Eton Supersprint 2008

My previous post was certainly a bit on the optimistic side. Trying to convince myself that I could just knock off a few minutes from the swim and bike on my 2005 sprint time just didn't work in practice.

My overall time was 1:13:56, which is over two minutes slower!

It's not all bad news though, as I came 36th in my age group out of 82, which is better than half way.

Here's a graph of my heart-rate, and supposedly my speeds on the bike and run.






I was feeling quite good about my pool swimming, got into the water, and it felt OK temperaturewise. Unfortunately, once the race started, my bilateral breathing plan went totally to pot, I had to breathe every second stroke, and oddly enough only felt comfortable doing this on the right. Anyway, I was smimming happily along, thinking I was doing OK, but quite soon was surrounded by people doing breaststroke and trying to kick me. By the first buoy I knew I was trailing, by the second I was still struggling, and in the end I only finished faster than about ten people. Back to the drawing board. Oh, did I mention that I was hating every second of it too.

My bike was situated close to the swim exit, and I hadn't thought to try and get my wetsuit off by the time I got there. So I struggled finding the cord to pull the zip down. Then, I struggled to try and pull my socks onto wet feet. For some reason I thought they were ankle socks, but they were really only trainer socks, so even though they were on as far as they would go, I was still trying to pull them up further. Doh! Had to pick up my energy bar and gel - this was poor planning too, they should be taped on the bike. Nearly three minutes in T2, but quite a long run in bike shoes to the exit, then onto the bike leg.

Felt very comfortable on the bike the whole way round. Passed a lot of people, and nearly the only people who passed me were in a different wave I think. My graph shows that my speed hovered around 25-30km/h mark, which I can't agree with. What's up with the Polar anyway, it kept losing the signal too down the back straight and beeping at me. My time was 37:44, which is an average speed of approximately 32km/h. I should have pushed a bit faster I think. Maybe it was the chilly breeze, but I didn't even raise a sweat.

T2 was much better, as it should be. 1:14 is a good time so no real work needed there. I had a 500ml PSP drink (wrong flavour - get a nicer one next time) on the bike which I almost finished. During the run I did feel a bit thirsty, so I need to think about that, maybe a small gel. I was tired, but OK on the run. My left calf felt very tight and I was worried in case it got worse, but it didn't. My heart rate started as it had been on the bike, around 160bpm. I didn't much want it to go higher, but I needed to go faster, so gradually pushed it up, especially in the last 2km where I got it to a max of 186bpm by the finish line.

Again, I'm not happy with the polar foot-pod timing attachment. It's supposed to measure speed, but even though I'm obviously going faster, there is no indication of this on the graph. I have even had to adjust the graph manually for both the bike and run speeds to remove places where it completely dropped to zero. It's going back to the shop on Saturday if I can find the receipt.

Final results are as follows then.

36th out of 82 in the 42-44 age group. 44%
60th out of 189 people in my BTA 40-44 category. 31%
344th out of 945 overall on the day . 36%

400m Swim 9:49 - place 771
T1 2:52
20Km Bike 37:44 - place 240
T2 1:14
5km Run 22:14 - place 283

and comparing like with like for 2005 results

Swim 00:12:46 (new 12:41)
Bike 00:37:42 (new 38:58)
Run 00:21:22 (new 22:14)

it seems I'm slower on the bike and run, but the same on the swim. Hmm. It was a colder day, maybe that contributed to it.

Eton Supersprint Pre-Race Feelings

I have my first triathlon of the year tomorrow. It's my first competition of any kind since Ironman France last year.

Luckily, this is just a sprint, and one I've done before, three years ago, in my very first triathlon. Here are my results from that day.

Category position 63 out of 130 entrants

Swim 00:12:46
Bike 00:37:42
Run 00:21:22

Total 01:11:52

My swim was terrible, breaststroke all the way, and I only beat one or two people. I hope to improve on that tomorrow, and if my pool swimming is anything to go by, two or three minutes is possible this year without being any more tired. I've consistently trained in the pool, and never do breaststroke any more. Of course, if I am faster, I won't be in the relative calm at the back, but right in the middle of the 'washing machine'. ( from http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/men/article2595015.ece, "The start of a triathlon has been likened to swimming blindfolded in a washing machine as hundreds of swimmers kick, punch and scratch for position" ). That'll be fun!

I'm actually quite happy with my bike time from 2005, and also my transitions (T1 included in swim time, T2 included in Bike time), but according to my race report from then, I didn't push on the bike as hard as I could. So depending on the windspeed, I'd like to take off two or three minutes there too. The bike average speed was in the 32km/h region, hard to tell without removing transition times, so I need to move that up to 34 km/h. The course is completely flat and a bit different to previously, there is no turnaround any more, just 4 long circular laps. So I have to put more effort in all the way. We'll see if my bike commute to work has given me any competitive advantage, if it's possible anywhere, then a 20k bike race is it.

Running is always the scary part, where it really hurts. If I push hard in the first two disciplines, I might start the run knackered. 21:22 is a great time for 5k for me. I'm unlikely to beat that, in fact, I'm still a bit surprised I did it. I have to hope I can match it. Even on a bad day, barring injuries, I think I can manage not to lose more than a minute.

My heart rate monitor is really playing up. It will measure time OK, and altitude, and running pace, though I can never see that while I'm actually running as I'm moving my arms around too much to see the small figures. But the HR itself is very dodgy. I put a new battery in the chest sensor, but on my last cycle, the HR only kicked in about 2/3 of the way through. I like to check my pulse while running (swimming is impossible, and on the bike it's always very low anyway). But I fear I'm just going to go for it by listening to my body - that's not so bad, after so many training sessions I know how I'm getting on.

(this is just a small idea of the multitude of things that go through your mind before a triathlon. I have to manage to get to the event on time (10am start) with bike and optional family. I need to maintain the bike, I need to plan nutrition (not so hard on a short event), bring appropriate clothing (it might pour with rain and I have no experience of that). Putting your head under icy water is not pleasant, so this year I'm thinking of wearing two smimming caps (but this breaks the rule - don't do anything in the race you haven't tried in training) to seem if a double layer helps. Whew!)

If I could take 3 minutes off my time, I could go up about 20 places assuming the same distribution of times as before. If I could take 6 minutes off, I'd get into the top 20 for my age group. That's got to be the aim. But if I just match my time and place, I'll be happy - I will be competing against people three years younger than me this time.