Sunday 29 November 2015

Western Sydney IM 70.3 - "coming from behind"



Short report:
Swim      47:52 (850/1050 overall, 131/162 AG) 81st percentile overall and AG
T1.          01:43 (194 & 24) 
Bike.       2:27:50 (188 & 38) 18th / 23rd perc
T2.          01:24 (232 & 42)
Run.        1:30:57 (80 & 14) 8th / 9th perc
Overall.   4:49:48 (198 & 35) 19th / 22nd perc

Long report:
Entered this race as soon as it opened. It was pay back time after recording my first DNF (details in previous report - simply put: gastro from kids) at the inaugural race in 2014.

It was also supposed to act as a second attempt at going sub 5 if I failed at Challenge Forster. Given that I had gone sub 5 I was now wondering why? I knew the non wetsuit swim would make it hard to get a PB and the heat could hurt the run. On the plus side I knew I had the sub 5 I wanted in the bag, so could risk going hard and blowing up etc. But I think one of the main motivations was that this was a big tri with a big field and with places up for grabs in the worlds (Mooloolaba in 2016) the field should be strong. This would provide a good testing ground wrt percentiles as to whether the improvements seen in recent tri's were real or just statistical anomalies based on smaller fields and the competitors turning up.

One thing I do need to look into (if I do 3 tri's in 4 weekends again) how best to recover and train in between - no idea if I managed that well or not. Evidently I managed it well enough but could it have been better?

Race day:
Alarm at 3:30 quick bit of food (bagel with butter and honey, up and go and a banana) and then into the car for 4. Drank my iced coffee in the car on route to Penrith that and electrolyte. Made good time despite not being able to see properly as my contacts weren't working properly. Got all my stuff into transition without a fuss, and dropped my bag in the bag drop. Now had c45 mins before my wave went off at 6:33. Walked around in the drizzle made several trips back to the boat house to have a drink of water. Saw Nick and his mate chatted to them for a bit. Did some stretching, but just wanted to get on with it....

Swim:
Called down for the start. I took up a position on roughly the 3rd row to the RHS. I had decided to swim down the rope on the inside. This would be the shortest route around the course, but would potentially leave me open to being swum over by the waves behind. I made the assumption that the faster people that over took me would be capable of looking ahead and avoiding me - this proved largely to be the case. I just wanted to get my head down and try and stop my legs dredging the bottom of the lake. Turned around at c21mins - the second half of the swim is slightly longer. So I knew I wasn't going to break any records ;-). Was a tough swim all in all with no wetsuit and struggling with the lack of buoyancy and extra drag which highlighted the significant flaws in my stroke. Felt like the stroke was short and my legs were hanging. Was surprised that my watch read nearly 48mins when I got out. That was slower than i had expected and not that much quicker than last year and I had thrown up three times on that swim, rolled and called for aid before doggy paddling out by myself.....

More importantly 48 was nearly 9 minutes slower than at Challenge Forster 4 weeks ago - when I set my HIM PB. There went my chance of a PB. I was still hoping to set a PB on the bike and run but not expecting to be able to knock that much off...

Bike:

Set out on the bike hard, wanted to gain time (and places) on the people who are still stuffing around after leaving transition. Felt good on the bike and quickly got down to business. Taking places and ticking along at a good rate. Started switching places with a female rider. This continued for most of the first lap. Not sure who was surging but she often got away and then I would come rolling passed a few minutes later. This came to a finish in some traffic and she got the jump on me and I didn't see her again until the run. Rode solo most of the bike passing a lot and getting passed a fair bit as well. Was happy to overtake some people with disc wheels and full aero helmets. Got passed by the pro's on the second lap - they were motoring. The drag was unbelievable. They all came passed at c40k/hr one by one. Clearly all benefiting from the draft, but them's the rules. Maybe if I could get out of the swim with people higher up I would end up doing the same thing?!?!

