Winding Trails Offroad Tri Series - Triathlon

This was the week to bite the bullet and start trying to eek extra seconds off my time if I was ever going to get under 1 hr. Had not been wearing the wetsuit as I believed that the time it would gain me on a 1/4 mile swim might only equal the time it would take me to get it off in the TA. I thought at best it might give me a lower HR/more rested condition for the bike. I ran in at the front and got a surprise when a bow wave from all the swimmers running in behind me lifted me up and shot me forward - nice! Last week with no suit was 7:43 / 162 HR at the beach, this week with the w/s was 6:53 / HR 170 but swim felt super smooth. I didn't have to try and float I just concentrated on being long and to stroke slowly and stretched out. Really blown away that I was under 7 mins. Also learnt a good tip about tucking my w/s strap in my armhole to stop it wrapping around my arm.

w/u maybe 100 yds more.

This was the test of the net gain from the wetsuit. Last few weeks I have done 1:01, 1:32, 1;00 and with the suit was 1:04.

Nothing.

Wow - what an awesome ride. For some reason I got aggressive and instead of sitting and plodding in the saddle I worked it out of corners and up the hills to get back up to speed, I flew by people and just had about the best time I've had on a bike in a long, long time.

Bottle that feeling.

Little slower than my usual :30ish - not sure why. Plus I had scored a good spot on the very end of the rack so had loads of space.

Nothing.

Left T2 and noticed watch said 34:?? when it usually says 36:?? so although a little worried that maybe I had pushed too hard on the bike, that if I worked hard and focussed on the run I MIGHT get in under the hour. Was catching people and then 2 women that I had smoked on the bike went passed me - what it must feel like to run like that. Anyhow kept working (kind of in that might-not-make-it-under-1hr-and-will-kick-myself-if-the-clock-says-1:01-panicked motivated mode)

Train intervals and generally get faster at running.

Lake front was closed so couldn't go in. However there are showers here that I didn't know about so did a very short jog and then showered up.


Nothing. My goal by race 10 of this series was to go sub-1hr. This was race 8 so I'm super psyched. Was only :07 under the hour so might have to accept being slower next week and then pushing really hard on the last week.


Popsicles at the finish - nice! This race has really grown in size this summer. From approx. 100 to now ~150 finishers but the 2 wave start helps that although it doesn't let you see who you are racing against. Still a fab race and a great way to experiment with stuff each week.