s hints really helped a lot for those wobbly legs.

I struggled through the running section. I think I suffered from dehydration. My legs felt ok, but I ran out of breath quite quickly. I tried to drink more water, but felt like I wouldn’t be able to keep it down. Again, it took me around 2-3km to shake off the wobbliness. By the end I settled into a more respectable pace… even though my heart rate was again way too high.

All in all, I enjoyed this triathlon a lot more than my first… even though it felt much harder.

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Run - 0.5 hours - 03/02/2008

Workout:

• Type: Run
• Date: 03/02/2008
• Time: 11:05:00
• Total Time: 00:29:00.00
• Distance: 5 km
• Average Pace: 5:48.16/km

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Cycle - 0.7 hours - 03/02/2008

Workout:

• Type: Cycle
• Date: 03/02/2008
• Time: 10:20:00
• Total Time: 00:42:35.00
• Distance: 20 km
• Average Speed: 28.18 kmph

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Swim - 0.3 hours - 03/02/2008

Workout:

• Type: Swim
• Date: 03/02/2008
• Time: 10:00:00
• Total Time: 00:16:38.00
• Calories: 229
• Distance: 750 m
• Average Pace: 2:12.84/100m

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Logbook Daily Record for 03/01/2008

Health:

• Date: 03/01/2008
• Weight: 69.7
• Mood: Less Happy
• Sleep Pattern: Insufficient

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