Felt my effort start to drift by the end of the first lap. I was concerned I had gone too hard to early and that I was going to pay for my "go hard or go home" attempt. On the second lap I felt I got into a better rhythm. I found a level of pain and cadence I was happy with and cranked it out. Guessing it was me surging on the first lap then. Had a real low spot coming up to 80k could feel the pace slipping. As I got passed by a road bike with clip ons I was getting concerned it was all falling apart! I grabbed some water and had a gel and came firing back. I smashed back passed the roadie and pushed hard until the end. Again I was looking for time benefits vs the people easing off into transition. The last 10k hurt and was relying on being able to hold the run together. I felt I had worked really hard on the bike and was equally as happy that I was going under 2:30 (my aim). Ended up over 2 mins under, which was a 7 min pick up on Challenge Forster. Clearly I wasn't able to do the maths properly. But I knew that was a big gain and by checking my timing on way out of T2 I knew a 1:30 run would get be a PB run and a PB HIM to boot. So through transition quickly and off to see if I could hold a 90min half....
Heart rate high at the begining again and then trending down before pushing hard in final ten 10k. Cadence at avg of low 80s is lower than I would have liked. Found myself reverting to pushing out a lower cadence in higher gear, rather than spinning a smaller gear. 
Lap 1 Avgs: 36.7km/h 155bpm 241 Watts (est'd by Strava)
Lap 2 Avgs: 36.2km/h 147bpm 230 Watts

Run:
Out on the run the usual strange running feeling for first few k. Feels like running slowly but then the Garmin starts buzzing at 4:05s and 4:09s so I know I am running well enough. Was happy with the pace so set out to hold it for as long as I could. Had a few people for company early doors - a group from a younger AG (the lead one running in energy link kit). Held them off for a bit until he kicked and came past. I was still holding sub 4:15s which meant sub 1:30 was still on (in theory) but a while still to go. 

Coming round to get my first band and was overtaken by a balmoral person. I had been cheering on (as much as I could) other balmoral athletes, but without my Club kit on, they were probably wondering why I was. I tried to stick with him and managed a couple of k, but then he started to pull ahead. That was at about the 12k mark and also the mark at when the going got tough....


The times just started to slip northwards. First it was over 4:15s then over 4:20s. Then a few over 4:30s and it was all starting to slip away. The aid stations just couldn't come quick enough. I was taking on a couple of mouthfuls of water on the run at each aid station and that helped for a k or so, but then back to holding out for the next aid station. I didn't want to stop and take a proper drink for fear of not being able to start again, so I kept going and hoped I could hold on. The last few ks were painful - the sun was fully out and the temperature was rising. I was checking the watch over and over trying to do the maths. Was I going to make it, what did I need to do. I knew that a sub 90 was off the cards. But was a run PB and was the overall PB??? I knew I had some time in the bank from the first half, but not that much that too many 4:30s wouldn't soon erode. But how much did I have left to give. I upped the effort level after 19k but that didn't impact the timing with that very very minor incline over the bridge.... 20k click passed and I had to go for it. I couldn't let this slip. I really pushed and people I was over taking would have heard me either shouting "come on" at myself or swearing when I saw the time slipping by. I wasn't on the finish shoot with less than a minute to go. How long was the shoot??? F*** its all gone wrong, I can't make it in time.

Pushed all the way down the shoot, no effort spared. Seconds ticking by all the time (as they do) and crossed the line with a new PB....just. 8 seconds to be exact. Looking at the km splits below it shows how my last k was 20 seconds quicker than the one before and that was what got me over the line. So I was pretty pleased crossing the line and taking home a PB after that god awful swim. Quite chuffed all in all.

I have never drunk so much liquid post race, I just stood in front of the water cups refilling or grabbing more. Then occasionally grabbing an ice cream before heading back for more water. But I had the medal and towel, had avenged last year and taken home an unexpected PB to boot.
Heart rate climbing throughout the run (start 151 - end 178). Pacing on the other hand tailed off as the k's ticked by only picking up for the burst at the end.

Last k shows a pick up in pace which was the difference between getting the PB and not. Run was going well until just over the half way point when it started to get tough and increasingly so.

Reflection:
Logistically I couldn't complain, I had my electrolyte in transition. The bike bladder worked well and having no bottle in the rocket launcher meant I didn't lose one over the rough ground like last year and all the bottles over the road pointed to this year. Given the 45mins since leaving transition and race start I could have done with extra liquid then but the trips to the fountain gave me something to do.

Having come out with such a slow swim I was ecstatic to get a PB over all. I pulled back c9 minutes. Which in turn meant I set a big bike PB (7mins) and a run PB (1min). I also had to and subsequently managed to fight for that PB in the last k - so a great sense of satisfaction. As the yellow highlighted kms above show the extra effort in the last k got me my PB. It was by no means guaranteed but I scraped over the line.

However, my swim was a disgrace again and I need to get on top of that - but that is not new news. The comparison to a larger and deeper field also meant that my "improvement" on the bike in recent events was put into perspective. Whilst I am in no doubt I couldn't have pushed that avg speed a few years ago the percentile was c20th (few years ago I was c50th) there is still some improvement to be had. I am not one of the big boys pushing out 40km/h for k after k. So in keeping with the increasing interest in cycling and crits, 2016 will be more focused on the bike with Mt Solitary thrown in to keep me honest on the running side of the equation.

