Race report - Gatorade triathlon series 2012-13 Race 2, Elwood - incl medal!
Results
Category position: 3 (of 8)
Total time: 1:26:37
Swim (500m): 11:36 (2nd)
T1: 2:15
Bike (20km): 43:29 (6th)
T2: ?
Run (5km): ?
T2 + Run total 29:17. My 5k best time was 28:47, and since I definitely took more than 30 seconds in transition, I have a new PB - I just don't know what it is! If we say I took a transition of 1:30 (which would be v quick) then my PB is 27:47. If I took a transition of 2:00 (which is realistic) then my PB is 27:17 which is amazing - under 5:30 min/km pace! Boom!
What a funny race this was. The swim was cancelled two days out with clouds looking gloomy and significant rain forecast. On the day before there was one serious burst of water in the morning (while we were out on a training ride, no less), then nothing. So the swim was un-cancelled! I felt strangely un-psyched about the race until I was basically in my wetsuit.
Photos by Annemarie Cooke - 500m is out and around the far yellow and red buoys. (The start line was actually to the right of this photo - I think that left buoy had drifted quite far left!)
This morning the sea was quite choppy, with winds around 35-40 km/h. This suited me pretty well, since I kind of like fighting with the sea and I know a lot of triathlon swimmers don't. I decided to start at the front in the best spot, and no one swam over me. Only one woman even touched me, until I started catching up with the stragglers from other waves. My swim was 9 out of 52 in my wave-start (aside from the Athenas, women age-groupers 40+).
The bike was tough. Heading north there was a significant head-wind. I struggled for the first half lap until I just decided to give up and use the small chain ring. My knees and hips hurt a little; I really should raise my seat. Turning around was like someone just turned the wind tap off and I could ride normally. After about 30-35 km one of my workmates passed me and I tried to hang on to her as she is a better rider. Her husband was also spectating and did some cheering/photos of/for us.
I took a gel on the bike but then when I pulled it out to rip it open, I dropped it. Darn! That one's lost :) It would have been quite a help on that second lap. I'm going to have to try taping them to my bike. I only took water this time, no electrolyte drink. (I feel like that stuff slightly confused my body - it has flavour but basically no energy or food content. For this race especially as the temperature was cool I wanted to err on the side of taking less water and food, which worked quite well aside from this dropped gel.)
I didn't push completely hard on the bike and this possibly was one of the factors in my having such a good run. A couple of the other Athena women came in as I was almost leaving T2 including Dale, who was 3rd in Race 1 (I was 4th). I took a gel in T2, gave Dale a pat on the back and bolted out, somewhat assuming she would soon overtake me. At the 2km I looked down at my watch and it said 9:29. I was very shocked (sub 5 minute kilometres, when have I ever done one of them let alone two? and in a triathlon!) and kind of assumed the km marker must be wrong. But still no sign of Dale. A little while later was the turnaround where you can easily see who is behind you. Dale was still maybe 150m, not that far when the person in front is standing but rather far when they are running too. :) I just tried to keep pushing the pace. I find it basically impossible to do 1:2 breathing, I practice 2:3 breathing at training and use it most of the time for races, but for some faster stuff it is a bit slow. But 1:2, it's too hard to get enough air in. I ended up doing 2:2 which is probably worst of both worlds. I push hard enough to feel tightness in my chest, up around my collarbones, and a stitch forming, at which point I ease back to 2:3.
One of the women advised at a brekky the previous week, that for the middle kms she tries to take longer strides to run faster. This was a new notion to me as I only had the idea more shorter steps were better, with your feet landing under your body. Probably this is better form in general but maybe for a race some stretching out is not going to do any harm. So I tried this a little and it worked ok. Well based on my time it worked amazingly! I don't even know how to explain how my run went so well, except that it was at the expense of my ride. (Most of my race rides are very close to the 40:00 mark.) Oh triathlon, so tricky.
So in conclusion, I won a bronze medal! I don't even know what the last medal I received would be, that wasn't given out to everybody (not that I don't value you all the same, Run Melbourne 10k Finishers Medal). With the Melbourne Uni women's footy team we won a Uni Games gold as I recall. But for an individual sport? This is possibly even the first ever such thing I have won.
People keep expressing surprise that I "qualify" as Athena (min 70kg). I think is partly because people just have no idea how to estimate what people weigh (like ahem) and also my body is somewhat classically pear shaped and I guess it is easy not to spend a lot of time focusing on someone's butt & thighs. But just between me & my wetsuit, that is definitely where the weight is distributed.
I am really proud of my thighs, they are powering me through everything I ask of them and more these days. Good job team. :]
TODOs:
- raise bike seat
- practice eating a gel on the bike
- practice leaving shoes on the bike!!
- somehow replicate magical running trick whilest not leaving my cycling in the toilet :)
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