Fleet Feet Aquathon #2 - Aquathlon

Based on recent races, my goal today was to hit 14 minutes flat. At the last aquathon I swam 14:40.

Since it was a beach start, I was aggressive running into the water to get ahead of the pack, then dolphin dived for maybe 30 seconds before swimming. Two guys near me did the same thing, and I basically followed their lead. So, for a brief moment, I was 3rd in the swim overall. After I started swimming the guys ahead of me took off and fast people behind me started passing me. I basically faked the swim until the first turn, because I was up front but I didn't have the speed to stay up there.

After the first turn, I tried to draft, but failed. I didn't surge at the right times so I lost the feet. Oh well. I mostly swam my own race for the rest. Part of the reason was that I didn't feel strong or fast at the time. I was kind of giving up on the swim and planning to do better in the run. It turns out I was faster than I thought, which I attribute to excellent navigation between the buoys. That's the advantage of being near the front: you can actually sight.

I gotta work on my drafting. I had a few good opportunities today that I didn't use well.

I'm still trying to find the optimal transition spot. This time I picked one about 2/3 of the way through the transition zone, but it was still too close to the swim exit. I didn't have the top half of my suit off when I arrived at my stuff.

Despite that, I had a fast transition. My suit came off fast, and I didn't wear a shirt or sunglasses this time (smart!). Shoes on and I was gone.

My T1 rank was 7th overall (or 4th, depending on how you count ties).

Move all the way to the end of the the transition zone. That is the optimal spot! It gives the most time to strip the wetsuit while running, but it doesn't add any extra distance. Next time I'm gonna win T1!

This was a reasonably good run (last time I was 22:00+). I wanted to do about 19 minutes, for a total time of 34 minutes. Since my swim was faster than expected I could afford to go 19:40 here.

Legs may feel like bricks after a bike ride, but they feel like noodles after a swim. I had the disco legs for the first mile or so, feeling pretty unstable as I ran. But my pace was fast. The first mile had a healthy uphill in it and it was my fastest mile.

In the 2nd mile I backed off the pace. My stomach started bothering me, and I didn't really feel like pressing through it. I kinda wanted to get a look at who was ahead of me at the turnaround too. So, the 2nd mile and some of the 3rd mile was pretty much cruise control.

After 2.5 miles I started to go after 2 guys ahead of me who were in striking distance. I also wanted to keep one dude behind me from passing. So, I attacked on an uphill. It took a lot out of me, but I got 1 of the 2 guys. I planned to get the second guy during the finishing straightaway, but I just didn't have it in me mentally today. I went fast for the last 1/3 mile, but so did the guy ahead of me. I closed the gap a bit but I needed an all-out sprint to finish it off--and I decided not to do that. He went off course near the end though, so during the race I was thinking that I might let him go ahead of me even if I caught him. If he didn't go off course I would not have had a chance at catching him anyway.

The important thing is that no one caught ME. I thought I was in 8th place at the end, but apparently I was 7th. Sweet. My run was 5th fastest overall.

Mile 1: 6:05
Mile 2: 7:02
Mile 3: 6:06
Final 0.1: 0:27


I'm gonna do situps between now and the next aquathon, because my stomach does not enjoy running after swimming. I don't think it's a food thing.

Also, next time I'm going to make a move on whoever is in front of me before the finishing straightaway. I probably could have caught that one guy if I moved earlier, i.e., before he started his kick.

Next race: 13:30 swim + 0:25 T1 + 19:00 run = 32:55 total

My goal is to keep climbing the series standings. After the first race I was like 22nd or something because of a bad run. With 2 races finished, I'm now tied for 8th. Dang, I think that crappy first-race performance is going to cost me an award at the end. I think I can get up to 5th place in the end, but 1st-3rd are all in my age group and probably too far out of reach.

I was planning an easy 5 mile run later, so I didn't do any jogging or stretching. Just got some calories in my system.

My 5 mile run turned out to be about 3/4 of a mile, because my legs were more tired than I thought. So I guess that's my cooldown.

I cooled my legs in Lake Mendota for 15 minutes too while I watched ducks attack each other.


Mile 2 of the run could have been a lot better. I have to push through the pain next time.

Also the air had a high resistance due to the presence of millions of gnats. When I finished the race I thought I had grown green chest hair because my chest was coated with them.


Low-key event. Just enough frills to make it a good race. E.g., chip timing, good post-race refreshments, well-marked course, and good music playing. The people that conduct this race are P-R-O's.