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