All in all, 3 triathlons in 4 weekends (and 3 PBs) meant a well earned trip to Maccy D's for some nuggets and a quarter pounder. Luckily I remembered the TT bike on the roof and didn't go for the drive through option!









Sunday 22 November 2015

Husky Olympic Distance - "if only I could swim...."

Husky Olympic Distance (TriSeries by Elite Energy) - "if only I could swim...."

Short report:

Swim    00:31:59 (168/235 Overall 36/42 in AG)
T1         00:01:38 (38 & 8)
Bike      01:07:04 (13 & 2)
T2         00:01:14 (68 & 13)
Run       00:40:19 (16 & 4)

Overall  02:22:16 (33 & 7)


On land  13th overall and 4th in AG


Long report:

Entered this race as a mate was doing it with a group. He was coming back from ankle opps and this was his first step back on the road to an IronMan. Plus it was relatively close to Sydney and a chance to see Jervis Bay AND have another dig at going sub 2:30. I also thought it would act as a good last training session ahead of Western Sydney 70.3 (if I needed to still break the 5hr barrier there that is.....).

Drove down with Chris on the Saturday afternoon and arrived at the house in Vincentia at c4:30. After tinkering with all our race equipment (there were four of us doing the standard distance) we headed into Huskisson to get some early dinner at the Huskisson Hotel. We checked out transition before heading to the pub. A quick beer and fish and chips (professional athlete food!) and we were on our way back. I organised all the bags and kit for next day and then took the opportunity for an early night, turning in at c8:15. That would mean 8hrs sleep as the alarms were set for 4:15 - hadn't had 8 hours sleep for a while!

Race day
Alarms went at 4:15, quick breakfast and then time to pump tyres before rolling the 6k into town. I had been having problems with my valve (requiring the entire valve to come out in order to unlock the top bit). Thus I knew it wasn't quite right but it had been like that for a while now and always worked. However, this time it decided to not hold air anymore, so a quick change of inner tube was required but all went well and no real time lost. 

Registration was easy, as was Transition and the cold coffee (brewed the night before) had done its job so all was well. Race briefing was undertaken just before heading down to the beach.

Swim
Swim was a two lap course set out as a triangle. The water was flat and the setting was lovely. 7:03 my wave went off, just about negotiated the large rock on the RHS of the water start and then just tried to get into a rhythm. Swim was fairly uneventful apart from the rubbing on my neck, obviously hadn't done the wetsuit up properly around my neck - this was going to be sore. On exiting the water I saw a time of just under 32 mins. Which was what I would have been happy with before, but felt I had been having a good swim (for me) so was hoping for closer to 30. But hey ho, neither would make much difference.

Bike
Had to run up some stairs to transition (and struggled somewhat with legs not working so well). Before grabbing the bike and heading out on to the course. It was a two lap out and back route. The route was undulating with two rises of note. One about half way out, which I got wrong and allowed a guy going at a very similar pace to get by - took until town both times to get back in front. Probably more to do with him easing up in town as opposed to anything else. The other was the last k before the turnaround, which was just a long gradual grind.

I was reasonably happy with the level of effort maintained. Although I did go out a tad bit hard. Will need to look at the difference between the two laps. HR was 160+ for a good while on lap 1 whereas I would have said was lower c150 for the rest. 
Bike leg - HR clearly higher at beginning and tailing off on the second lap (Lap1 - 161avg, Lap2 - 154avg)

Had 3 gels (1k, 20k, 35k) which worked well and the bladder with energy in it. No aid on course and found myself a tad thirsty towards end of bike. Tipping the bike up when fixing tyre before hand meant I lost some liquid which I forgot to top up. Plus I hadn't bought liquid to transition before the race. Need to ensure have a bottle in transition next week. All up I was happy with effort on the bike (would have liked to be able to maintain early race pace but probably not achievable and had gone too hard), but didn't realise quite how well it would stack up versus the rest.

Run
Legs felt worse than usual as I hit the run. Given I was thirsty I didn't take my caffeine gel immediately. First 2ks were c4;05. Got to aid station and managed to throw water down my throat in my excitement which caused coughing and spluttering...real professional like. Next 2ks slipped to c4:20. Was planning on gel at 5k, but took it early and the benefit was almost immediate. Energy levels up and times dropped again. Whether mental or physical it worked....


