The European championships in Tampere went down so much better than I anticipated, so I'm not really in the mood to complain. But it's a little bit unfair, the shortened bike course.
The ETU/ITU so called long distance is to begin with a distance that favours strong swimmers and runners on the expense of better cyclists. The swim is longer than an ironman swim leg, 4000 m instead of the usual 3800m, the bike is a lot shorter than the ironman bike leg, 120K instead of 180K, and the run is 30K instead of a marathon, 42,2K.
And due to safety reasons, the bike leg was shortened even further in Tampere. It was a measly 114,6K – too short for me to gain enough time on those of my rivals who are better swimmers and runners, but weaker cyclists than me. Uhm, now that I think of it: all my rivals are probably better swimmers and runners.
Still, after doing two ironmans this summer, the last one not more than two weeks ago, the long distance felt incredibly, relievingly short. So...humane, compared to the ironman distance.
As I mentioned, my expectations were not top shelf before the race. I felt very fatigued after competing the Kalmar Järnmannen on 6th August, I have suffered from nagging minor pains, and, on top of it all, I had a minor flu during the week leading up to the race. I was still weighing my options, changing my mind twice a minute, on the day before the race, because I still suffered from a sore throat and dizziness.
As well, the start list was, to be fair, a bit of a disappointment. Little more than 200 competitors, all categories counted, and representing not much more than a handful of countries. I think most of the competitors were Finns, just like in Säter in Sweden back in 2005, when most of the competitors were Swedes.
Not improving things, my room mate Esa Ollikainen was also suffering from a minor cold. And he had trouble sleeping the night before the race. And, let's say as politely as possible, it didn't go unnoticed.
But rarely does one get to sleep 11h before a big race, and one night of shortened sleep does not affect your physical performance. On the opposite, you may feel more adrenalized and on the edge.
Besides, if I felt drowsy the absolutely shockingly cold water in Pyhäjärvi was bound to wake me up. I felt like dipping my head in ice cream when I took a few warmup strokes. I was not alone. The look on the Spaniards face when told by the officials to take off his neoprene socks, because they're against the rules.
Strange though, the water didn't feel cold at all once I got underway. The lake swim was really easy, after racing in Barcelona, Nice and Kalmar earlier this year – all with more or less rough sea swims. The buoys were easy to spot, and there was none of the crowding, elbowing and kicking seen in bigger races. There were no difficult currents either, except for the last couple of hundred meters heading up the canal towards the Ratina stadium. Ugh, the canal was dirty and smelly. Tried not to swallow any water.
Swim split a little over 1.13. That's ok for me.
The transition took some five or six minutes, because, due to some strange ETU rules, we were not allowed to wear compression socks or any other garments under the wet suit in addition to the national race suit during the swim. I'm all too used to wearing compression socks, but they are quite difficult to pull over wet calves. I felt like wearing extra sleeves and leg warmers for the bike leg as well, which I did not regret once.
I though the bike leg would feel monotone and somewhat boring, going six laps á 19.1K. But it was actually quite fun, totally different than the races in Nice and Kalmar. Nice: all climbs and descents. Kalmar: all long flats. Tampere: criterium race in the city with lots of technical turns, then a few kilometers along a highway, then some more criterium along the streets of Tampere. The turns made the bike a bit slower, but I still managed to keep an average pace of 36.8kph. Not counting the transition, my bike split was 3.07 something. That's perfectly ok for me on this distance. I suspect I had one of the three or five best bike splits in my category, not counting the transition, but it is very difficult to say, because the organizers didn't record the transition times for T1.
Maybe it was the lack of sleep, but I forgot to prepare any energy bars or gels for the bike leg. I usually attach energy bars to the bike, from where they are easy to grab, but this time I just forgot them in my bag. Had to rely on the energy gels and bananas which the organizers provided.
Saw a familiar face coming into transition: Henrika Malmström, competing in the female elite category. At that point, I knew the bike had to be short. Normally, I would have caught her on the bike (even though the female elite started 8 mins before the male age groups), and then, depending on the time margin, she would have caught me again on the run, or I would have stayed ahead.
I felt strong, going out for the run. I kept an easy pace of 5.15 min/km. I learned a bitter lesson in Kalmar, where I started out with a 5 min /km, which was probably too much for me on an ironman distance right now.
The run was nice, I think. It was a 7K, four lap course, back and forth along mostly gravel roads. Lots of familiar faces along the route, and plenty of spectators spurring you forward.
