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Although they’re different courses I’ve been comparing my two pool sprint times. Roade 2009 and Beverley 2010.

* Roade Swim is 414m, Beverley is 400m
** Roade Run was 4.5k, Beverley was 5k

This was my last planned event of the year, entered for a bit of fun as it’s up near my parent’s home in the town I used to go to school at. It’s a pool sprint format; 400m swim, 20k ride, 5k run. I hadn’t trained much since MK Tri and the week before rather than cramming some final interval training in I went to Manchester for a beer filled weekend with mates instead. Ideally I was aiming for under 1hr15, 1hr10 would be great but probably unlikely considering.

The swim worked out quite well. I was in the 9.30am wave which seem incredibly civilised since the other races this year have been 7.30 or earlier. In fact I think I’d finished the Big Cow sprint by 9.30am! The wave consists of 8 lanes with up to 4 in a lane, theoretically all swimming around the same 400m time. However I’d given my 9minute/400m time based on Roade last year, whereas in training I’d been hitting around 7m30s. Luckily one of the other competitors in my lane had also given the wrong time and was swimming about the same time as me. Luckier still we were scheduled to head out first with the 2 remaining swimmers in our lane following at 9 minute pace. This meant we didn’t really need to overtake until the end of our 16 lengths so we didn’t get slowed up much. The other good thing was that the lane counters at Beverley Tri give you a 2 length warning so you know when to get out! That was probably my only major worry about this race!

I’d recced the ride the day before from the car and it looked flat enough. In the race I was able to stay on the big cog the whole way round and keep the cadence between 85-95. I was hoping to improve my bike pace a bit and get closer to 20mph average, but this didn’t happen – lack of saddle time really. During the recce it looked like there might be a few places (roundabouts & junctions) which might involve a stop, however during the race this didn’t happen – although I was instructed to bump up onto a path by a marshall to avoid a congested junction, which lead to a few minutes of confusion trying to get off it and back onto the road later.

The transition to run went okay. I didn’t really use my watch to monitor my pace and just headed out (because I was treating it as “a bit of fun” I think I probably didn’t push so hard). I briefly had to stop at the level crossing for a train. Probably about 10 seconds, but not long enough for the marshal to give me a time credit. No matter. The best bit was that this time because of the later start Jodie came to spectate with her cousin, aunt and Gran – so they cheered me on in Transition and across the finish line.

Final time was 1h14m27s, although my Garmin clocked it at 1h13m23s. It seems odd that the timing can be out by so much, and I did notice that the pool clock was registering 9.31.05 when we started not 9.30.05 (as scheduled). I’m taking it as 1h13m then!

It was quite good fun, I had no pressure on. I might be tempted to do it again next year even though the goal is to concentrate on the longer course events.

Now that went well! I’d set myself some rough targets in my head. 1500m swim, 30 minutes. 40k ride, 80minutes. 10k run, 50 minutes. Total time. Total around 2h40, maybe 2h45 with transitions.Well, I beat all those by a couple of minutes each.

Swim. 27m49s, I think this is my favourite discipline at the moment. If anything I should have pushed to the front more for the start as I spent a little while coming through the pack. I favoured a wide line round most buoys so didn’t get into to much trouble. Now and again in the second half I thought I had some cramp coming on but just relaxed and breathed carefully, then picked a target and pulled out 10 big strokes at a time which pulled me past quite a few competitors.

T1. 2m11s, not too bad. Could have been a little more focussed but had no trouble getting my wet suit off even given then I had opted to wear my quite bulky 310xt. Luckily my racking point was close to bike in and out, so didn’t waste too much time running in my bike shoes. Faffed around for too long try to get mounted, wasn’t helped by the fact there was no mount line which was confusing.

Cycle. 1h18m26s, spent a lot of time swapping positions with a fellow competitor. Probably kept us both going quite well, but was concious of not drafting. Took 3 60g gels on the bike, the last one about 5k out from T2 to help out on the run. Dealt with the hills fairly well, never got up out of the saddle. Now and again thought my calves were going to cramp, particularly when I shifted to the smaller cog for hills.

