Triathlon at Retirement

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 u

If you are not driving to a far away event, it is a problem to bring the bike. Here are your options:  1. Rent a bike at location  2. Fly with your bike as luggage  3. Transport your bike with a commercial triathlon bike transporter  4. Drive anyway  5. Not go  1. I have tried renting in Sweden which resulted in a summer with no competitions at all. Basically, there are not that many competitive bikes to rent and I am not a common size. I have given up on that solution. On big events, local rentals run out quickly. 2. I have flown with my bike on several occasions and it works, but includes a lot of preparations. First you have to make sure that the plane you are boarding accept packed bicycles. Small planes do not, and popular routes can have black out dates for oversized luggage during peak season. For example, flying to Europe during the summer months with a bicycle is not allowed on many airlines. Cost for the bicycle is around $150-200 per leg. Clearing those hurdles, you have to

I have completed two more triathlon competitions; September 5, a sprint at Cane Island, Katy TX, place 2 and September 12, a sprint at Rose City, Tyler TX, place 1. Both competitions went well. I  usually  have a feeling that I exhaust myself more than other people, both on training and on races. For example, sometimes competitors talk to me during races, saying things like "looking good", or "go girl". This happened again during my last race. There is no way I have enough spare breath to talk during a race. But I don't know how other people really feel. My Garmin smartwatch gives me a score on aerobic training effect after each workout  on a 0 to 5 scale that accounts for my personal fitness level and training habits. Now, I can get some sort of measure of my suffering. According to Garmin: 5.0 Overreaching 4.0-4.9 Highly Impacting 3.0-3.9 Impacting 2.0-2.9 Maintaining On my last triathlon competition, my bike ride was registered at 4.3 aerobic impact with an a

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.

This 2nd of May competition was a qualifier for the draft legal sprint World Championships in Bermuda later this year. Many hopefuls, including myself traveled to Virginia trying to capture one of the coveted Team USA spots, juniors and seniors included. Perfect weather and a fine location with smooth arrangements made this draft legal sprint a great competition.   My race was in the afternoon and wind had picked up quite a bit. I thought I did a good swim, I certainly pushed myself, but it was over a minute slower than the practice swim the previous day! I don't understand why it was slower. Bike course was 4 loops with a hairpin turn-around and a few tight turns. The only long straight stretch had headwind, and the tailwind was on the technical part of the ride so it was not that much of help. I pushed myself too hard on the bike course and got very tired. Starting the run leg, I hit my head on the racking tubing standing up after putting on my shoes, and felt very confused for a

Here in Texas, competition season is mostly going ahead, but with some Covid-19 restrictions. One change is that participants have been asked to do their own body markings. Competition numbers are usually placed on both arms, and on the side or back of your legs. Your age can also be displayed on the back on your calf. Have a friend do it for you, if you use a mirror,  it will come out like this!

Strava is a program on the internet where you can upload your exercise if you have a GPS supported fitness tracker. There is a free version and a paid version with more features, but the free version is very useful. If you are regularly active, you will hear a lot about Strava, and I suggest you join. (I am not paid or supported at all by Strava, this is my personal recommendation.) Start with the free version and see if its interesting to you. My Garmin tracker automatically uploads the training to Strava when I am done. For cycling and running, there will be a map of the course covered, data from the tracker like speed and heart rate. What I find most interesting are the "segments". Individuals can map any course, short or long, and all Strava users that pass the segment will have their best time uploaded in a table for other Strava users to see (unless they opt out of this feature).  The segment leaderboards allow you to see how you stack up against other people. There are