KURNELL SPRINT TRIATHLON (750m/20k/5k)

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 2008

A fast and furious sprint triathlon at Kurnell this morning produced a bit of a mixed bag of emotions. The race served as a final tune up for the Canberra HIM in 2 weeks time. Conditions were quite good in general- a little cool (water was freezing on those parts that wern't covered by the wetsuit), dry, sunny and with a little wind on the bike course. Anyway, race dissected below:

SWIM: Found myself a good position with plenty of room in the deep water start. Started out hard, and eventually settled onto the hip of another swimmer, swimming side by side until the exit. Felt as though I found a good rhythm, although I had to concentrate to maintain good technique over the final 200m or so as the arms were starting to fatigue. Came out in the top 15 of the wave (combined <24 and 50-54) and 9th in the AG, which surprised Diana who was spectating. Aim was to go sub 14mins so I was happy to tick this one off the list.

T1: Using Vlad's advice, I applied some conditioner to my arms and legs so the wetsuit came off pretty easily. Perhaps it could have been faster if I had been more brutal with it. All in all it was quite successfull (much better than Nepean).

BIKE: Managed to overtake a couple of cyclists in the early stages as I was slotting my feet into the shoes clipped into the pedals. Felt alot smoother in this part of the transition, not losing too much momentum. HR and ventilation rate were way up and I tried to get into a fast rhythm. Really wanted to make up alot of time on the bike course and then try to hold on in the run. Pushed the body hard and my legs were burning by the end. I had a few cyclist in front that I tried to reel in and I managed to catch the last group within sights by the final 5km.

Saw the Pro Tour guys drafting (legally) on the other side of the road as we passed, which made me very jelous. One of them was sitting up at the back having a drink and a chat! Made no difference to me however, and I finished smashed with a pretty average time (slower than earlier this year).

T2: Fairly well executed, however I think I will try a trick that the bloke next to me did: before he approached the dismount line, he swung one leg over the bike and coasted into the line before jumping off and into an immediate run. Much faster than what I did: stopped at the line before jumping of then starting my run. Just makes it alot smoother.

RUN: Legs were dead and I struggled to find a good rhythm on the 3 lap X-Country course. Had a stich come in under my rib cage (both sides) which made things uncomfortable but it wasn't debilitating. On the second lap I lost focus and took a wrong turn into some thick scrub where I tripped over. Dusted myself off and doubled back to get on course. Very frustrating! tried to take the frustration out on myself by pushing my body hard. Over the final 800m I started to kick up a decent pace on the flat section in order to make up some time. Finished with an ordinary time and was absolutely spent for my efforts.


KURNELL SPRINT TRIATHLON (Race #1):

> 1:04.46 (47th overall, 4th in 20-24 AG)

> Swim: 13.59 (123/9)
> Cycle: 33.56 (66/4)
> Run: 16.49 (19/3)

Previous Kurnell Triathlon (Mar, '08)

> 1:04.15 (57th overall, 8th in 19-23 AG)

> Swim: 14.19 (173/14)
> Cycle: 33.54 (83/9)
> Run: 16.00 (7/3)


Pretty disappointed to have gone SLOWER than the race in March, particularly on the bike where I have been putting in some decent training hours. Happy to have performed to expectations in the swim and to have had smooth transitions, however I am a bit bitter about the cycle and run splits. The mixed emotions are explained by the placings. 4th place in my age group (<24) is my best AG placing so far, and 47th overall was better than the 57th overall from March. In the end it is a tune up race and now I can take the positives with me into the race in Canberra.

TRAINING:

PM: 1 hour cycle (wind trainer). Avg HR 154BPM (170Max)