Thurgauer Triahtlon, Stettfurt

[skean]

What a fantastic day! Weather was glorious. Mist burnt off by 09:00 for sunshine all the way. Beautiful countryside tri, with the bike course through vineyards and country lanes. Off road run up and down through the woods. Friendly crowd, good atmosphere and good refreshments at the end.

Thurgauer Triathlon Results: 69th from 121 finishers in my

Comments

[ravenbait]

Nice work! I thought it was an open water swim, though?

[skean]

Ta. Not OW - my first pool Tri! Was an outdoor pool - heated by waste water from a nearby organic vegeatable packer (not directly I think). So, it was wetsuits, but warmer than the lakes at the moment. Bit of a bummer for the chlorine to be honest.

Shame you got a lurgy, I always think of the virtual community on a day. Today totally reminded me of why I do this stuff - I just so enjoyed being out there pushing myself, and the feeling at the end of having done something.

When's you next scheduled one?

[ravenbait]

The 14th June, I think. Peebles. It's on google calendars.

I'm reasonably unfussed about DNSing today. I've got two under my belt already. Losing the entry fee is an arse, but I'd have spent that again in petrol getting out and back. I'm not lurgied currently, but I'm convinced I would have been this time tomorrow if I'd gone. Last year was so sucky in terms of illness and injury that I am possibly being over-cautious this year.

Keep having to remind myself that I'm doing all this despite an auto-immune disorder that puts other sufferers in wheelchairs, so "wuss" isn't exactly appropriate, no matter how much I feel like one sometimes.

[andygates]

Nice day out and a nice shakedown.

1 - That's why I was so happy to hit my predicted 400m time (to 4 sec) last week. Traffic is teh suck.

2 - Why do you say the VM? Cycling's one of those games where you can really neglect the VM and get away with it. Standard prescription for hills is to spin up 'em - DSP's really good at it, worked on keeping his cadence high (it helps that he's a flyweight too, natch). Do you tend to "muscle" up hills?

Nicely done. Outdoor pool?

[skean]

1. Yup. Now I have a benchmark I can work things from, and this was a "C" race, so that's the point

2. Possibly I'm over sensitive to VM. I trashed my right knee at Uni in 1994, had cartilage chopped out, and I had *no* VM for several months. Took a lot of phsysio, and a summer of cycling the 8m to my holiday job, before if was back. I thought it was OK, but thats the 2nd Tri where it's been the muscle that's failed. But I can feel other muscles going, so I think it's more general.

I don't really muscle hills (I can't...) but I do tend to try and keep pace with people as they pass me. I just think my legs aren't as used to cycling as running still.

[andygates]

I did not know that. One-legged squats for nice all-muscle leg building (hard to do in-season with any intensity, though).

Poor bee!

[fialta]

Well done!!! Does the sting hurt? Agree with Andy about high cadence on hills, try and minimise your upper body movement to save energy - seems to work for me! Was it hilly then? I did 40 miles yesterday - pretty hilly route and my legs hurt!

[skean]

The sting is hurting less now I have a couple of beers in me :-)

High cadence I agree with, I just feel such a pussy dropping to the granny wheel all the time as everyone powers past me! It wasn't so hilly: 2km climbing of a few hundred metres, 10km flat, 2km descent, 3km rolling, repeat, more or less.

When's your first race this season?

[fialta]

Well, I drop to my granny gear all the time and then I even manage to catch up with some guys who were powering it up and lost their steam! This is so very satisfying!!!

Sprint at Cotswolds water park - 750 lake swim, 25 flat bike, 5 off-road run around the lake, so pretty flat as well.