After the disaster of last weekend's marathon it's nice to race (even a really short one) and feel good about everything.
New course this year and I like it. The run as three laps instead of two made it feel shorter, even though I think it was longer.
Swim (500 meters):
I predicted my swim time to be 11:00. My actual time was a little longer than that but it didn’t have to be (I was probably slightly over 12). There were 4 of us per lane. I was the second starter in my lane. The first starter in my lane was the slowest of the 4 of us. I tried to draft him the whole way – as an experiment/learning experience. What did I learn? Successful drafting requires that you fid someone who swims at very close to one's desired swim pace. At Chinook in two weeks I will attempt the drafting experiment again. I wound up waiting at the wall for a pregnant pause to open some space and then catch up ½ way across the pool at which point I would slow down to draft him. Repeat this procedure over and over until the swim was finished. A poor strategy but that's fine, I was there to learn. I did not hate the swim. And, 11:00/500 meters is probably a good predictor of my swim pace this summer. Last year’s time was 14:01 so I was much faster this year. Two year’s ago I was around 12 minutes so I am sure that I am faster than that, too (even though my official time will not show it).
Bike (12 km):
My original plan was to ride at heart rate of 150/minute, again, as a simple experiment. But, I did not have my watch set up to show heart rate so that plan went out the window. Instead I decided that since the distance is so short I would just go pretty hard… 80%? I averaged 28.3 km/hour at a heart rate of 161/minute. This seems too slow for that effort but this may be a results of too many tight corners that slowed the speed too much too often? Plus this average speed includes time in transition so it is artificially lowered. Overall I was very happy with my ride. Last year’s time 23:34 which was an average speed of 2:21/km. This year was 2:07/km so faster (all of these times include the transitions).
Run (5 km):
I wanted to ensure that I ran at least 4:55/km and was thinking I would try to run 4:45/km. I managed 4:45 with substantial but not killer effort. I feel really good about this run. It was short, to be sure, but it was useful to simply focus on “being in the moment” and keeping the legs pumping. I am very happy with the run. Last year’s time was 23:01. This year was 24:42. I am surprised by this and feel certain that this year must have been slightly further as I am very happy with this year’s run and was not that happy last year. Last year I walked a couple of times and Raj actually waited for me. This year I think I was slowly – very slowly closing on Raj although I am not certain and will have to wait for the official time to find out. It's possible that the reverse is true and that he was slowly opening the distance between us.
***Update***
1:05:45 my official time.
41/94 overall
10/17 Men 40-49
86th fastest swim
50th fastest bike
29th fastest run
Raj beat me by 0:59 in the swim, 0:35 on the bike, and 0:04 on the run.
I really thought I was slightly closing on the run… nope.
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