Saturday 10 October 2009

They Think It's All Over...It Is Now!

Sadly, the 2009 tri season is now over for me.

My last race of the year was the Humber Sprint last Sunday. It was a good race in a decent setting and not too far away from home. It was also good to meet up with Daz Sharpe who seems to be finishing his season strongly.
The day before the race it was mighty windy and very wet and I wasn't looking forward to ending the season in dodgy conditions. Thankfully, race morning weather was clear skies and light winds; although it was very cold at first but once the sun came out it warmed up enough so that my fingers and toes wouldn't freeze on the bike.My swim was ok, although the lanes were quite narrow with up to 4 swimmers per lane fighting for space. I got out the water in about 6 and half mins (400m), and was clocked through T1 in 7:10 after the long run from the pool.

After a faff with my timing chip coming off and nearly a minute in transition, I hit the bike for the single lap of 20km. The route was 'undulating' and a little technical but not overly hilly. My legs felt a tad heavy at first but once I got my second wind I felt good and worked hard on the second half but only managed to post a rather disappointing time of 35min 41sec.


T2 was a slicker affair and I went through it quite quick compared to T1! The 5km run route was a 2 lap jaunt along footpaths and over a footbridge a few times, which added a little variation to what would have been a totally flat and windy route. My time of 19min 36sec was pretty good considering my lack of speedwork this season.


All-in-all, it was a satisfying race to finish on. I finished with a time of 1:03:50 which meant 8th overall and 4th in age group (annoyingly only 24 secs from 2nd in age group...that flipping timing chip!!!). Daz did well taking second overall...well done mate!

What this race has highlighted is that I have a lack of bike power at the moment. So my winter is going to be all about the bike. In particular, I will be hitting the weights and I will learn to love squats!!

Before then I'll have a crack at a couple of local 10km road races, just for fun, before the serious winter base stuff starts.


Train smart.

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2 comments:

  1. Turbo Man11 October 2009 at 21:34

    You're brave posting that run picture; best hope the Ref Nazi Iron Mike doesn't see it or you'll be in BIG trouble.

    The "Do weights help cycling" debate is one often discussed on cycling forums. Certainly track cyclists use weights to great effect but once you go beyond the short distances the trackies do then the debate intensifies - what is better? squats in the gym or big gear work on the bike?

    To be honest I don't know; I did a lot of squats last winter in Qatar and had a really good cycling year, but then I wasn't swimming or running so that was only to be expected. I think the science is that you only press on the pedals with a force of about 20kg per whatever to generate enough force to ride at 40kmh, so doing massive weights is not relevant for the distance we ride (and certainly not IM). I'm not an expert in this field (or any field to be honest) so it maybe worth doing some research before hitting the weights too hard and then find you've lost the flexibility to spin the pedals (I know Sags does squats and then jumps on a gym bike - an interesting variation).

    Whatever you do, train smart.

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  2. Turbo Man17 October 2009 at 20:28

    Mal

    This is the latest Tri Talk thread on weights V turbo; draw your own conclusions.

    http://www.tritalk.co.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?t=62922

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