Gatorade Triathlon Race 6

Active Feet Fun Tri Series 2010/11 SuperSprint
in association with the Gatorade Triathlon Series

Race 6 - St Kilda Sunday, 20 March 2011 website results
Bay swim, flat cycle course, flat run (300m/ 10km/ 3km)

Another great Melbourne summer day, and again another PB, this time for a "full-length" (300/10/3) Mini distance triathlon, 0:39:40 bettering my previous best for the same distances from 2 years ago, by almost 30 seconds. My highest overall finish position 14/619 and also percentage wise - top 2.26%. 3rd in Category from 44, unfortunately there are only medals/prizes for 1st in each age group in this series.

My first mini tri for a while, in fact my first this season, and a year and week since my last one. Also my first mini since I got the new TT bike also. Other than the obvious, shorter distance, some of the other advantages of doing the mini came back to me:

• Cost - although only $20 cheaper
• Earlier finish - so doesn't use quite as much of the day. And yes that can mean getting up earlier, but late in the season even the mini race starts at a not too unreasonable hour.
• Parking - easier to find a spot and closer
• Less traffic going both ways
• Less swell - the water is always flatter earlier
• Less likely to swimming looking into the sun
• Result - I am way more likely to get a Podium finish :)
  

Swim: Felt great on the warm-up, water was not cold, and the almost totally flat. Didn't feel quite as good in the actual swim, but didn't feel I was working too hard either, and was still near(er) to the front the wave pack. We actually caught the 2 previous waves, that's never happened to me before, but the waves were only 2 minutes apart. Still didn't get into much of a rhythm, but did manage bi-lateral breathing a bit more. Finished up with 6:59 which is OK (my best for 300m is 6:10) , 13th in age group.

T1: 2:00 - Seems like a slow time, but there was quite a long run. 2nd in age group.

Bike: 17:43 second fastest 10km bike time behind the first bike leg in the enduro this season, 5th in Category, and 20th overall giving my best bike % wise - top 3,2%. Rode pretty hard most of the way, no noticeable wind, was consistently around 36km/h, with a 33.9km/h average. Did loose a bit of time, when I mistook a "deviation" (from one road to another) as the u-turn when it wasn't, then again it was a little wet, and going slower there wasn't entirely a bad thing.

T2: 1:13 - 4th in age group

Run: 11:46 - a new 3km run PB (tri or not!) and fastest run in age group (for the first time). Again felt great in the run, with 1km splits of 3:54, 4:03 , 3:48. Obviously my best leg again and 18/619 (top 3%) overall.

My Results: Online Garmin: Swim T1 Bike T2 Run

Gatorade Triathlon Race 5

Gatorade Triathlon Series 2010/11 SuperSprint

Race 5 - Elwood Sunday, 6 March 2011 website results
Bay swim, flat cycle course, flat run (500m/ 20km/ 5km)

A beautiful Melbourne summer day, and even better that I got a PB for Sprint distance triathlon. Admittedly it was 12 second PB but still a PB none the less, 1:10:33. Late start for this race for me, not only was the Mini set at 7:15 (gotta be after sunrise), but the Sprint was pushed back to 8:45am (bigger gap than usual, I guess because of the size of the field), and then I was in the second last wave, at 53 minutes. Luckily the wind nor heat did not pick up too much before I finished.

Swim: Felt OK, water was cold in warm-up, swam hard, but could not get into much of a rhythm, only managing bi-lateral breathing occasionally. Positive was I was in the middle of the pack rather than drifting behind the group as usual. Finished up with 11:44, similar to previous Gatorade races at Elwood, includes some 500m running into transitions. Pretty much flat water.

T1: 1:39 - I seem to be getting slower in transitions. Then again 1:18 was good enough for age group first last week, 21 seconds slower and I was 22nd.

Bike: 34:28 a new 20km bike PB, 32nd in Category, and 260 overall is near top 20%. Rode hard pretty much all the way, couldn't really tell which way the wind was, was consistently around 37-40km/h ending with a 34.8km/h average. The "new" TT bike did it again.

T2: 1:53 - half way down the field :( Wasted a little time checking out my foot when putting my runners on. While wheeling the bike in, the guy in front of me stopped dead, I went the pass on the right, the guy behind me had the same idea and somehow my 2nd little toe got clipped by his front spokes. Owh.

Run: 20:49 - a new 5km run in a Tri PB (sort of). I had done 19:32 in the first race of the season, but the distance was short (Garmin had 4.7km). Again felt great in the run (even with sore toe), with 4:00 and 4:02 for the first 2km. Again my best leg 229/1194 overall and 16/92 in category.

My Results: Online Garmin: Swim T1 Bike T2 Run