Ahhh… that’s better!
I did another 10km road running race this morning and I felt much better than during the 15km I did on Wednesday. It is my first sub-one-hour race and it was a comfortable race.
My heart rate was way to high though and I think I pushed my heart to hard, but my legs felt fine. I suppose gradually increasing training difficulty is the only way to bring that heart rate down.
Logbook Activity
- Type: Run
- Date: 02/09/2008
- Time: 06:00:00
- Total Time: 00:57:08.00
- Average Heart rate: 173
- Max Heart rate: 189
- Calories: 481
- Distance: 10 km
- Average Pace: 5:42.86/km
- Ascent: 79 m
Filed under: Run, Race Report
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My first sprint triathlon!
I did my first sprint triathlon on Sunday in Johannesburg / Germiston. The race was held around Victoria lake, which is just a posh name for a small dam. The sprint races are a half-distance version of the Olympic distance triathlons.
It was a beautiful day in Joburg. We had clear skies, a warm sun and cool breeze blowing over the water. The race was set to start at 10:00am. 10mins before the start, we had a race briefing. To my surprise we weren’t doing a 600m swim (as advertised) but 750m. A bit unexpected, but I was pleased. I actually thought a 600m swim was a bit lame, since the Olympic distance is 1,500m. Another slightly unexpected part was the deep start to the race. A deep start means that you start offshore and not on the shoreline. You have to swim around 50m into the lake, where the race starts.
Right after the briefing, we got in the water and the water temperature was a pleasant 23 degrees. We swam towards the buoys and waited for the start signal. The signal went and the calm soon turned into chaos. I was kicked several times and dished out a couple of unplanned knocks and kicks myself. The pace was quite fast at the start, but I stuck to my own pace. Around 250m into the race, things cleared up a bit and I was able to get into a bit of a rhythm. I have ear problems and got water in them every once in a while, which meant I had to stop to readjust my plugs and cap. Half-way through I felt quite good, but was convinced I was falling behind into back-marker-group. I kept my pace steady, which was interrupted every once when a swallowed a mouth full of dirty lake water, blegh. I felt stronger at the 500m mark and started to push a bit harder. I managed to make up a number of places in the final section. I kept going left, so I guess I’ll have to work on my stroke. I got out of the water after 19:32. I was quite happy with this time. Next was the cycling leg.
I did not get time to do a mock transition, but I worked out a routine before I started the race. Turn on Garmin, put on HR monitor, shirt… This worked quite well and I was out of the transition area in a flash. The cycling section of 20km comprised of two laps. The route was quite flat with only two short steep-ish hills. Since the cycling bit is my ’speciality’, I really pushed hard. Doing it on a mountain bike was a distinct disadvantage, but I managed to average 28km/h. The highest I’ve done to date. I managed to go past a lot of competitors, but the road bikes were much harder to catch. I finished the cycling leg with my time on 1:00:00. On the dot! When I got off the bike there was trouble. My legs were very wobbly. I didn’t think they would be this tired, since I felt good enough to continue cycling much further. I only hoped they will recover during the run.
The next transition was much faster. Unfortunately much faster, since I really wished I could rest my legs for a while. But alas, no rest… I was in my running shoes and on the road. I struggled through the first 2km. My pace was around 8km/h. I was passed by a lot of other runners, some of which was doing the mini-triathlon, so I couldn’t really judge were I was in the crowd anymore. I felt much better after 3km and started to push much harder. I got my pace up to 10-11km/h. I caught a bunch of other runners in the final section.
I must say that the finishing line was a very VERY welcome sight. I crossed it in 1:34:56. I was quite pleased with this time. I always set myself two goals. In this case, I told myself I would be pleased if I finish below 1:45, and I would be over the moon if it was below 1:30. Given that we had to swim 150m further, I was very happy with my time.
The race was very cool. I wish my friends would get off their lazy butts and join me.
One thing that got me down thought was how boring the route was. The swim was fine, we only had to do one lap. With the cycling, we passed along the same road 4 times and the running 8 times. Boring!! This is why a stationary bike and treadmill is so mind-numbingly boring. The surroundings never change and you only focus on how hard you’re working. This is where adventure racing is much more fun. The scenery is spectacular and there’s no laps. You don’t even focus on your body that much. It is merely the ‘vehicle’ that gets you from one great view to the next.
That said, I’ll definitely do another triathlon, but I wish the organisers would try to spice things up a bit. My exercise routes are more interesting than the event.
Filed under: Triathlon, Swim, Run, Cycle, Race Report
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