Race report - Gatorade triathlon series 2013-14 Race 1, Elwood
Today's race: first of the 2013-14 season, 2/4 in Athena and 2nd in each individual time.
Total: 1:22:43.5
Swim (500m): 11:27
T1: 1:53
Bike (20k): 38:50
T2: 1:36
Run (5k): 28:55
This is a PB at this distance! Nice.
I didn't have the super best lead-up to this event, as I spent Tuesday and Wednesday in Darwin and almost all of Saturday with Robin. However this was only supposed to be a 'shake out the cobwebs' events in readiness for the Olympic distance (OD) race on January 12. And in that it was a success, and in some other aspects too!
I am not sure what has happened to the Athena crew of past years; at least the two women who reliably came 1st and 2nd. Neither entered this race. I thought this might let me slide into 1st, but someone else speedy has come along. And so I have my first silver. :)
Having a race at Elwood is super nice. I can get up at 7am, cruise down the road at 7:45, get my bike all sorted by 8:10 and then my wave still didn't start for another hour. Very nice. I am glad too, as the weather was a bit crap and if an early morning had been involved I would have been very grumpy. As it happened, the road was wet but there was no real rain during my race, the wind was fairly minimal and the temp was a pretty good cool but not cold range. So really, it was good conditions for Melbourne, I just forget what it's like over winter, dreaming of summer days. :)
I managed to only forget one thing to put in transition - gels. I remembered after I had zipped up my wetsuit. I ended up jamming two down the front of my bra, which worked quite well.
The swim was a bit rough, but not too cold. I got a nice big gulp of sea water about ten strokes in - that's always great. The course was a very simple rectangular but my goggles fogged up in a spectacular fashion half way through. I actually stopped to swipe one with my finger because I could not see a thing and the dwindling number of swimmers around me was a good clue that I was off-course. So, sighting remains a thing I am bad at remembering to do. For some reason I have a supreme confidence that I am swimming in the right direction, which has rarely been justified with evidence.
I came in 18th out of 65 that started in my wave start - 4 Athenas plus all the women 40+. So... could improve a fair bit I think.
The bike was pretty good. Actually a PB for me during a triathlon so definitely good. Because I was in the second last wave start there was lots of people out on course for me to overtake, and not very many to overtake me. Including a guy still in his full zipped-up wetsuit. :o I felt pretty comfortable, nearly completely down in the drops, on a little bit of a SWly wind. Didn't end up doing any fancy leaving-shoes-on-the-bike manoeuvres as I haven't practiced them enough in training yet.
The run: man, I always forget how much this hurts. It is so painful and yet streams of people overtake me effortlessly. I guess it is payback for the bike. Probably need to do more runs off the bike in training. Or maybe runs with a HR up around 90% max. :o
I am very happy to have a time that at least starts with a 28, though. I'd really like to see some 27:-- times sometime soon! Come on legs!
I am also very happy that this total time seems like a good indicator that a 3-hour OD might be achievable this season.
Previous comparable races:
14/1/2013 Race 3 Elwood: 1:24:32 12:06 1:55 40:20 1:32 28:37
26/11/2012 Race 1 St Kilda: 1:26:14.5 11:13 2:31 39:40 2:20 30:29
17/12/2012 Race 2 Elwood: 1:26:37 11:36 2:15 43:29 ? ? (T2 + Run total 29:17)
19/2/2012 Race 5 Elwood: 1:29:59.6 13:22 1:43 39:52 1:49 33:12
11/4/2013 Race 6 St Kilda: 1:31:14.4 15:53* 2:23 39:37 2:55 30:25
1/4/2012 Race 7 St Kilda: 1:31:48 16:40* 1:42 40:01 2:24 30:59
*=750m swim
All race reports
Total: 1:22:43.5
Swim (500m): 11:27
T1: 1:53
Bike (20k): 38:50
T2: 1:36
Run (5k): 28:55
This is a PB at this distance! Nice.
I didn't have the super best lead-up to this event, as I spent Tuesday and Wednesday in Darwin and almost all of Saturday with Robin. However this was only supposed to be a 'shake out the cobwebs' events in readiness for the Olympic distance (OD) race on January 12. And in that it was a success, and in some other aspects too!
I am not sure what has happened to the Athena crew of past years; at least the two women who reliably came 1st and 2nd. Neither entered this race. I thought this might let me slide into 1st, but someone else speedy has come along. And so I have my first silver. :)
Having a race at Elwood is super nice. I can get up at 7am, cruise down the road at 7:45, get my bike all sorted by 8:10 and then my wave still didn't start for another hour. Very nice. I am glad too, as the weather was a bit crap and if an early morning had been involved I would have been very grumpy. As it happened, the road was wet but there was no real rain during my race, the wind was fairly minimal and the temp was a pretty good cool but not cold range. So really, it was good conditions for Melbourne, I just forget what it's like over winter, dreaming of summer days. :)
I managed to only forget one thing to put in transition - gels. I remembered after I had zipped up my wetsuit. I ended up jamming two down the front of my bra, which worked quite well.
The swim was a bit rough, but not too cold. I got a nice big gulp of sea water about ten strokes in - that's always great. The course was a very simple rectangular but my goggles fogged up in a spectacular fashion half way through. I actually stopped to swipe one with my finger because I could not see a thing and the dwindling number of swimmers around me was a good clue that I was off-course. So, sighting remains a thing I am bad at remembering to do. For some reason I have a supreme confidence that I am swimming in the right direction, which has rarely been justified with evidence.
I came in 18th out of 65 that started in my wave start - 4 Athenas plus all the women 40+. So... could improve a fair bit I think.
The bike was pretty good. Actually a PB for me during a triathlon so definitely good. Because I was in the second last wave start there was lots of people out on course for me to overtake, and not very many to overtake me. Including a guy still in his full zipped-up wetsuit. :o I felt pretty comfortable, nearly completely down in the drops, on a little bit of a SWly wind. Didn't end up doing any fancy leaving-shoes-on-the-bike manoeuvres as I haven't practiced them enough in training yet.
The run: man, I always forget how much this hurts. It is so painful and yet streams of people overtake me effortlessly. I guess it is payback for the bike. Probably need to do more runs off the bike in training. Or maybe runs with a HR up around 90% max. :o
I am very happy to have a time that at least starts with a 28, though. I'd really like to see some 27:-- times sometime soon! Come on legs!
I am also very happy that this total time seems like a good indicator that a 3-hour OD might be achievable this season.
Previous comparable races:
14/1/2013 Race 3 Elwood: 1:24:32 12:06 1:55 40:20 1:32 28:37
26/11/2012 Race 1 St Kilda: 1:26:14.5 11:13 2:31 39:40 2:20 30:29
17/12/2012 Race 2 Elwood: 1:26:37 11:36 2:15 43:29 ? ? (T2 + Run total 29:17)
19/2/2012 Race 5 Elwood: 1:29:59.6 13:22 1:43 39:52 1:49 33:12
11/4/2013 Race 6 St Kilda: 1:31:14.4 15:53* 2:23 39:37 2:55 30:25
1/4/2012 Race 7 St Kilda: 1:31:48 16:40* 1:42 40:01 2:24 30:59
*=750m swim
All race reports