Race report – 0.5/40/5 short distance - Zug, Switzerland
This is the perfect distance tri for me. 7.5 km run would be fine as well.
The weather in Switzerland has been rainy and cold so we chickened out and rented wetsuits for this. It was DBF’s premiere. He was fretting but this morning he wasn’t noticeably more nervous than I.
The lake turned out 17-18 °C, pleasant with the wetsuits. We had a water start. I started from mid – pack and had only a few skirmishes, one girl tried to swim halfway over me. Those 500 (make that 470) meters were still long. I’m not sure if I really want to attempt 1500. I was half seasick by the time we reached the shore again, and already a bit hungry.
Wetsuit came off well, but I had to get on a jersey, and socks and wrench on bike shoes before I could finally take off. I immediately munched 1/3rd powerbar as soon as I reached the open road. This was hard. I have to switch to some sort of goop.
The bike course has only 170 m elevation gain and we rode it last Sunday. I was way overboard with the HR (usually around 170) but hung in there and relaxed about it. I was glad I could get up in the saddle now and then to give my left calf a bit of relief, it was always on the verge of cramping.
I had a really good bike. 33-34 most of the time, one stretch 38-40. The first men passed me, in a train, ignoring the no-drafting rule. I was caught in a 6-girl pack only once but most of the time did not draft on purpose. Killer bike split (for me) ended up averaging 32 kph.
I knew where to run, but was confused because it was so “lonely”. I usually get out of the transition area quick but then my legs got a bit heavy.
After 2km I knew I held 5:30 min/km, but I had to hold back a bit (never got over 175 HR) because of a borderline side stitch. I started feeling good after km 2,5-3; after about 3.5 km I crossed DBF, major emotional moment. I passed 2 girls on the last 500 m.
I collected DBF at the finish (the men started 10 minutes after the women). He was 4 seconds slower than me. Hey ! I beat DBF by 4 seconds! In particular, I had practically the same bike split as him. Go aerobars...
Well under my anticipated 2h – I mainly lost on the bike although I was FAST for my background.
41/71, 15/27 Age group
1:52.01 15min behind leader
Swim 11.03 28.
Bike 1:12.45 44.
Run 28.12 41.
(bike and run include transitions – my bike was around 1.10:xx).
Wow, I lost quite some places on the bike. This race has a stronger field than my first, which is popular and more ppl show with mountain bikes etc. - I did not see a single girl with a less than good bike.
I got home, bathtub, tried to take a nap but my body was overheated, feverish almost. I feel that I really pushed myself, and I’m happy DBF completed his first.
Lessons learned?
Perhaps a one-piece suit and quicklocks for the running shoes would be nice.
I have to train for real if I want do do anything decent on an Oly.
Edit: I had an average HR of 172 for the bike&run portion. Yikes.
