Not only was this my first 1/4 triathlon but it was also the first competitive swim in open water. I did two open water training sessions, so it was not totally new.
Preparations for Huizen started on Thursday, day after the 1/8 Nijkerk race, with some recovery spinning and a massage. Friday was only a nice easy 35min run, and in the evening home made pancakes and PowerBar drink. Needless to say pancakes a'la Ksenija were excellent!!!!
Weather forecast for today was changing hourly...sun, rain, thunder, everything flew by. One thing was sure, temperature was going to be around 16C, which would be great for the race.
In the morning my Tanita weight scale showed 87.5kg....a new record.
Target time for today was at 2:20, which days before race was reduced to 2:18....but looking at weather conditions on day itself I went back to 2:20.
Saturday morning after packing the car I was off. First met with Dennis and Hans, my swimming buddies, who will be doing the Olympic distance and we all drove to Huizen.
Having arrived at the AV Zuidval (the local running track), I went to pick up my race number...263, but unfortunately my race number and tags were not there....hmmm....so I had to go and get the improvised numbers done. That was quick and I was off to set up my transition zone.
Triathlon Huizen is unlike other tri's that I have done so far where all transitions take place at the same place. In Huizen T1, T2 and finish are all at different locations some 2km's apart.
T2 was at the AV Zuidval running track, so I set up T2 and took all things I needed for the swim and T1 in my backpack. I made sure my running shoes were in a plastic bag as there was big chance of rain. once all this was done, I was on my bike and off to T1 and swim start position.
After a few km's we were there. Bike and helmet inspection and we were in the T1. I didn't set up T1 just yet as I wanted to see my buddies start there Olympic race. I learned a lot from it and based on it decided my swim start strategy.
Dennis, Hans, and Klaus who also came later did great. They were out of the water and flew out of T1. After cheering them on the bike it was 30min to my race and it was time to put the wet suite on and set up T1.
Wet suit was on, with some help of my transition neighbor, T1 was set, with towel, socks and cycling shoes and it was time to go to the start.
Once at the start I was nicely surprised at how warm the Gooimeer water was. My swim start tactics was to start far right in order to avoid the big swim rush, elbowing, kneeing, etc...
The music started which meant it was 2.5 minutes to start. As soon as the music ended we were off. During these 2.5 minutes it all got emotional (not sure what is happening to me)...but luckily the music stopped and we were off.
The swim course was swimming to a buoy 250 meters off the shore, and then 2 laps. The first 60ish meters of the swim was actually running as the water is so shallow that swimming would not be possible, but after the 60 meters I was off. Started very fast to get the heart rate high, a few hundred meters later I slightly slowed down. Swimming went nicely, I did get a few elbows, but nothing serious. After the first lap it was shallow water again, which meant I had to do some running which felt like running under influence of alcohol, but as I jumped into water again and started swimming it was all good. Second lap went well also. As I was coming towards the end of the swim and the shallow water my head and hands were wrapped in the green water plants....I felt like one of these creatures from Pirates of the Caribbean.... On my way out of the water I unzipped my wet suit and got my arms out while I was running towards the bike. At the bike I got the wet suit out but not without any complications. My left foot just would not get out, so after some 15-20 seconds of pushing and pulling I finally managed. Socks on, shoes on and I was off.
Once on the bike my heart rate was at 165, but later in the race it dropped to below 160 which was great. On bike I managed to get some decent speed. Some parts of the bike race were quite windy. My biggest fear was that it would rain but luckily rain was delayed....apart from one cloud that lasted only 1 minute with very cold rain that at the speeds above 35km/h felt like needles on the skin. Bike felt good, bike set-up also after I shortened the aero bars yesterday by another 1cm. I was passing many people, even to the point that around 20th km I was alone and didn't see anyone in front of me and at some points even wondered if I was on the right course. At km 30 I got passed, and I believe that was the only person that passed me. Averaging just under 36km/h over the 40km I came into the T2 that was very long....some 250m of running with my bike.
T2 was quick, and I was off for the run. 10km run, 2 laps of 5km. After only a few hundred meters rain started and it started raining cats and dogs.....it was pouring down, and at some point even with hail stones and thunder. Question....do they stop triathlon races when there is thunder in the sky? Anyway, we went on...pace was good. My target was to stay around 4:30 per km. It worked well for 8km, on average I think I achieved it, but in the last 2km I had to push really hard in order to keep it as close as possible to it. Race finished in the Oostermeent shopping area with many spectators considering the weather conditions.
The finish was quite emotional with tears of joy as I saw the official time read 3:11....as 1/4 race started one hour later than Olympic meaning that my time was 2:11.....wow!!!! I finished 15th overall, with one woman in from of me, so in mens 14th place.
I still can't believe the result. How do I beat this time in the future? I don't know....one thing I do know I need to improve my transitions and swimming as well as running. This is where I think I can get the most improvements.
In any case, Huizen triathlon will remain in a very good memory not only as it was my first 1/4 triathlon and the great result but also as it was a great event that is recommended to everyone.
Event would have not been possible without many many volunteers and sponsors....so to all those a big thank you!
Now its time for some recovery, and pure enjoyment of my result and on June 19th its 1/8 in Zandvoort.
Unfortunately something went wrong with my Garmin 310XT today so no GPS maps.
Photos courtesy of Bauke Wagenmakers and Wouter.
RESULTS:
Swim 1000m 19:30 (19th position)
Bike 40km 1:10:24 (14th position, including the T1)
Run 10km 41:09 (27th position, including T2)
TOTAL: 2:11:02
15th place overall in 1/4 out of 135 starters, while in mens category 14th out of 115 men that started.
I don't care about the rain.
ReplyDeleteI just run through it,only if there is not a lot of thunder or lightning.