Run leg HR - start 155, finish 170. Small scale but shows holding steady for first half increasing in the second. 
At beginning of the run also had to contend with what felt like my left leg / calf beginning to cramp. Or feeling like it was going to. So another reason for easing myself into it in the first half. I certainly didn't want to blow up. Leaving T2 at 1:42 I knew that barring a blow up I was well on for a sub 2:30. After the gel started feeling better and on the second lap the 'cramp' feeling and 'stitch' feeling that was present at the beginning of the run had gone and I could push on. On my second lap I saw Dave, Jon and Chris all out on the run course (they were in the RaceYaMates wave which set off 9 mins after me - Dave must have been reasonably close to catching me on the swim....).

With the final turnaround done I remembered that sometimes these courses run short compared to what my garmin is telling me so that was extra incentive to push hard and try to get close to 40 mins. My garmin was not telling me this was on, but if it was running short then could be feasible??? I couldn't see anyone ahead who was looking like they were on their 2nd lap so didn't see anyone to chase down. Continued to pick up the pace and finished the run well in 40:19 (as I has suspected the garmin was running long versus the actual course).

Finished in 2:22:16 which was well within my PB of c2:36 and well below 2:30, so I was quite chuffed. I was even more chuffed when I looked at the full results which said I was 2nd and 4th respectively in my age group for the bike and run (5th & 10th percentile). And 13th and 16th overall (5th & 7th percentile). This meant my bike was better than my run for the first time ever, which I was very pleased with. It does raise some questions as to whether if I had fueled better would my run have been even better? Was all the running I had done this year allowing me to go harder on the bike and hold up on the run? Was my bike now better than my running? Should I just have pushed harder on the run?

But the main question was wrt my swimming - 86th percentile in AG and 71st percentile overall. As my run and bike have gotten better, the swim was becoming an increasingly big limiting factor. Maybe it is time to learn to swim properly or at least put in more time in the pool......

Lessons learnt:

  • don't turn your Shiv upside down when the bladder is full
  • take two spare inner tubes so that if you use one pre race you have a spare for the race
  • take a drink with you for pre-race and leave in transition
  • ensure wetsuit is done up properly and nothing rubbing
  • learn to swim before the age of 10
  • no matter how many races you do there are always mistakes made, usually similar to previous races. Maybe one day I will remember everything and have no lessons to learn?



Jon finishing strong in first triathlon

Chris matching his first Tri time post opp





Monday 9 November 2015

Challenge Forster HIM November 2015

Short report: time (overall rank/AG rank)
Swim 0:38:57 (156 of 202 / 24 of 29)
Bike 2:35:06 (34 / 6)
Run 1:32:06 (18 / 3)
T1 & T2 2:12 / 1:34
Overall 4:49:56 (31 / 8)

Long report:
Pre race training/objectives: 
My last number of halves hadn't been the best attempts at a PB, being too extreme (AxTri), too little training (Mallorca 70.3 x2; Challenge Batemans Bay) or a DNF (Western Sydney 70.3). As such a 2011 half in Milton Keynes still stood as the benchmark (5:06 - 39: /2:53: /1:31:46) as did the target of going sub 5. I came into this tri fit but without a lot of tri specific training. This and western Sydney 70.3 were originally my A races for 2016 until the Sydney marathon came up and the quest for sub 3 took over. The marathon was done (and target achieved) on sept 20. I then did very little for a few weeks and neglected my running and diet. No runs since then of over 10k. I focussed on the bike to the detriment of the run and swim, fearing that all the running for the mara had put my bike back (which had improved over the last few years). 

Coming into the race I was hoping for a PB on swim and bike and to be close on the run. Swimming had seen no improvement over the years with limited time spent on that discipline. That said I did do 5.1k in the week leading up to the race over three swims...

Pre race: 
We drove up on the Friday and found our accomodation to be very central to the race - T2 and the finish line were directly underneath the apartments we were in. The Beaches appartments were really nice and very well located for the race and the views of main beach and 9 mile beach weren't bad either. Minimal prep the day before, not as easy as it once was to while away hours packing, rearranging and tinkering with ones bike when you have a 1 and 3 year old. As such prep was done when they were down with fingers crossed that nothing was wrong with my kit or the bike. I packed my wetsuit just in case even though the water temp was 28degrees the day before. Annoying for me being such a bad swimmer....

