Wurst Tri Ever, New Braunfels October 09

-

Last Triathlon for the year for me was just for fun on a slightly shortened sprint in the town of New Braunfels, TX. This race had a lot of first timers.

Swim was in the amazing spring water pool in Landa Park, crystal clear and perfect temperature. I was one of the few that choose to wear a wetsuit, because I am sure that even on shorter swims, it is faster. The swim was actually in two parts, first about 150 meters in the spring fed pool and then 150 meters in a regular pool. I swim about 10-15s faster per 100m in wetsuit, that is a 30-45s advantage by using it. Getting the wetsuits off takes about 15s, so I am still ahead and, on a sprint, every second counts! I should mention that there were two options to get into the water, jump in or a water slide... I judged the waters slide would be about 5 seconds slower, so I was boring and jumped in.

Bike course is slightly undulating but has a steep uphill shortly after start. A few beginners were in the wrong gear and had to walk up. I have done this race before, so I was forewarned and had no problems.

The run course was 2.5 miles, and I knew I should go full speed to get a good result. I felt okay starting the run and I checked my smartwatch several times. Every time I noticed my speed was above 9 min /mile I made a conscious effort to speed up, which I managed, and I even was able a little rush into the goal. 

Overall, I was quite satisfied with my effort that was 4 minutes faster than 2 years ago and I got first place. One and a half minute was gained on the run and my mile average was 8.40 on a slightly undulating course. 

I have increased my training distance and also done several Olympic distance triathlons this year, so this short sprint felt relatively easy. It was a good end to the competition season.

Now, I will take it slightly easier for a month or two, catch up on dental appointments and family commitments.

 It is time consuming to train for triathlons and it definitely impacts other activities and family. 











Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Cleat covers for biking shoes

-
Image
Recently, I invested in new pair of bike shoes. For winter training, I like to have a roomy pair where I can fit a decent pair of warm socks. I am very pleased with the shoes, so comfortable and stiff sole with carbon. I also bought a pair of cleat covers, which I never had before. They can easily fit into my back pocket while biking and then be slipped onto the cleats if I stop for a break. These covers are so great and they will really reduce the wear on the cleats. /Gunilla
Read more

Welcome to my blog

-
In 2018, I retired at age 60. I always wanted to do triathlons and it was now or never. I did not know if I could do it, maybe I was just too old, maybe I was starting too late, maybe I would fail?  I trained, I signed up for a competition, I did it, and I have never looked back. I am enjoying my retirement, and with this blog, I want to inspire other closet athletes to have a go.  I am really not a natural athlete. Seriously, if I can do it at 60+, probably you can do a triathlon too.  /Gunilla
Read more

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 ...
Read more