There was this guy, Hannu Hult, competing in the 30-34 age group, whom I overtook right before the end of the bike, but who, in turn, overtook me right at the start of the run and got away from me. Then I caught up with him when he stopped in order to water the flowers. Then he got away again. Then, after two and a half lap (the laps were about 7K, 3.5K back and forth) he got into trouble and I caught up with him again. Then, right at the end of the third lap, he caught up with me again and, once again, got away. This time, I could change into a higher gear, overtook him again one fourth into the last lap, and didn't look back. Whoa. I usually overtake a lot of guys on the bike, but usually I only focus on maintaining my lead on the run – rarely do I get to beat anyone running. It is small battles like this that makes the end phase of a triathlon exciting. My time on the run leg was 2.37 something, not so bad considering the little run training I've done this year.
I finished 13th in my category, quite ok. The results can be found here:http://www.team226.net/etusivu/tuloksia Didn't beat Esa Ollikainen this time either. Got closer and closer during the bike leg, but he ran so much faster than me it wouldn't have mattered if I had caught up with him. I might have placed higher with a longer bike leg, but I feel satisfied. Also, this race should encourage me to put more work into improving my swimming and running, not just focus on cycling. In triathlon, you need to be good at all disciplines. On the other hand, I'm more than little interested in the new Tristar series events, with distances like 1K+100K+10K and, especially, 2K+200K+20K.
It's great to finish the season with a succesful race. Leaves a good last impression and gives plenty of motivation to put in the work during the off season. Yes mum, I will work on my swimming and running.
måndag 22 augusti 2011
tisdag 9 augusti 2011
Underperforming
Sheesh, look at that guy – how can one run that slow? But why am I not getting any closer?
That's the classic situation during the final miles of an ironman run leg, when you get tired and run out of gas. And it describes precisely how I felt last saturday, during the last 14K of the Kalmar Järnmannen. Luckily, most of those guys (and girls, I admit, boohooohoo, I admit!) were one or two 14K laps behind me.
Still, I was disappointed with the result. I had moderate expectations for the race, knowing that I have not had a lot of quality running this year. Still, knowing Kalmar is a flat and potentially fast course, I realistically expected to finish within 10.10-10.20.
I had some problems leading up to the race: I hurt my hip during one of those final-I'm just doing this last workout–could as well be resting-just a little reassurance before the race–brick workouts. It really hurt my preparations, because I wasn't able to do much anything at all during the last four five days, and felt unsure about even being able to run come Saturday. As it turned out, it was probably just a minor overuse of some muscle.
I didn't get a flying start to the race, swimming like I had a rusty anchor tied to my wrists. The water was only 18 degrees, which may not bother some people, but is a factor in play when you have a 5 body fat percentage. A single 1.9K swim would be ok, but my toes and fingers went numb and my legs started cramping during the second 1.9K lap. I don't think the swim in Kalmar is very fast anyway, with lots of seaweed and spots with disturbingly shallow water. The waves wasn't an issue for me, even if I heard some complain about it.
The bike start was horrible and it took me at least 30 minutes going straight into the brisk headwind to find my legs. Luckily, it was a warm and sunny day, even if the wind speed was close to 10 meters per second. First 30K – 52.29. Bollocks. Second 30K – 48.00. Better. I decided not force the issue, but maintained this pace for the second 60K lap, overtaking, well, a whole bunch of mo'fuckers. During the last lap I dropped a couple of minutes but still managed to finish the bike leg in decent 5.04. I could easily have gone 4.55, even on a bad day like this, but I didn't want to repeat the mistake I made in Nice.
It was great to see how the competitors showed respect for each others and for the rules. I saw practically no drafting at all. The referees, there were plenty of them, seemed sharp, but I think the biggest difference compared to other races was the attitude among competitors. Nobody accelerated when you tried to overtake someone, and they always eased off and dropped back when you overtook them. Just as the rule book says. I wish all the cheating fakes competing in the largest triathlon event in Joroinen, as well as the organizers enforcing the rules, could see how things can be done differently and fairly.
That said, the referees were being very harsh when they hit the ultimate race winner Pontus Lindberg with a 4 minute time penalty – because he had lost his race number. He had to serve the penalty before crossing the finish line, but had a large enough marginal to win anyway. I would say it's the organizers responsibility to supply the competitors with race numbers that are of good enough quality not to fall off.
The run started off good enough, I kept my strides short, my step frequency high and a pace of 5 min/km. During the second 14K lap, the lack of quality running was getting to me.
And the last lap was a battle. My right quad started cramping, and I tried to alter my stride to minimize the pain. Still, you don't quit an ironman with 10K to go unless you're really, really hurting. There was a strong sensation of deja vu, as I ran along the same course which I had seen so many times before.
There were positives: my stomach felt good and I was able to consume enough energy. I actually took mostly energy bars, one half at a time, during the run.
Part of the reason why I collapsed during the run leg was probably the lack of quality long runs this season, but I still feel like I underperformed. Anyway, I think I know what I need to do ahead of next season. Here are my results with split times: http://kalmar.r.mikatiming.de/2011/index.php?content=detail&fpid=list&id=0000170FF638F50000013EB8&lang=EN&event=KLM&ageclass=
This race was not one for the ages for my part, but it is always a positive when you finish an ironman in somewhat good shape. And the race in Kalmar is really well organized, the town is nice and people are friendly.
