Mighty Mujer, Austin June 13

-


An all female supersprint competition! I really enjoyed it. Distances were a little shorter, swim 500m, bike ride 10 miles and run 2.5 miles. While this was an opportunity for first timers to try triathlon, it was also a hard competition with nationally ranked athletes. 

Because  it was a marginally shorter than a regular triathlon, I pushed hard all the way. I had a good race, my transitions were fast and I managed my energy well. I opted to swim without wetsuit (it was optional) and I think it was the right choice. Hardly worth the hassle to take it off for such a short course and it was going to be a very hot day. On the final run, I was head to head with one of my training friends; we battled each other for 2 miles, sometimes she was ahead, sometimes I was. Our final time was almost the same! She got first in her class, I got second place.

I think this was one of my most enjoyable competitions for a long time.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Do not wait until it is too late!

-
Image
Since my last post, I have not been competing, just training. It has been going well, I think I have improved my swimming a little bit by doing several sessions almost purely focused on speed. It has been intervals of 25, 50, 100, 150 and nothing longer than 200 yards, with the bulk in the shortest range.  But the last few days, I have hit a snag, a new pain in my left hip. At first, I ignored it, I always have pain somewhere, but it nearly always goes away after warmup. Last Saturday, I was going to run 10k in 4 parts of 2.5k, with two minutes rest in between. I warmed up on the treadmill, but the pain just got worse. Then at 9 min mile speed on the treadmill, my left leg gave in, and I almost fell over.  Ok, I thought, best not to push it on the treadmill where I can hurt myself, I will just run my 10k on the road and take it slightly slower than normal. But it was impossible, I was limping, and I had to stop after a few minutes. Ok, calm down, I told myself, no catastrophe if I miss
Read more

Carbon plated running shoes

-
Image
In 2019, Eliud Kipchoge became the first human to run a marathon under 2 hours. On his feet were a pair high tech shoes featuring a carbon fiber plate and air-filled pods. Since then, numerous long-distance records have been shattered by runners wearing these types of shoes. Strava data suggests that a change to carbon plated shoes improves running time over 5%! I have been wondering, is it just a fashion, or are these shoes really faster? Seems hard to believe that shoes could make a noticeable difference today. Can they help me to be faster or is it just for elites? Finally, these shoes are being made by various brands in larger quantities and are available in low enough price for the general public. As I like to try all new shoes in person, I went to town to buy a pair, any brand. That did not go well, all shops were sold out.  I decided to gamble and order on-line. I read a lot of confusing reviews and learned that shoes higher than 40mm mid sole just have been banned for competiti
Read more

Multisport National Championship Festival Irving TX April 19-23

-
Image
This year, I participated in 3 national champion ship events: individual super sprint time trial triathlon, draft legal sprint triathlon and draft-legal mixed relay triathlon. I am now the youngest in my age group (65-69), and I hoped to place top 10, maybe top 5 in something. The first race was the super sprint time trial, which also was my first triathlon competition in 2023. I decided to use bike shoes for the ride (5k), and not try to save time by biking in running shoes as I did last year. I also swam the 250m in wetsuit, I have calculated that despite additional transit time to change, it is faster.  As this time trial has individual start, I had no idea of my position as the race progressed. But it felt ok, I passed people on the bike and on the run (1.2k), I shortened the gap to the runner in front of me. My time was 24.57 and it was enough for a second place in my age group! Way better than expected. Next day was the draft legal sprint triathlon (750m swim, 12-mile bike and 3.
Read more