Preparation
Last race in Dec 2019 left me injured way worse than I could have imagined back then. Basically spend the next 1.5 years trying to recover from the injury with numerous set backs. Numerous visits to a podiatrist, sport doctor and physiotherapists finally seemed to have paid off and resulted in a preventive plan to hopefully avoid this injury from popping up again in the future.
As a result the amount of running I managed to complete in training was way lower than I would have liked it to be. Target for this race was basically to just enjoy being able to race again and remain injury free on the run. From a timing point of view my targets where: swim (1k) < 00:18, bike (100k) < 02:50, run (10k) < 00:45.
Location
With the run leg being only 10 k, this was a perfect race to get back into racing after my running related injuries. Being less than one hour driving away was a plus as well.
Swim, T1/T2 and finish line are all located at the bridge of Kanne. So from a logistics point of view this race is very easy. The swim was a one loop setup in the canal, bike course was 4 loops of 25k each and the run course was 3 loops of a little over 3k each.
Stay
As the race venue was only one hour away and there was no need to leave the bike the day before the race, we didn't opt to stay close to the venue and just made the trip on race morning.
Swim 0:19:00 AG-55/141
- No rolling start here, so an entire wave of around 150ish athletes starting from within the water at the same time. Me and my buddy where so clever to be one of the last to enter the water and where at the very back of the wave. Because of that I had to wave through quite a few swimmers the first half of the swim. During the first 200 meters I already felt a cramp coming up below my feet, happens to me often so I just continued to swim as it normally fades away after a bit. Shortly after I started to notice that the right side of my goggles was leaking, so I had to stop and clear the water out to be able to see anything through my right eye. During the first half of the swim this didn't really impact me to much, besides stopping a few times. On the way back however I seemed to be drifting of course quite a bit. Every time I sighted I was way off to the left. Only breathing left and not being able to see much with my right eye because of the leaking googles didn't help.
- I had hoped to complete the swim in less than 18 minutes based on previous 1.9k swim times. When I climbed out of the canal and looking at my watch I saw over 18 minutes so I was disappointed, especially because the swim felt so easy, I guess stopping x times to clear the goggles out and drifting of course quite a bit on the way back didn't help. 1:54 per 100m is about the slowest I ever swam during a race in a very long time.
- AG 39% is one of my worse swim results in quite some time.
T1 0:01:42
- To exit the canal you have to climb a ladder, 2 athletes at a time can exit the water. I thought it would be a fight to be able to get to the ladder but it was very gentlemen like. No pulling/pushing at all. After that it was a short jog out of the water, no wet suit this time so quite uneventful T1. As always it takes me a little longer than most athletes as I put on socks, compression calves and cycling shoes in T1.
Bike 2:35:50 AG-36/141
- 4 laps of 25k each, with basically one major climb at the start of each lap, the vast majority of the lap is parallel to the canal, so fast and furious. Out of T1 you get about 20 seconds before the climb starts. (100k / 386m total elevation)
- The first time up the climb I managed to pass some athletes (thanks to my horrible swim). Once parallel to the canal a group of about 8 athletes formed. I lead the group on the way out, while on the way back some other athletes lead the group. At least 2 or 3 athletes in the group where drafting pretty bad, sitting right on the wheels. About 500m before the climb they would come to the front and the group would ride up the climb more or less together. The next 2 laps the same story would repeat itself, I tried to get a gap on the way out, but wasn't able to pull away from the group. On the way back 2 other athletes would always take the front, so basically 3 of us where doing all the work. By lap 4 I think we finally managed to drop 2 riders and apparently a judge had waved with a yellow penalty card to some of the drafters, which seemed fair to me! In lap 4 I didn't try to pull away anymore as during the last climb I already started to feel a cramp coming up and my legs felt pretty shattered already. The last 10ish k I tried to spin a little lighter and shake out the legs to prepare for the run. Looking at the lap times the 4th lap was indeed clearly slower: 38:30 / 38:22 / 38:57 / 40:01.
- AG 25% isn't to bad taking into account the different AG distribution compared to IM races. Looking at the average speed of 38.2km/h I only managed to reach a similar speed once and that was on a pancake flat 70.3 race, so I should be happy with the bike leg. This was the first time I raced with a power meter, NP = 251W, I was trying to stay around 270-280W on the bike so not to far off, during the climbs I probably went to hard to stay with the group and paid the price for that near the end.
T2 0:01:07
- No cramps or weird feeling in my legs when jumping of the bike, so that was positive. Sat down to tie my running shoes and seemed like a ton of people passed me while doing that :) Might need to switch to elastic laces again but for this race I preferred to use normal laces to avoid any slipping of the foot to avoid blisters.
Run 0:49:01 AG-78/141
- A 3 loop setup, with in the beginning of the loop some long stairs and around the halfway point a climb. Only one aid station per loop to pick up some water which seemed a bit far apart in my opinion.
- Right out of T2 I knew I had biked to hard :) my quads felt very twitchy, like they could cramp up at any moment so the first time up the stairs and basically the first lap it was more of a jog than a run. Second lap went a little smoother but quads still hurt, third lap my legs finally started to come around a tiny bit. So not a great run, not a surprise taking into account the tiny amount of running I was able to complete in training. I didn't got injured during the run, which was the main target for this race, so feeling optimistic my calve problems are finally behind me.
- AG 55% isn't to important for me in this race, as I just wanted to be able to complete the run injury free.
Overall 3:46:41 AG-53/141
- Coming into the race the main goal was to complete the run injury free, which I was able to do so I must be happy with the outcome. Absolutely not happy with how the swim went. The bike went pretty well, loved my new bike, but made the classic mistake of pushing to hard and not riding my own race, which cost me my legs on the run.
Some lessons learned
- Don't take so much water with you on the bike, use the on course bottles, especially in this race because of the climb, filled hydration system on the front should be enough to start the race.
- Pull the swim goggles extra tight before the race start, hopefully this will avoid them from leaking.
- Great race to do again, as well for the spectators it's a great race with the 4 loop setup on the bike and 3 loop setup on the run.
Result
- Swim 0:19:00 AG-55/141
- T1 0:01:42
- Bike 2:35:50 AG-36/141
- T2 0:01:07
- Run 0:49:01 AG-78/141
- Total 3:46:41 AG-53/141
Tags: The Cave Triathlon race report, Caveman race report, race report The Cave Triathlon race report
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