T2. 1m05s, not much to say about T2 as it’s always the easy one. Shoes swapped okay and no time wasted running the bike in.

Run. 48m03s, running off the bike always feels strange however I headed out at 8min mile pace or slightly quicker. I’d opted to wear the 310xt for the whole race, but I would probably have worn it for the run anyway for the pace info. Tried to lock into 8min miles as a minimum which largely worked, spent a lot of time counting and breathing. In the end as I approached the the finish on my 3rd lap I nearly got confused and started an extra lap! The sign said “Lap 2 & 3 left, Finish Right”. Since I was on lap 3 (and in my addled state) I wondered if I should go left. I actually started that way when luckily the 310xt saved the day and bleeped up the 6 mile count. I looked down and saw 48mins so knew that I should really be finishing so ducked under the lane tape just in time and crossed the finish line. Whew! All done. A few nervous moments of wondering if I was going to be DQed for not doing enough laps, then relief at realising I was done and my time was good!

Finish time. 2 hours 37 minutes 36 seconds

This is my ‘A’ race this year and my first Olympic Distance. The last few weeks since the Sprint Tri I haven’t been able to put in as much training as I’d like, however I think I’m prepared.

Today I’ve got the usual anxiousness. Mostly about the ancillaries rather than any of the stages, I’m always running through questions like; what time do I need to get up? should I wear my GPS for the whole event (no real reason to do it, but I like the pacing information out on the run)? Should I put bike shoes on in Transition or run barefoot with them to the mount line (Transition at Emberton is quite small and grassy – so I think I’ll run with the shoes on)?

I’m not really looking forward to the run as 10k is a ‘fast’ distance in my mind (unlike say the 13mi of a 70.3, which is more a ‘complete’ rather than ‘compete’ distance). Although I don’t have any trouble with the distance I do know how drained I can feel off the bike. All I can do is push on, I’d really like to go under 50 mins on the run, but I don’t know how likely that is going to be on race day.

I know everyone says, “just go out there and enjoy it”.. but on the other hand you do want to do yourself some justice in the race, and that means pushing and that means pain and that means not enjoying it.. until your done.

Anyway, until tomorrow..

Big Cow MK Tri 2010

Treated myself to a new Garmin. I’ve got the 310XT which is waterproof. Here’s the track from this morning’s OW swim at Broggie.

I’ve also got the cadence sensor, which is now fitted to my Cayo. I’ll see how well that works out tomorrow. So far though I think it’s pretty good – not sure I’d race with it though as it’s quite big and will certainly make getting out of the w/suit harder.

Wow. Been busy since Sunday. Anyway, first Open Water Tri Sprint done!

How did it go? Not too bad, these were my splits

Swim (750m) : 16.04
T1 : 02.00
Ride (20k) : 38.44
T2 : 01.09
Run (5.5k) : 25.07
Total : 1.23.04

My pool sprint Tri at Roade last year was 1h22m, and the run there was much shorter than 5k. So all in all I’m quite happy. Afterwards I thought I could have probably pushed a bit harder in all stages. And a few simple changes in T1 would knock off 30 seconds (forego socks for sprints, remember to leave helmet strap unclipped etc.).

I was a little disappointed with the run, although apparently it was slightly longer than the standard 5k. The watch says my 5k came up in 24:11. I seemed to flag a bit in the middle.

So next up is MK Tri in a couple of weeks time.

First tri this year is 5 days away. Everything seems to be going well at the moment. Got 50+ miles of riding in mid-week by meeting up with some TeamMKers after work. This was good as I hadn’t done a long ride in a while (mostly focusing on race distances) and it was my first ride in a group. Quite different, and a fair bit to get my head around. Not entirely sure I like not seeing exactly what’s coming up when I’m drafting someone else though.

I’ve also been practising getting the w/suit off and can do this sub 30 seconds on occasions.. but now and again my wrists get snagged, which slows me up. I’m hoping this won’t be a problem as this stage will be done on the run from the water and will probably allow me a bit more time to accomplish.

