Post Race Thoughts - Never Satisfied

I was very happy with my race and hit all my pre-race targets (average better than 40kph on the bike and run at sub 4 min pace). Now my targets have changed. Having achieved my previous targets is proof that I can do better.

Overall I finished in 64th place (out of 531 competitors). However 20 of these competitors ahead of me were Elites (they have different rules allowing them to draft on the bike), so I prefer to think I placed 44th out of the Age Groupers and 7th in my Age Group (out of 54) and 9th in my wave start (M4044 + M4549) that contained 90 competitors.

When I first started triathlon the run was easily my best leg. I soon became very proficient in transition and my T1 and T2 times would rank better than my run split. After a few seasons my bike improved to be my best leg. I was always a weak swimmer and used to pride myself on the fact that nobody beat me with a slower swim. Now that my swim has improved (still not fast), of the 43 Age Groupers that beat me on Sunday - 4 had slower swim times than me.

With the fastest bike split in my age group, the bike leg is still very much my strength, but everything else has changed. My unusually slow transitions made them the worst ranked splits. But more surprisingly, my swim was ranked better (9th in my age group) than my run split (10th in my age group). And just like my swim, of the 43 age groupers who beat me on the day, only 4 had slower runs than me (they were fast swimmers).

So the focus now is getting faster on the run (and a few transition practices). My kilometre run splits were:
  4m01s, 4m03s, 3m51s, 4m03s, 3m58s
In the beginning I had to force my legs into running at the pace I wanted. Then magically just before the 2km mark my hips loosened up and I started to run freely. Not only was my running now effortless, my speed improved by around 10s per kilometre (at the same heart rate of 165bpm). If I was able to run the entire distance with this free flowing style at 3m51s pace, my 5km run time would be 19m15s instead of 19m56s. So my new target is to run a 19m30s 5km run split off the bike. Unfortunately a lot of the competitors who beat me had run splits starting with an 18.

This week is a recovery week, which my body badly needs (quite sore from the race). During the next 2 subsequent weeks I will return to doing the Tuesday night Run Speed session on the Athletics track. Hopefully I'll be able to find and lock in that free flowing rhythm allowing me to able to access it more easily on race day. Although this theory is ignoring the possibility that my fastest ever bike split adversely affected my run, in particular causing me to stiffen up through the hip region.

Elaine and I will not be racing the Triathlon in December due to other commitments, so it opens up the opportunity to do other events. Depending upon how well the Run Speed Sessions go, I'm planning to enter the Emma and Toms Christmas 5km Fun Run at Albert Park Lake in December. My aim is to break 19 minutes (really hoping to get closer to 18m30s). Looking at the results for the last few years, the overall winners are typically running the 5km in 17 minutes flat. So I'm no hope of winning, but I might manage an age group podium position if I'm lucky.