Finally - after over a year of waiting got a race done - the Newport Triathlon Sprint Distance. In summary it was a very mixed bag for me.
Let’s start with the weather. Morning was great temperature - 68F and clear skies, but lurking out in the Atlantic was Hurricane Larry really far away but created quite the gnarly seas. Race organizers decided to shorten the swim due to safety…they made the right call. Winds were from the south at about 17mph sustained - so quite the windy day.
Swim: The swim is definitely my strongest discipline, or so I thought until yesterday, but then also realized it is. The start was a 10 sec stagered start. I was towards the front. Once we hit the water I soon found myself at the front. But, the organizers decided to use the white marker for the wake area of the beach instead of the nice bright yellow buoys. I ran into troubled as I couldn’t see the buoy as the waves were cresting at maybe 5-6 feet and veered off course being at the front - it was to my left by quite a bit. Quickly moved over and started to chase…and then things went wrong. I took two big gulps of water and had to stop to regain composure. Once around the buoy started coming back noticed a lady in trouble. So I stopped to hold her afloat until safety paddle board showed up. This really tired me out but finally made it to the beach and walked for the most part to transition to recover. Later found out many people didn’t make it to the buoy and many were surfed back in. Final result 9:24, but who know the distance. 69th of 136, but rescued a swimmer.
Bike: The bike course iwas 10.6 miles. The start of the bike was all about recovering from the swim and drinking. The first half is long up slope to the halfway mark. I am heavier know these roads inside out and just kept it at threshold or just under knowing I could bomb on the way back down. So naturally lots of people passing me on the way up - I just knew I would see them later. Kept to plan, finally body felt ready to go on the halfway mark and jsut start to push on the way back. Riding these roads 2-3 times a week is great. Felt good overall and passed many of the same people that went past me on the way up. Overall: 35:20, averaged only 17.9mph. 35th fastest time…not too bad.
Oh yeah I need to run…well the run and I just don’t get along. It was pure misery plus all the fatigue from the swim was catching up. maintained a mostly steady pace of 9:40/mile. Everyone, and I mean everyone just kept running past. Towards the end this 68 yo lady came by as well - kudos to her. Crossed the finish line and collapsed. Run time 30:34. 92nd fastest - in other words one of the slowest
Overall Time: 1:17:39.
Overall Place: 61/136
BUT most importantly accomplished my goal: 2nd in my age group!!
Don’t know how I missed this thread…I’m over in the IM thread with some 70.3’s scheduled for this fall, but as part of prep I like to do a local international distance race series - love this distance. Had my first intl race this past weekend, first tri since Dec 2019. Ocean swim of 16:40 for 852m, bike of 50:18 for 31km, and run of 1:02:00 for 10.1k.
Swim and bike went fine - a bit disappointed in run as between miles 4-5 the mental ghosts got the best of me and I took a couple of walk breaks - stupid humid (as usual in FL), dripping sweat, and I think I overdid the on-course Gatorade as well. Also, probably over-biked (as usual) as I averaged my exact FTP for the 50 minute ride when my previous TTE (according to WKO5) was 33 minutes!
Run trouble doesn’t bode well for 70.3 Augusta in a couple of weeks, so def need to chill out on the bike!
Blenheim Palace Triathlon for me yesterday… First Triathlon after saying I couldn’t swim and taking the Duathlon choice. Safe to say that I loved every second. Great route, support and marshaling. Very well organised and signposted, too.
25th out of around 5,000 males in the sprint distance.
The 750m swim got extended… Because I can’t sight and got lost!
My final event of the year was another duathlon, though I did get two other triathlons in over the course of the last month (both reasonably low key events, one the National Relays which is just a mad training day where teams of 4 complete swims, bikes and runs but not continuously, and the other being our club sprint tri on the first day back in the open water having been not allowed to swim for the best part of 3 months).
This particular duathlon was run on a motorcycle race track, so lovely tarmac, very open corners and completely traffic free. The run was on an access path that runs around the perimeter of the track, really unnoteworthy in every respect but interesting because as it was between tyre walls it was sheltered from the wind. I was down on the time I would have liked but that is due to a number of motivation/fatigue factors and I am super happy with how I did.
On to the bike and as I said the course was great. Basically it was a large triangle, two of the corners might as well have not been threre though as there was no need to stop pedaling as you went around them and the 3rd was a good challenge in terms of how much speed I was willing to carry through it. I am not the most confident of bike handlers so it was really nice when I was able to actually make up ground on th person I was chasing coming through the corner! It would have been accurately described as flat but theres no such thing as 100% flat so there was one straight that went up a bit, one that went down a bit and one that went a bit up and down. Due to the prevailing wind the fastest part of the course was when I was being blown up the incline and then turning into a reasonably stiff headwind with about a 7kph speed differential going downwards!
On to the second run and it was detonation central! It was only 2.4km but I am pretty sure that there wasnt a step where I didnt want to stop running and just walk the rest in but I gritted the teeth and carried on.
I had originally thought that I would do another duathlon in a few weeks but I am completely burned out. We had our second child 3 months ago and this was a race too far for me. I look back and honestly wonder why I entered it at all, past Simon is looking very silly to present Simon. I have, however, had an excellent year and there isnt a lot I would change about the things that have happened. Now looking forward to some exercise hibernation and coming back refreshed and stronger ready for next year!
Swim: 6:36 for 400m. Felt like a hard effort so not sure why my time was 20-30 secs off what I expected. Only rationale I can come up with is that my trisuit isn’t an ideal fit for swimming.
Bike: Out of T1 I lost time when my arm rest pad flew off and I had to recover it. I averaged 38.3kph on flat roads, albeit with a number of junctions and poor surfaces. Again, expected more as I recently rode a 25TT in 56mins on my road bike but just couldn’t get settled and get the power down.
