Last year, I completed Sundowner to do my first middle distance race. This year, I was coming to do the sprint that takes place beforehand. The club was well represented: I was joined by Ruth, Dave, Julie, Mat and Claudia, with TeeJay cheering us on, too.
I started with a warm-up run around the lake. Unfortunately, at some point, my car keys fell out of my pocket and I had a stressful 20-minute search for them. It was my own stupid fault for putting them in my hoodie pocket, although difficult to do anything else when you tri suit has no pockets. Luckily, they were found and I was able to get back into my car in time to buy a bacon sandwich before the start.
The swim
I start near the front of the swim pack now. It means people swim over me but also means that I do not have an extra 20 metres to swim. The pinch point at the start made it difficult, though, and I was stuck behind people for a while.
Once the pack thinned out I was able to get into a rhyme. I mixed up breaststroke with some speedy front crawl. My heart rate picked at 185 at one point! Ideally, it would have been better if I could be consistent. But that’s something to work on for later.
Transition 1
T1 went well. I have not quite mastered getting my wetsuit off like the pros yet. In the end, I had a quick sit down as I was feeling a little lightheaded and dizzy from the swim. Everything was set up well: shoes ready go to and my bike computer had synced with both my power metre and heart rate monitor.
Due to the number of athletes, there was a queue to get out of transition. This was a little frustrating but I still got in and out in under two minutes. I managed a scoot mount but it took me a few attempts to get my cleats in before I could.
The bike
The bike was just the right amount of windy. There was enough that it slowed anyone done who was not in the aero position but not quite enough that I was too nervous to get down on the bars. The bike course was as busy as T1 and I spent the whole time going passed people.
It was the same course as Allerthorpe Sprint in July, so we can directly compare numbers. The weather was a little cooler today but with more wind.
| Metric | Sundowner Sprint | Allerthorpe Sprint |
|---|---|---|
| Average speed | 33.9 kph | 31.5 kph |
| Average moving speed | 34.1 kph | 31.5 kph |
| Average power | 216 Watts | 217 Watts |
| Normalised power | 224 Watts | 224 Watts |
| Average heart rate | 183 | 186 |
Power output was almost identical and yet I went a lot faster thanks to the aero bars. My heart rate was a little higher in July, which I am guessing was due to the heat.
Unlike Allerthorpe Classic, I managed to get on my aero bars. But I was already overtaking someone by the time I reached the photo point 50 metres down the road.
Transition 2
No problems here. Helmet off, shoes off, trainers on.
The run
I decided to take it easy on the run. I was ill (Venla had infected me again) so I was not looking to push myself too hard. I paced it nicely and it did not hurt too much. Two people overtook me. I have got used to this since I improved my performance on the bike.
The result
I finished with a time of:
1:18:23
That was good enough for 74th out of 263 and made me the first Harrier home. My splits were as follows:
| Section | Position | Time | July | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Swim | 200 | 18:08 | 18:21 | -0:13 |
| T1 | 37 | 1:49 | 1:52 | -0:03 |
| Bike | 31 | 33:01 | 35:55 | -2:54 |
| T2 | 80 | 1:33 | 1:43 | -0:10 |
| Run | 81 | 23:50 | 22:17 | +1:33 |
| Total | 74 | 1:18:23 | 1:20:10 | -1:47 |
Even though I took it easy on the run, I am consistently placing better in the bike than the run now. This feels super weird given that I am from a running background. But I am not complaining. Other than at the speed everyone else is running.
They took the finish line photo just as I was raising my arms in victory.
Overall, a fun day racing with lovely people.
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Tags: Allerthorpe, triathlon, york
This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 3rd, 2019 at 11:00 am and is filed under Sport. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.