It was some ten years ago when I raced in Kalmar for the first time. Since then, the race has grown exponentially – from some 150 competitors to more than 800.
Still, it is striking how disorganized the transition area was. We checked in the bikes in the morning, contrary to most big races where you leave your bike in the guarded bike park over night.We had no transition bags – rather, we put all our gear, running shoes, towels, even change clothes next to our bike.This must surely change if the organizers go through with their plans to turn Kalmar into a WTC-licensed Ironman race next year.
That's the classic situation during the final miles of an ironman run leg, when you get tired and run out of gas. And it describes precisely how I felt last saturday, during the last 14K of the Kalmar Järnmannen. Luckily, most of those guys (and girls, I admit, boohooohoo, I admit!) were one or two 14K laps behind me.
Still, I was disappointed with the result. I had moderate expectations for the race, knowing that I have not had a lot of quality running this year. Still, knowing Kalmar is a flat and potentially fast course, I realistically expected to finish within 10.10-10.20.
I had some problems leading up to the race: I hurt my hip during one of those final-I'm just doing this last workout–could as well be resting-just a little reassurance before the race–brick workouts. It really hurt my preparations, because I wasn't able to do much anything at all during the last four five days, and felt unsure about even being able to run come Saturday. As it turned out, it was probably just a minor overuse of some muscle.
I didn't get a flying start to the race, swimming like I had a rusty anchor tied to my wrists. The water was only 18 degrees, which may not bother some people, but is a factor in play when you have a 5 body fat percentage. A single 1.9K swim would be ok, but my toes and fingers went numb and my legs started cramping during the second 1.9K lap. I don't think the swim in Kalmar is very fast anyway, with lots of seaweed and spots with disturbingly shallow water. The waves wasn't an issue for me, even if I heard some complain about it.
The bike start was horrible and it took me at least 30 minutes going straight into the brisk headwind to find my legs. Luckily, it was a warm and sunny day, even if the wind speed was close to 10 meters per second. First 30K – 52.29. Bollocks. Second 30K – 48.00. Better. I decided not force the issue, but maintained this pace for the second 60K lap, overtaking, well, a whole bunch of mo'fuckers. During the last lap I dropped a couple of minutes but still managed to finish the bike leg in decent 5.04. I could easily have gone 4.55, even on a bad day like this, but I didn't want to repeat the mistake I made in Nice.
It was great to see how the competitors showed respect for each others and for the rules. I saw practically no drafting at all. The referees, there were plenty of them, seemed sharp, but I think the biggest difference compared to other races was the attitude among competitors. Nobody accelerated when you tried to overtake someone, and they always eased off and dropped back when you overtook them. Just as the rule book says. I wish all the cheating fakes competing in the largest triathlon event in Joroinen, as well as the organizers enforcing the rules, could see how things can be done differently and fairly.
That said, the referees were being very harsh when they hit the ultimate race winner Pontus Lindberg with a 4 minute time penalty – because he had lost his race number. He had to serve the penalty before crossing the finish line, but had a large enough marginal to win anyway. I would say it's the organizers responsibility to supply the competitors with race numbers that are of good enough quality not to fall off.
The run started off good enough, I kept my strides short, my step frequency high and a pace of 5 min/km. During the second 14K lap, the lack of quality running was getting to me.
And the last lap was a battle. My right quad started cramping, and I tried to alter my stride to minimize the pain. Still, you don't quit an ironman with 10K to go unless you're really, really hurting. There was a strong sensation of deja vu, as I ran along the same course which I had seen so many times before.
There were positives: my stomach felt good and I was able to consume enough energy. I actually took mostly energy bars, one half at a time, during the run.
Part of the reason why I collapsed during the run leg was probably the lack of quality long runs this season, but I still feel like I underperformed. Anyway, I think I know what I need to do ahead of next season. Here are my results with split times: http://kalmar.r.mikatiming.de/2011/index.php?content=detail&fpid=list&id=0000170FF638F50000013EB8&lang=EN&event=KLM&ageclass=
This race was not one for the ages for my part, but it is always a positive when you finish an ironman in somewhat good shape. And the race in Kalmar is really well organized, the town is nice and people are friendly.
It was some ten years ago when I raced in Kalmar for the first time. Since then, the race has grown exponentially – from some 150 competitors to more than 800.
Still, it is striking how disorganized the transition area was. We checked in the bikes in the morning, contrary to most big races where you leave your bike in the guarded bike park over night.We had no transition bags – rather, we put all our gear, running shoes, towels, even change clothes next to our bike.This must surely change if the organizers go through with their plans to turn Kalmar into a WTC-licensed Ironman race next year.
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