Training Log Archive: fletchIn the 7 days ending Nov 30, 2014:
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Saturday Nov 29, 2014 #
3 PM
Multisport (Tri Club Arvo PAin) 1:25:00 [3] 26.6 km (3:12 / km)
A work colleague (to avoid embarrassing him, I shall call him Caleb - nobody will ever suspect that that is his real name...) has been swim training for quite a while so he can do the swim leg of some big triathlon in Albany in January. He told be a while back that he had been getting coaching and had built up to swimming a kilometre. I quipped back that I could jump in the pool and do that with no training. Then failed to find the motivation to prove it to him - he was highly skeptical.
So then he told me that there was the one and only Saturday afternoon triathlon for the season coming up and that he was doing the long course, and I figured that a swim longer than I have done in 5 years, followed by a road bike longer than anything but the ride to work breakfast that I have done in the last year or two, followed by a 5km run (having run about 20km in the last 2 months) would be a doddle and I would prove my awesomeness and natural superiority by beating him.
He was initially very confident of kicking my butt, but by race day had revised his expectations to "as long as I beat you in the swim, I don't really care what happens after that." Despite this, he still fitted his aero bars to his roadie and had a carefully timed gel before race start. Being 2:30 in the afternoon, I hadn't eaten since breakfast, but stuck a drink bottle of powered on my flat bar commuter bike.
All I knew about the swim is that 12 months ago, I could beat him by a minute over 200m without really trying too hard. But he had been training, the wind was strong, and the 2 lap up and back swim course was going to suck big time.
Off we went, a short leg out into the ocean, followed by turning south into the breeze and chop and slogging it out for 150m. It took about 5 strokes for my goggles to fill with water. I guess that's what you get for 'borrowing' a random pair out of the PE Office). Several mouthfuls of water later, I looked up to see that there were people a long way in front of me, and the turning buoy didn't see to be getting any closer. A lot of struggle and a few breaststroke breaks later, I eventually made the turning buoy and wondered if I had any chance of actually finishing the swim. Fortunately I had a pair of feet to latch on to, so I followed them on the return leg, and the first time I looked up, we were already 2/3 of the way back. So.. it wasn't just my awful swimming, the current etc was actually a significant factor.
Kept tickling the same guy's feet on and off for the entire next lap, which made swimming in a straight line a bit easier, and cruised into the beach. My calves had started threatening to cramp about 3/4 of the way through the swim, but nothing yet.
Nearly last out of the water...
Got into transition OK. A bit slow, as I couldn't get my singlet down over my massive shoulders and out onto the bike. Felt pretty dizzy in transition but OK pretty quickly. The only good part at this point was that Caleb's bike was still sitting in the rack, and was looking quite lonely as I ran the bike out of transition with him still not in sight.
Stomach didn't appreciate my extra salt water intake though, so there was much burping and no drinking until near the end of the first of 3 7km bike laps. Calves also started to cramp after about 5km, which pretty much guaranteed I wasn't going to be pushing overly hard on the bike.
With the wind (the first half of each lap was great. Pushing back into it was not, especially with me being too cramp conscious to actually push hard on the pedals. Passing Caleb each lap it looked like I had about a 2km lead on him for the first 2 laps, and it was starting to stretch out a bit on the 3rd.
Off the bike and into transition to be faced by my shoes which I had pre-tied (no elastic laces for me) with the thought that I would just jam my feet in and take off. Of course I got a massive cramp in my left calf while racking the bike, so after stretching that out, I sat down, united my shoes and gently slipped them on, before trotting off.
Figured I would at least be able to push a bit on the run, but I had nothing in the tank. Calves were twitchy for the first km or so, but even after that I was blowing really hard, getting hot and going nowhere fast. I guess 2 hours of training in the last 2 months was not ideal prep for an unfamiliar type of race that lasts more than an hour...
Fortunately, I could probably hop 5km faster than Caleb can run it, so despite my pathetic 22:30 split (the only bit I remembered to start my watch for) I stretched the gap further. Just waiting for results to be published to get my other shocking leg times and to prove I beat him on all 3 legs. :)
Fun times. Reckon I was about 15 minutes behind the winners. Lots of carbon, aero bars, trip suits and a full disc wheel on display. With a bit of regular training, I reckon i could get pretty close to the front runners (who were riding in a 3 man pack and drafting off each other for the whole bike leg) but seeing as I can't make their usual race time, I reckon I'll get back running and win a marathon instead :)
16:36
43:32
22:34
Plus very slow transitions...
