Life's not fair (race report, sort of)

Triathlon Forum
1

Well, it’s a conspiracy. That’s the only explanation.
I participated in a local sprint tri this weekend (the local oly and sprint tri to be precise, there is only this one in the whole area). It’s a very well organized race, owing to the fact that it serves as the national german police force championships (you’ve never seen roads this well guarded, believe me :slight_smile: Nice venue, too (town of Erbach, near the city of Ulm on the Danube river).
I did this race last year on the same exact course (500m/23km/5km). A total time of 1:12:52 earned me 33rd place overall (out of 192) and 7th in my age group (35-39).
I had plans for this year. 2 min faster would have earned me a podium spot in 2004. So I worked on the bike and run and did some open water swimming with my wetsuit in freezing cold water this spring. Then came race day. It was hot. It has been hot (over 30°C, imagine that for cold old Germany) for the last 2 weeks. No problem. I can handle the heat and humidity. Then came the announcement that the water temp in the lake was 25°C and wetsuits were not allowed. Bummer! Now what do I do with my drag anchor legs?
So predictably, my swim was slower than the previous year. Lost 40 sec right there (yes, I suck that much at swimming without wetsuit). Then I lost more time in T1 because I had to wrestle with my shirt (impossible to put on over my wet upper body, but swimming in it was not an option). So by the time I mounted the bike, I was pissed. Gave it all I had on the bike and averaged 37 kph on the relatively flat, moderately windy out-and-back. Legs felt fried at the beginning of the run, but I soldiered on and actually ran 1 min faster than last year. Total time was 1min 10 sec faster than last year despite the bad swim and T1.
And it was good for:

33rd place overall (again!), this time out of 219 total starters, and 13th (WTF??) in my age group. Turns out more than a quarter of all participants were my age group. My time would have put me on the podium in both neighbouring age groups.
Life’s not fair!
But the number 5 guy was only 3 min faster. I guess until next year I’ll work on my bike and run and I’ll do some more open water swimming…yeah, that’s the ticket!
:slight_smile:

malte

2

Good point on the swim. Make sure you get enough non-pull swim workouts in there (i for one am guilty as charged)… In terms of the “too much competition in my age group problem”, there is always the Quittinirpaaq nationals. I heard the indigenous cultures up there don’t believe in carbon so you will be huge for sure… :wink:

3

Then I lost more time in T1 because I had to wrestle with my shirt (impossible to put on over my wet upper body, but swimming in it was not an option).

One tip from one german fellow to the other: I normally put on my race singlet and then roll it down into the trishorts for the swim. In T1 I just pull it up and I am good to go. Another option would be to race in a skinsuit. My second advice is to get some professional help with your swimming. No pun intended :slight_smile:

4

Then I lost more time in T1 because I had to wrestle with my shirt (impossible to put on over my wet upper body, but swimming in it was not an option).

One tip from one german fellow to the other: I normally put on my race singlet and then roll it down into the trishorts for the swim. In T1 I just pull it up and I am good to go. Another option would be to race in a skinsuit. My second advice is to get some professional help with your swimming. No pun intended :slight_smile:

Thanks for the advice. As a matter of fact, I’m shopping round for a skinsuit right now :slight_smile:
As for the swimming, I’ve been too cheap for professional coaching so far, but I guess this weekend taught me.

Cheers,
malte