Oh yeah... Noosa Tri - 2:32
Done, I am officially a triathlete.
Well I was just outside my goal time (and 30 places outside my secret goal of top 1000...), but I had a blast and I'll be ready for Mooloolaba with a few lessons up my sleeve!
I got a really good transition position on Saturday (right on the edge so I couldn't get lost!) and when I set up my stuff this morning I was feeling really good. I did a swim warm-up and got some good stretches in before moving to the start line.
Swim was great, nowhere near as rough as the gatorade series ones are and I finished in 29 minutes, more than I expected, but then I wasn't as drained as I expected to be by that stage either...
I had a really good transition onto the bike and had a really good first half of the bike leg. I was passing so many people on the uphills but everytime we started going down again they'd all fly past on aero bars (Note to self: get aero bars!). The Noosa Hill was AWESOME, I hit about 85km/hr (thanks for the tip Miners) and the entire ride was fairly uneventful except for a) the guy in front of me getting seriously bad speed wobbles on the hill and very nearly crashing at high speed and b) the big packs that were quite clearly drafting. Two of the riders in one pack got into a really loud screaming match at about 35km/hr about who was drafting who and the technical official rode ride into the middle to break it up. Very intense! I finished the ride in 1:16 Avg speed of about 31km/hr which I was really happy with.
Another very comfortable transition and I was off for what I thought would be the best part of my race. I was about 7 minutes ahead of schedule to finish under 2:30 by this stage but my run just didn't come together. I was fine for the first 3km and my legs started to loosen up from the ride and I got into a really good rhythm for kms 4-6, but by about the 6.5km mark I just couldn't give it any more pace. I didn't stop running but I just couldn't accelerate. I'm not sure if it was taking on too much water or going to hard on the bike but I just didn't feel like I had anything else to give! Run time was 47:30. (about 7:30 minutes slower than I was hoping!)
So post race analysis... There were 76 athletes who finished in my age group. Overall I was 49th. My swim time was the 60th fastest for my age-group, my bike was 53rd fastest and my run was 34th. If I had run a 41:30 (a minute slower than my PB) I would have got a top ten run time for my age-group. I was 1030th overall out of three and a half thousand.
I had a really good race for my first time at olympic distance and nothing went wrong so I'm really happy with my result, but in retrospect I think tactically I could have done a lot better. In pushing so hard on the bike I may have saved about three minutes off my bike time, but I think if I had done an ordinary bike time and got 1:19, I could have pulled 6 minutes off my run. So next time I'll have to weigh up how I pace myself better. Nutrition-wise, I kept it very simple, vegemite on toast for breakfast and then pretty much nothing but water til afterwards and I felt fine the whole way through. I think I'll keep coffee and gels for longer efforts.
Massive thankyou to Cirque, Clairie and Tesso who screamed their guts out for me from the PCRG tent, you guys made my day!
Also big congrats to Jordan, who did the swim leg for his team and finished third in his category.
Thanks to all for their support, I had so much fun today ( I caught myself grinning at different times throughout each leg, which was something I thought I'd forget to do - if that makes sense!) and despite the fact that I'm more sore now than after the marathon (not as tired, just sort of sore all over...) I'm so keen to keep building and eventually, do an ironman.
What's next? Tomorrow I'll start drafting a new training program, hopefully one with a bit more regularity. *possibly* the Goondiwindi Hell of the West in February but I think that's a bit of wishful thinking at the moment. Definately going for Mooloolaba in March though and hopefully for a 2:25.
In the same vein the following is a copy of the post I put in the 2007 goals thread on CoolRunning...
after running my first marathon in 2006 (and hopefully completing my first Olympic distance Tri...) (EDIT: DONE NOW!) this is just a random collection of thoughts for 2007...
Distance - Goal - (PB)
5km - <18:00 - (20:05)
10km - <38:30 - (40:30)
1/2M - <90:00 - (96:53)
Mara - <3:20 - (4:27!!!)
HIM - <5:30 - (no previous...)
Some goal races:
Hell of the West Tri (Perhaps extremely overambitious, I'll see how the christmas holidays treat me...)
Mooloolaba Tri
Brisbane 1/2M
Warwick Pentath Run
GC Mara
Noosa 1/2M
Yeppoon HIM
Noosa Tri
Either GCHIM or Port Mac HIM...
Well I was just outside my goal time (and 30 places outside my secret goal of top 1000...), but I had a blast and I'll be ready for Mooloolaba with a few lessons up my sleeve!
I got a really good transition position on Saturday (right on the edge so I couldn't get lost!) and when I set up my stuff this morning I was feeling really good. I did a swim warm-up and got some good stretches in before moving to the start line.
Swim was great, nowhere near as rough as the gatorade series ones are and I finished in 29 minutes, more than I expected, but then I wasn't as drained as I expected to be by that stage either...
I had a really good transition onto the bike and had a really good first half of the bike leg. I was passing so many people on the uphills but everytime we started going down again they'd all fly past on aero bars (Note to self: get aero bars!). The Noosa Hill was AWESOME, I hit about 85km/hr (thanks for the tip Miners) and the entire ride was fairly uneventful except for a) the guy in front of me getting seriously bad speed wobbles on the hill and very nearly crashing at high speed and b) the big packs that were quite clearly drafting. Two of the riders in one pack got into a really loud screaming match at about 35km/hr about who was drafting who and the technical official rode ride into the middle to break it up. Very intense! I finished the ride in 1:16 Avg speed of about 31km/hr which I was really happy with.