So then he told me that there was the one and only Saturday afternoon triathlon for the season coming up and that he was doing the long course, and I figured that a swim longer than I have done in 5 years, followed by a road bike longer than anything but the ride to work breakfast that I have done in the last year or two, followed by a 5km run (having run about 20km in the last 2 months) would be a doddle and I would prove my awesomeness and natural superiority by beating him.
He was initially very confident of kicking my butt, but by race day had revised his expectations to "as long as I beat you in the swim, I don't really care what happens after that." Despite this, he still fitted his aero bars to his roadie and had a carefully timed gel before race start. Being 2:30 in the afternoon, I hadn't eaten since breakfast, but stuck a drink bottle of powered on my flat bar commuter bike.
All I knew about the swim is that 12 months ago, I could beat him by a minute over 200m without really trying too hard. But he had been training, the wind was strong, and the 2 lap up and back swim course was going to suck big time.
Off we went, a short leg out into the ocean, followed by turning south into the breeze and chop and slogging it out for 150m. It took about 5 strokes for my goggles to fill with water. I guess that's what you get for 'borrowing' a random pair out of the PE Office). Several mouthfuls of water later, I looked up to see that there were people a long way in front of me, and the turning buoy didn't see to be getting any closer. A lot of struggle and a few breaststroke breaks later, I eventually made the turning buoy and wondered if I had any chance of actually finishing the swim. Fortunately I had a pair of feet to latch on to, so I followed them on the return leg, and the first time I looked up, we were already 2/3 of the way back. So.. it wasn't just my awful swimming, the current etc was actually a significant factor.
Kept tickling the same guy's feet on and off for the entire next lap, which made swimming in a straight line a bit easier, and cruised into the beach. My calves had started threatening to cramp about 3/4 of the way through the swim, but nothing yet.
Nearly last out of the water...
Got into transition OK. A bit slow, as I couldn't get my singlet down over my massive shoulders and out onto the bike. Felt pretty dizzy in transition but OK pretty quickly. The only good part at this point was that Caleb's bike was still sitting in the rack, and was looking quite lonely as I ran the bike out of transition with him still not in sight.
Stomach didn't appreciate my extra salt water intake though, so there was much burping and no drinking until near the end of the first of 3 7km bike laps. Calves also started to cramp after about 5km, which pretty much guaranteed I wasn't going to be pushing overly hard on the bike.
With the wind (the first half of each lap was great. Pushing back into it was not, especially with me being too cramp conscious to actually push hard on the pedals. Passing Caleb each lap it looked like I had about a 2km lead on him for the first 2 laps, and it was starting to stretch out a bit on the 3rd.
Off the bike and into transition to be faced by my shoes which I had pre-tied (no elastic laces for me) with the thought that I would just jam my feet in and take off. Of course I got a massive cramp in my left calf while racking the bike, so after stretching that out, I sat down, united my shoes and gently slipped them on, before trotting off.
Figured I would at least be able to push a bit on the run, but I had nothing in the tank. Calves were twitchy for the first km or so, but even after that I was blowing really hard, getting hot and going nowhere fast. I guess 2 hours of training in the last 2 months was not ideal prep for an unfamiliar type of race that lasts more than an hour...
Fortunately, I could probably hop 5km faster than Caleb can run it, so despite my pathetic 22:30 split (the only bit I remembered to start my watch for) I stretched the gap further. Just waiting for results to be published to get my other shocking leg times and to prove I beat him on all 3 legs. :)
Fun times. Reckon I was about 15 minutes behind the winners. Lots of carbon, aero bars, trip suits and a full disc wheel on display. With a bit of regular training, I reckon i could get pretty close to the front runners (who were riding in a 3 man pack and drafting off each other for the whole bike leg) but seeing as I can't make their usual race time, I reckon I'll get back running and win a marathon instead :)
16:36
43:32
22:34
Plus very slow transitions...
C • Wow! 12