US National Championship Draft Legal Sprint, Tempe AZ, November 13, 2021

-

It can be confusing, but there are two US National Championships on the sprint distance: non-draft, and draft legal. The age group non-draft sprint happened in Milwaukee, WI back in August in connection with the Olympic distance (also non-draft) event. These are very well attended races that you have to qualify for to even be allowed to enter. In Milwaukee, there were 80 ladies in my age group. The draft legal championship in Tempe, AZ is less competitive, and participation is open to anyone.


The draft legal race was also held in Tempe 2019, and the 2021 version had the same swim and run course, but a slightly altered bike course. This year, I was almost 2 minutes faster on the swim, a little slower on the bike, and about a half minute slower on the run. I got a 4th place (again), about 1.20 from the 3rd position, but there was no possibility for me to reach 3rd place. So, I am satisfied with this race, especially as I have been unwell with shingles in October. My start was uncertain until the last minute and training has been reduced for about a month. The improvement in swimming is really encouraging!

I did the swim preview the day before and it felt good. The water was surprisingly cold, around 69 F, and wetsuit legal. At 8.55 am, Women 60+ was the last group to start and I ran into the water as number two. It is hard to have an overview on the field as you swim, but I knew not many passed and I had a good flow in the swim. 

T1 went like clockwork, except that I pressed the wrong button on my smartwatch and lost the data for the race. Bike course was three loops, I did the first one alone, but on the second loop, I caught up with two ladies and I took their back and drafted for about 2/3 of a lap. Eventually, they shouted at me to go up and lead which I did (reluctantly) on the third lap. It was an uphill and I got really tired, they passed me again on the downhill. 

One lady disappeared in front, but I did a sprint into transition and came in 3rd position to T2. This time I loosened my shoes while still on the bike, the shingles have affected a nerve in my right leg, and I find it difficult to twist out the feet. I did not manage to get the left foot out right away, and while I fumbled for only about 5 seconds, I was down at 4th place again.

The run start felt relatively ok, and I took back on my competitor and intended to close the gap of about 15 yards. We had a good pace, but the gap kept on growing. At about 2 miles, it was obvious I could not catch her, and I just checked that no-one could threaten me from behind and I finished the race.

Most international competitions, including the sprint world championship are draft legal. This is the third time I entered the draft legal US championship, and it has never been well attended. There is no qualification to enter, just sign up. The thing is, this race is a proper US Championship, and it is qualifying to the worlds! This year, it had the lowest attendance so far, probably because very few spots for next year's world championship were left after roll overs from the cancelled world championship last year.

Tempe is quite fun to race, the weather has always been perfect. Just sign up and go next year if you can. There is everything to win and there are some really nice places to visit in sunny Arizona.

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