Race day:
Alarm at 4, food, pump tyres and leave at 5 for the 5k cycle to the swim start and T1. Unfortunately it was cold, dark and pissing down so I was soaked and cold by the time I got to the start. However, I was very happy when I was told that it was wetsuit optional for age groupers doing the half (????? Not sure why though). I was beginning to shiver so I was happy to get the wetsuit on. I made sure I heaved it up as much as possible. I had only trief it once down at balmoral and suffered as it was very tight on the shoulders when not pulled up properly. After pulling a few bindis from my feet I decided to enter the water. It was like a bath and very pleasant compared to the pissing rain and wind on the bank.

Swim:
Swim was 2 laps and with the entire field being fairly small we were only split by over and under 40s. Swam without incident and was pleased to see c18mins after first lap. Without many waves to overtake me also made the swim more pleasant. The wetsuit worked well (orca3.8) and glad I bought it along just in case. Will be interesting to see the difference at western Sydney in a few weeks time as that will surely be a non-wetsuit swim. Came out of the water and saw sub 39! PB this put me in a good mood even though it was still raining. Bit of stuffing around with socks (should have left off given they were already wet and got wetter) and was off on the bike.

Bike:
The course was largely flat with a few undulations. Despite not having my HRM (not sure where that went in the packing) I felt comfortable controlling my effort from my legs rather than through cardio. I was picking up places pretty easily (benefit if being relatively rubbish at swimming) and was feeling good. A two lap course 50k then 35k with the 5k back to T2.

I was pretty happy with the set up on the bike. 5 gels - one immediately and then one every 20k. I had electrolyte in my bladder and filled it up with endura 3 times. Puncture repair kit in the rocket launcher (tied in with elastic bands) and the food pouch duct taped to the plastic underneath. In hindsight I do lose time through the feed stations by slowing to fill my bladder from the bottle and discard it within the zone allowed. Maybe will look at a different set up or one of those bottle carriers between the tri bars - every second counts.


Em and Amy made it out on to the course for the end of lap one, so I saw them twice which was a great boost! Only got over taken once on the bike and had moved up 93 positions from 146th to 53rd. With an average speed of nearly 35km I was pretty happy. And it was c18mins quicker than my PB HIM time. The sub 5 was on as long as my run held up. T2 involved a quick change of socks. And despite not having bothered to check out the layout worked it out by someone else getting it wrong and hearing/seeing that unfold. And then on to the run.

Run:
The run was a 2.5 lap course and pretty flat. Pacing felt OK although it was sitting around 4:20 when I started to get km splits on my watch. So not as fast as I had run the entire marathon in but it was the pace that felt right. After only a few kms my shoelace in my left shoe came undone. Didn't bother to fix it as didn't want to waste time and who trips over their own shoelaces? A myth surely as anyone with a reasonable stride length will be nowhere near treading on their own laces. As the were elastic laces the tension was being maintained and thus the shoe felt fine. Pretty much everyone I passed said "mate your shoe laces". I know they were trying to be helpful but I also wondered (and I had a while to consider this ie c18kms) how they thought I didn't know given that the laces were flapping about and hitting my other leg mid stride???

Em, Amy and Henry were supporting well and about half way I was doing the maths and worked out that a sub 5 was still well on but a PB run wasn't. So I said I will run down the shoot with Amy. Continued chasing people down and mulling over when to pick the pace. Instead the pace felt to be drifting..... Happy with the gel plan of one every 5k with the 4th pulled earlier to 18/19k. The real benefit of the mara training that I noticed was that 21.1k didn't seem like a long run and seemed to go by quickly.

As I was nearing the finish I saw I was on for sub 4:50. I saw Em drop Amy over the hoarding and I took her hand and we ran down the shoot together, picking her up to cross the line. I gave my medal to her and as you can see below she was so happy!!!


As was I, sub 5 done, PB swim and bike (with the bike being a big PB) and a pretty much dead on run time. Had I done my maths right I would have pushed to get inside my last time, but by that point I was already committed to running the finish with Amy and was glad I did. Happy to let that PB escape me by 20 secs and come back for it another time - like western Sydney at the end of the month when I have no support crew.

Moved up another 21 spots after leaving T2 and finished 31st overall and 8th in AG. Percentiles were c 85th, 20th and 10th. So swim slipping against the Aussies despite getting 'quicker', but the bike gains were in the bike. 

Questions remain as to how to race western Sydney? How much further can I pull my bike down as I am loving the riding at the moment. HurtSquad should keep the run up to scratch, but will I ever pull my finger out on the swim? Or does a duathlon beckon?




One happy camper!






View from the balcony - beach bums and the finish.