Yesterday I raced the HOT triathlon - one of a series of races run by the notable coach John as part of a triathlon festival out by Lake Pegasus, a very young subdivision approximately 30km north of Christchurch with a man made lake, billiard ball smooth roads and a path circumnavigating the lake. In other words, perfect place for a triathlon!
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| 10 cm further and all you would see is a puff of smoke…... |
Swim - 500m
Managed a PB of 9:27! I have no idea where these swim PBs are coming from - my less-is-more approach must be working. Ha ha. My wetsuit felt tight and as if it was choking me a little so I let in some more water which solved the problem.
T1- 2:07
Not sure what happened here - I had what felt like really bad motion sickness and was swaying about trying to keep my balance but fell over trying to remove my wetsuit then even more shamefully ( twice) fell into the guy next to me. I must have had a lot of water in one ear…..or the council had used tequila to clear the weed from the lake.
Bike 15.9km
Rode 29.07, took a slight . shortish detour as I whizzed past a "turn right cyclists" sign. This would only have cost me approx 40 secs so bike time would have been same as last year altho average power was down a few watts. I didn't have a great amount of oomph in my legs today after a full week of training; mostly bike focussed this week not to mention a two hour run on Friday afternoon.
T2 - 00:56:00
Slightly better, no unplanned dismounts or newborn foal impressions; only some gaffing with my Garmin.
Run 5km
Ran 23.10, my slowest ever run on this course. I died a little on the 2nd lap and had a slight mentally weak moment where I told myself it was OK to slow down a bit as this was essentially a training session. I gave myself a little kick up the ass ( metaphorically of course, I am not that flexible:) and dug it in as the finish was only ~ 900m away. I was on the edge of explosion/implosion and a bonk. I wasn't sure which.
Checking my times from last year, I was only 6 secs slower but my bike and run had been faster. However, it was a fun morning and very sociable. The weather gods were kind, I was content with my race and cleansed of any cobwebs lurking in my musculoskeletal system.
No stitch either so it must be something that happens in long course races only. Hmmmmm.
The day was capped off nicely later by prize giving at the Mashina lounge underneath the Christchurch casino where luck was on my side and I won a spot prize! Even better was the fact they serve Erdinger on tap so i did enjoy a very refreshing pint of beer. It would have been a half pint but ( fortunately) the barmaid misheard me and poured a pint. Sweet as bro.
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| For when I give up triathlon….. |
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