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.
Filed under: Triathlon, Swim, Run, Cycle, Race Report
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Run - 0.5 hours - 03/02/2008
Logbook Activity
- 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
Filed under: Triathlon, Run
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Cycle - 0.7 hours - 03/02/2008
Logbook Activity
- Type: Cycle
- Date: 03/02/2008
- Time: 10:20:00
- Total Time: 00:42:35.00
- Distance: 20 km
- Average Speed: 28.18 kmph
Filed under: Triathlon, Cycle
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Swim - 0.3 hours - 03/02/2008
Logbook Activity
- 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
Filed under: Triathlon, Swim
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Just entered for my second sprint triathlon
It’s been a busy three weeks since my first triathlon. During my first race, it was clear that my running and swimming needed some work. I focussed a lot on the running and managed to improve my swimming too (even though I haven’t really done much swimming).
So I’ve just entered my second sprint triathlon, which is part of the Joburg City Triathlon Series for 2008. The event is held at the Victoria lake in Germiston on the 2nd of March. I considered doing the Olympic distance, but my body is telling me to take it easy. I might be pushing a bit too hard at the moment. I don’t feel that my “base” is strong enough and I want to avoid injury at all cost. So I’ll keep pushing, but within limits.
I did the previous race in a 1:34:47 , which was within my target zone of 1:30-1:45. So let’s up the ante a bit and set my target zone to 1:25-1:35 for the next race - given that the conditions are the same. Not too sure I’ll be able to increase my results by 10%, but I wouldn’t be stoked if I could!
Filed under: Triathlon
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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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Run - 0.5 hours - 02/03/2008
Logbook Activity
- Type: Run
- Date: 02/03/2008
- Time: 11:02:00
- Total Time: 00:32:00.00
- Calories: 392
- Distance: 5 km
- Average Pace: 6:23.8/km
Filed under: Triathlon, Run
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Cycle - 0.7 hours - 02/03/2008
Logbook Activity
- Type: Cycle
- Date: 02/03/2008
- Time: 10:23:00
- Total Time: 00:42:50.00
- Distance: 20 km
- Average Speed: 28.02 kmph
Filed under: Triathlon, Cycle
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Swim - 0.3 hours - 02/03/2008
Logbook Activity
- Type: Swim
- Date: 02/03/2008
- Time: 10:00:00
- Total Time: 00:19:32.00
- Calories: 202
- Distance: 750 m
- Average Pace: 2:36.52/100m
Filed under: Triathlon, Swim
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