Race Simulation

Our Triathlon Club ran a Race Simulation Day, a Clayton's race if you like. There was Long Course and Short Course wave start, transitions (including bike racks) and an aid station on both the bike and run course. However there were no road closures, we had to obey all traffic rules, there was no timing and no prizes. In fact you were free to draft, cut the course, how you participated was completely up to you.

Mark, Peter and I were doing the long course, while Elaine would be taking the short course option. Peter swam the full 3km distance, I swam 2.5km and Mark did 1.9 - we all finished the swim fairly close together. I was originally planning to do the full 3km distance (5 loops), but started to fatigue so decided 2.5km was plently when I was only training for a 1.9km swim. Mark did the shorter 1.9km (3 loops) on my suggestion because I wanted him to finish the swim amongst (or just ahead of) the main group and he has already done several long rides off a 3km swim. He found another athlete to draft off for most of the swim and was very happy with his effort. As expected Peter blitzed through the swim with no concerns at all.

The short course event started an hour later, so Elaine was still preparing for her 1.2km swim when we headed out on the bike. Peter and I were planning to ride 120km, and Mark would ride for 4 hours (which ended up being 103km). While Peter and Mark practised their Ironman pacing, I would be riding at Half Ironman pace (about 40 watts harder than Peter), however I managed to get stopped by every single set of lights between Sandringham and Mt Martha, so Peter was never very far behind. It was a fairly nasty headwind for the first 45km to Mt Martha. Combined with the constant stopping at lights I never really found a rhythm. As a result it was difficult to keep my power at the target of 240 watts and my heart rate was generally sitting in the mid 130's - which is Ironman effort (I was expecting something closer to 150bpm). Coming back we had a tailwind that certainly made the ride more enjoyable (and much faster), but I still got stopped at most lights and only had a few small periods where I fell into a nice constant rhythm. The ride stats show my best 20 minute effort was 234 watts, a little disappointing when I wanted to average 240 watts for the entire ride of nearly 3 hours. Part of the problem is that I have no feel for this in-between pace. It feels easy at the start and then gradually gets more difficult as the ride progresses until it is a real effort towards the end.


My total ride time ended up be 2h53m. I would love to say this is the fastest 120km I have ever ridden, but the truth is I only did 92km on the bike. On the trip back to the clubrooms I was deciding where I would ride to make up the extra 28km. But as I got closer, my knee starting hurting and I could feel saddle sores beginning to emerge. My target race in 2 weeks time only has a 90km bike leg, and giving in to these extremely convenient excuses I pulled into transition to start my run leg. Fortunately Ironman training instills a stronger will and both Peter and Mark avoided temptation and completed their full distances. Elaine was also very good and after completing her 1.2km swim, she rode 52km as instructed.


I'm getting better at finding and holding 4m30s pace (per km) on the run, but despite a softer than intended bike leg, my run pace dropped to 4m40s pace in the fifth kilometre, before I reverted to cooldown pace in the last kilometre of my 6km run. This is frustrating, but I didn't feel at my best for the whole day. This week was supposed to be a big training week, yet I missed 2 swim sessions due to a sore neck (and general tiredness), skipped a recovery run and then shortened the swim and bike legs of the Race Simulation. So my planned 15 hour week ended up being only 10 hours of training. Somewhat disappointing as it feels like I've lost some of the momentum I had leading into the last Sprint race. Hopefully next week will be much better on the training front, before I start my taper.

Peter, Mark and Elaine also did 6km runs off the bike. Elaine looked to be running very well when I saw her. Mark was feeling so good he had to hold back to stop from running too fast and Peter finished the entire session without any achilles issues - which is absolutely fantastic news.