My results/reflection from Shepparton 70.3 are as follows:
1.9km Swim 0:41:23
I had a great swim at Shepparton as I stuck on the right of the course and may have swam a longer distance compared to other athletes but I was comfortable. I am a better swimmer without a wetsuit so in the next few weeks/months, I will need to spend more time swimming with one (wetsuit) and work on my swim with just pull bouy and paddles. I wasn't exhausted coming out of the 1.9km swim so that is a good thing to note.
T1: 0:3:58
Now that I have experienced a Long Course T1 - I now know what to do. It is a matter of trying out new strategies and seeing if I can (or willing to) compromise comfort over time (i.e. regarding putting on knicks for the ride). Apart from that, transition times can only decrease if I decide to not wear socks during the ride - this will only depend on the shoes and making it as comfortable as I can. I will now refrain from eating a banana during a triathlon to avoid a stitch or cramp.
90km Ride 3:13:18
I know I need to spend more time on the bike. In a triathlon, the bike leg of the race covers the longest distance as well as taking the longest time to complete. It also heavily depended on the weather conditions. I will need to spend more time riding with my (own) race wheels to get use to the windy conditions.
My shoulders were not too bad during the race, they did ache for a while but the pain subsided as the distance ticked by. I will need to test out efforts over the next few weeks/months and work on bike strength as well as endurance.
One other thing which I will need to work on is the mental strength on the bike leg as I had lost concentration a few times on the roads and swerved (nearly falling off onto the grass) and stopped pedalling a few times and got bored. The mind does play a vital part in the bike leg of a triathlon.
T2: 0:2:49
Must take knicks off before putting on running shoes!!
Must recognise bike rack from both ends of the transition area!!
Run: 2:14:42
I will need to start looking more closely into nutrition on the running leg and start adding coke in my runs as it was what got me through the last 7km. It was a strategy of mine to only start on the coke late in the run course just in case it didn't agree with my stomach. Maybe I should start drinking it (late) on my long rides too to get the gut use to it? By the end of the event, I just didn't want to take in anymore gels and I actually started to eat some lollies (something which I had completely cut out of my diet for the last 4 months or so) - not sure how my performance would have differed compared to gels but it got me through.
I do need to work more on the speed of my endurance runs and that will just come with training and getting the body use to the loads.
Overall Statistics (from the Shepparton Website)
Female 30-34 had 55 people. All in 30-34 had 183.
From the results above, I could see that I was actually not too bad at the swim and fell back in my category during the ride (no surprises). This is also a reflection on the training I have done in the last 2 years or so - worked on my swimming but trailed off on the bike. As always, my run time is a good reflection on how I am placed overall.
For Shepparton 2013 - I will aim for a time of 5:45 breaking it down to:
Swim < 40min
T1 < 3min
Bike < 3 hours
T2 < 2 min
Run < 2 hours
It is hard to quantify these times towards Geelong as the course is not as flat as Shepparton (completely different course, elevations, conditions) but will aim to do < 6:00 for this race in Febraury (with 12 weeks of training in between). The goal of < 5:45 for Shepparton 2013 will be attainable as there is a solid 6 months f winter training leading up to this race with.
For the next 2 weeks, I am on recovery mode - both in training and in the processed foods I will be consuming. The recovery plan for me will be:
Week 1
Monday Massage
Tuesday Windtrainer. 45min spin + 45min stretching and race debrief
Wednesday Light 1.5-2km swim
Thursday 6pm coaching at Elwood but I will stay on the bike 20-30min open water swim Friday Day off, sleep in
Saturday 1km Open Water Swim for Corporate Games
Sunday Support Gatorade Race 1
Week 2
Monday Day off
Tuesday 6:30pm Coaching Windtrainer
Wednesday Easy swim – no intensity
Thursday Day off
Friday Day off
Saturday Coffee and cake ride.
Sunday Day off
The above is the plan given to us by the coaches (apart from the 1km open water swim, supporting Gatorade Race 1 and coaching) and I will stick to it as much as I can. I was thinking of riding into work a few times on Week 2 because I don't need to carry bags with me.
We also had a post Shepparton race debrief Tuesday night with Greg. The most important thing to note is that we need to let both our mind and body recover for the next 2 weeks and not doing any training will not impact on our performance.
Will do some open water swimming tonight (just a km or two) easy which adds to the training for my 1km swim this Saturday.
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