Another very comfortable transition and I was off for what I thought would be the best part of my race. I was about 7 minutes ahead of schedule to finish under 2:30 by this stage but my run just didn't come together. I was fine for the first 3km and my legs started to loosen up from the ride and I got into a really good rhythm for kms 4-6, but by about the 6.5km mark I just couldn't give it any more pace. I didn't stop running but I just couldn't accelerate. I'm not sure if it was taking on too much water or going to hard on the bike but I just didn't feel like I had anything else to give! Run time was 47:30. (about 7:30 minutes slower than I was hoping!)
So post race analysis... There were 76 athletes who finished in my age group. Overall I was 49th. My swim time was the 60th fastest for my age-group, my bike was 53rd fastest and my run was 34th. If I had run a 41:30 (a minute slower than my PB) I would have got a top ten run time for my age-group. I was 1030th overall out of three and a half thousand.
I had a really good race for my first time at olympic distance and nothing went wrong so I'm really happy with my result, but in retrospect I think tactically I could have done a lot better. In pushing so hard on the bike I may have saved about three minutes off my bike time, but I think if I had done an ordinary bike time and got 1:19, I could have pulled 6 minutes off my run. So next time I'll have to weigh up how I pace myself better. Nutrition-wise, I kept it very simple, vegemite on toast for breakfast and then pretty much nothing but water til afterwards and I felt fine the whole way through. I think I'll keep coffee and gels for longer efforts.
Massive thankyou to Cirque, Clairie and Tesso who screamed their guts out for me from the PCRG tent, you guys made my day!
Also big congrats to Jordan, who did the swim leg for his team and finished third in his category.
Thanks to all for their support, I had so much fun today ( I caught myself grinning at different times throughout each leg, which was something I thought I'd forget to do - if that makes sense!) and despite the fact that I'm more sore now than after the marathon (not as tired, just sort of sore all over...) I'm so keen to keep building and eventually, do an ironman.
What's next? Tomorrow I'll start drafting a new training program, hopefully one with a bit more regularity. *possibly* the Goondiwindi Hell of the West in February but I think that's a bit of wishful thinking at the moment. Definately going for Mooloolaba in March though and hopefully for a 2:25.
In the same vein the following is a copy of the post I put in the 2007 goals thread on CoolRunning...
after running my first marathon in 2006 (and hopefully completing my first Olympic distance Tri...) (EDIT: DONE NOW!) this is just a random collection of thoughts for 2007...
Distance - Goal - (PB)
5km - <18:00 - (20:05)
10km - <38:30 - (40:30)
1/2M - <90:00 - (96:53)
Mara - <3:20 - (4:27!!!)
HIM - <5:30 - (no previous...)
Some goal races:
Hell of the West Tri (Perhaps extremely overambitious, I'll see how the christmas holidays treat me...)
Mooloolaba Tri
Brisbane 1/2M
Warwick Pentath Run
GC Mara
Noosa 1/2M
Yeppoon HIM
Noosa Tri
Either GCHIM or Port Mac HIM...
posted by owen at 8:34 pm
8 Comments:
Very nice work Owen - that is a fantastic result mate.
If you tanked a bit in the run maybe you do want to consider a nutrition strategy as well - Miners will be best to comment but maybe a gel or something towards the end of the bike leg?
Congrats again Owen ;-)
looks like blogspot did to you what it did to me (thought I lost a post or two too!).
Massive congrats on a fantastic race mate. Those splits are more than impressive on such a crowded course (Noosa is hugely infamous for the drafting that happens every year - glad you didn't end up in the middle of a fight like the one you saw!)
As 2P suggested, perhaps something may have helped later in the race - I remember we talked about it, and Oly distance is right at the cusp of "hmm, should I? do i need to?" You would have probably noticed some guys going overboard with 4-5 gels etc... I think you're right though, the extra time on the run leg was probably more down to pushing hard on the bike. Pacing is the biggest tricky thing to work out in Tris - nutrition is the 2nd. I don't think anyone could ever claim to have nailed both perfectly in any race.
Bring on Mooba - Hell of the West would be a fantastic challenge as well :)
That's a solid result for your first Olympic distance race Owen.
My triathlon 'career' was a long time ago, but as a racing tactic, I'd suggest not going 'all out' right to the end of the bike (unless you're in super bike shape). Ease off a bit in the last k or two to get your legs ready for the run.
Other than that, maybe some more bike/run/bike/run sessions?
Well done again. Good '07 goals there!
That's a great result for your first Tri at that distance Owen. I'm sure you learned lots and will do much better in your next one in March. Hope you recover quickly.
Awesome result Owen! Congrats.
Can't wait to read the full report when Blogger decides to behave.
Bloody brilliant OOOOOWWWWWEEEEENNNN
I lost my voice from screaming so loudly when we saw you coming along the path. It was lots of fun and you did so well.
A great result and a massive excuse to pump up the training now and go for a top 10 finish in the age group.....YOU CAN DO IT.
WHAT!!! 85kph!!!
And when exactly were you going to tell me about that?
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