Since my Sprint race is close I held off another long ride on the weekend. Instead I did some more brick intervals on Friday and switched Sunday’s Ride+Run for a Run+Swim+Run. The Swim in the pool felt really good – quite fast and my stroke style I think has benefited from the OW swims in a wetsuit. In fact formwise I’m actually a little disappointed I haven’t booked in a 70.3. I’m fairly sure I could complete one (although I haven’t done the run training for 13 miles), maybe not at my best speed.

My main goal this year is going to be the Olympic Distance MK Tri at the end of July. Right now I’m fairly confident I could probably complete a 70.3, although I have doubts about my knee. I’ve got my first Tri of the year coming up in a couple of weeks, the Big Cow Sprint which takes place at the same venue as the MK Tri. Without compromising my MK Tri plan too much I have started some exercises that I hope will benefit my sprint time.

Swim Drills
I’ve been following some suggested swim drills from 220 Triathlon (“Lunchtime Swims“). I probably need to improve my stroke too, but I think this will have to wait until the winter season now.

Intervals
I hate intervals! They’re always so painful.. but they do seem to work, particularly with my run pace. At the gym I’ve tried mini brick intervals. 5min race pace ride (difficult to judge as the kaiser bikes don’t seem to show speed), followed by 1k run, then 5 min rest. Once the sprint tri is out of the way I’ll bump the distances up, 8/10min ride & 1.5-2k run.

Brick Sessions
My old next door neighbour used to say, “Once you get off your bike, always go for a run no matter how short.” I like it because it feels like it’s preparing me for race day and helps me judge how quickly I need to pace myself. I’ve tried Olympic distance brick sessions, and today a sprint distance.

Transition Practice
I definitely need more of this! I can still make a complete pigs ear of getting out of my wetsuit. I’m still not sure what my bike shoe strategy is through T1 (Run in them? They’re road shoes, so no single strappery, no pull tab on the heel. I’m sure I’d cockup mounting bare foot). Socks? Bike gloves (I always wear them at the moment).. the list goes on. I’ve been practising getting in and out of my wetsuit, at least I know I have to do that (here’s a great video that I’ve found useful “Flawless Triathlon Transitions“)

I went ahead and booked Beverley Triathlon in August (15th). It’ll be cool to compete in the market town I used to school in, and hopefully I’ll get some family support since they’re all pretty local. It’s a pool sprint event and I seem to remember the pool there is pretty good, it’ll be interesting to see where the run route goes too.

I’m toying with entering Roade Sprint Tri again this year too. I’ll see how my July races go first as I’d prefer to focus on the longer course events.

General training levels have gone up by mixing in at least one ride to and from work into the week, plus heading off to the pool on a couple of lunch times for some distance or drills. I had a bit of a break by heading up north to visit family, but at least got a few decent walks in – although my walking boots seemed to trouble my heel a little.

The early morning Saturday OW swims at Brogborough are good as they mean I get something done on Saturdays before I have to look after Jodie, this week I was great as I had ample time to get a mile done and still be back home by 8.30. Since Jodie had a Tennis taster at the gym I also got time to put a 45 minute run in on the treadmill and make sure my heel was okay from the walking.

I finished off the weekend with an Olympic Distance brick session (40k Ride, 10k Run). This was good and bad. I tried out a couple of things. Firstly some SiS gels (The Smart1 caffine / carb gel at about 12mi on the bike, then an Isotonic Carb Go gel at around 22mi ready for the run). I think I prefer the Smart1 although the other was okay too. In a OD Tri I think I’d probably pack a couple more. I also took 500ml of SiS PSP22 on the ride, again this was pretty good.

The other thing I tried was not wearing socks. I think I should have researched this a bit more as this didn’t go wholly to plan. On the ride I had no problems at all even though my dhb R1 bike shoes aren’t Tri specific. The run started off okay except for a tiny bit of grit in my left shoe that kept me distracted, but it was my right that got worse. The first 5k was okay, but after that something started to rub on the inside edge of my foot, then toward my end – possibly because I was changing my gait the heel back to rub too. Probably talc in the shoes would help, I might see if I can identify the seam that was rubbing and coat it in something too. Anyway, I’m sat here typing with two blister plasters on – so a painful lesson learned.