Run: I had no idea of my position coming out of T2 so I just gave it what I had. Went off a little quick in 3:17 for the first k but then settled in before emptying it in the last k of 3:13. Run split of 16:53.
Took the win in 52:01 by just over 2 minutes. It was only a local event but still counts as my first win in a tri after 10 years in the sport!
Sounds like Darley Moor…am I correct??? Did it last year and managed to qualify for sprint duathlon world champs which I’m going to in Spain in Nov…happy memories of that place!
You are exactly correct! I really enjoyed it. The only thing I’d change is that the friend who I booked to do it with did his back in about a week after we had booked it so couldn’t come! “Sadly” he’s had to move his entry to the event there in May next year so I’m going to have to go and do another!
Last Race Report! It’s been a few days since my race this past weekend. About 2 weeks prior I signed up for the Toughman USAT Olympic Aquabike National Championships in Stony Brook, NY. We had previously signed the kids to race the NE Regionals, so why not try Olympic for the first time especially no run. My training had been TR Sprint LV and it clearly showed that it was not enough but was happy to have done the race.
The morning was cold ~55F but the water was really ice on a lake - soooo different than the swells from 2 weeks prior. So I thought the swim was going to be great - well…not quite. I finished the swim in 29:15 (about 1:56/100 pace), waaay off than what I know I can do. I did wear wetsuit and in hindsight I think I should have skipped it. It was only my 3rd go with one And my arms just felt tired (training in 10 m pool has its hindrances). Came out of the water in 61st overall of 109. @Joelrivera not sure you wnat me swimming your events anymore
Transition was slow, just trying to recover a bit since the goals just blew out of the window and I had a feeling the bike course was going to be a bit tough (didn’t preview).
The bike…overall I did okay and actually on par with my bike fitness level. It was a hilly course at least for me. 25 miles with 1700 ft elevation and quite a few spots with 10%+ grades. The way out was fun long downhill. The way back, having low FTP and still heavy, made the return rather slow and painful. Half way through my back was screaming for me to get off the aero position, again have only been training for sprints. A the end completed the bike in 1:34:46. NP was 180W, avg speed 16 mph.
Overall finished in 2:06:27. 69th overall (of 109) and 6th in my age group…out of 6 .
Kids on the other hand rocked it. My 10 yo finished 6th of 22 and my 6 yo also finished 6th of 19. Next year will be team 666…okay, we wont.
Season is over. Doing some fun riding but starting more work on the run. Swim will need to get back in a proper 25 yd pool and much more time in open water on a wetsuit. Planning in doing traditional base for the end of the year to work on just aerobic. I have some comebacks to do with myself next year!
Kinda super extraordinarily late, but an update on USAT Nationals from early August.
I laid a massive egg.
Swim was OK for me, but when I got onto the bike and went to put down power, there was nothing there. Normally for an Oly I was doing around 320W average, and I struggled mightily to hit 280. So I was way behind pace on the bike and came into T2 with thrashed legs from my “hard” effort on the bike which hampered my run.
I had planned on around 2:05 and ended up 2:15.
I’m still not sure what happened aside from perhaps it was just one of those proverbial “bad days” but everything in my prep was spot on and honed from earlier season races. The only other variable that it could be would have been the air quality index which was around 60-80 on raceday. But I never really struggled to breath, it was just my legs.
Anyways I’ve got a sprint in Napa Valley on Halloween to try and re-qualify for nationals again because…unfinished business. (I missed re-qualifying at Nationals by 1 spot) After that it’s XC ski season. Come 2022 I think a “B” goal is actually going to be doing well at Nationals because I’m seriously toying with the idea of making a KQ attempt next November. But goals are not yet set.
The other thing I’ve recently done is hired an actual coach that I’m pretty excited about. I’ve been doing endurance events for the last 16 years and always coaching myself. Probably about time I had somebody else try to shake things up and see if we can’t eek out some extra performance and carry me to some lofty heights. (Also probably good to have somebody really force me to hone my swim. As a 193cm guy with big flippers, paddles, and fantastic body awareness, my swim should be a weapon.)
I’m about to book a place for next years Staffordshire 70.3, which will be my B event for Outlaw Nottingham - before I do, I’d be interested if anyone has experience of Staffordshire, i’m hoping to use a road bike rather than TT.
Paging all Europeans - and non-Europeans who like to travel!
Anybody up for the Hamburg Wasser World Triathlon event next year? it’s on July the 9-10th; an age group race (sprint and Olympic, both non-drafting) in the very city center will accompany the WTCS Hamburg elite event. You get to finish on the blue World Triathlon carpet and cross their blue finishing chute, turning yourself into an (old, fat, slow, non-French-speaking) Vincent Luis or Cassandre Beaugrand.
Hamburg is advertised as “the largest triathlon in the world” with 10 thousand participants (at least pre-COVID), although it seems to me that London has actually been bigger than that.
There are very few opportunities to race a bike leg enclosed in the city center, Hamburg, London and Chicago being among them.
I loved doing the Leeds ITU event the first year it was here and I can confirm there is something very cool about running along the blue carpet. If I could convince the Mrs that we needed to extend the running holiday that we have booked in France to include a swift trip over to Germany then I would do it, but I doubt that is going to fly.
The carpet I finished along in 2020 was technically blue and it said “World Triathlon” on the chute, but it was just a continental cup in one of our mid-sized cities and definitely not the same feeling as Hamburg. Also, I had had a massive blow-up on the run and I wasn’t in the mood.
There must’ve been something in the air up in Stony Point, NY. Totally my worst race of the season for me too. Just never got my race mindset right and felt like I was just rolling around the bike course. Probably could have done more hill training but just had zero legs. Oh well, on to 2022!
.