Preparation
Barely 2 weeks between my last race, Challenge Geraardsbergen, and this race. First a week of recovery, then back at training so my taper was limited to 2 days 😀.
After all the races I have done before, this was the first time I repeated a race, so a familiar swim and bike course. During the same time I started my treatments with the physio so still far off from running again and as such again a swim/bike for me.
Goals for this race were to improve my sighting during the swim compared to last year, hopefully resulting in a better swim time and improving my bike split as well.
Location
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. Exactly the same setup as last year's race.
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 0:19:21 AG-14/63
- Last year I made the mistake of getting in the water dead last, so I had to swim through way to much traffic. To avoid this and to allow myself a little bit more time to get used to the water temperature I got into the water early on. Good approach as I never felt gassed during the beginning of the swim due to the water temperature nor was it to crowded during the entire swim.
- During the whole swim I felt my sighting was better compared to last year, as I never felt I was drifting off course by an exaggerated amount, I always drift to the left a little, but nothing to obscene this time.
- I felt controlled during the swim, picked some athletes up on the go and exiting the water I was happy with my swim.
- When I looked at my watch however and saw that I actually swam slower compared to last year when I felt really frustrated with my swim I was a bit surprised. Maybe there was more wind / current or so this year or maybe I was just frustrated last year for nothing, hard to tell.
- 2021: 0:19:00 (AG-55/141-39%) vs. 2022: 0:19:21 (AG-14/63-22%), so in absolute time I was slower this year, but in % in my AG I did better, there were clearly less athletes racing this time though.
T1 0:01:05
- No major issues climbing out of the canal, always a gamble how the knee will feel running to my bike, but it wasn't to bad this time.
Bike 2:36:41 AG-5/63
- 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)
- During the first climb right out of T1 I already passed some people, this continued till around halfway through the first lap. From that point onwards I couldn't see anybody in front of me nor behind me. So it was a 100% individual TT from that point on, this lasted until the last climb where I suddenly started to catch up to someone. I took my time to pull him back and managed to finally pass him before halfway into the last lap. In the long stretch heading back to T2 I tried to drop him but by then my legs were pretty cooked.
- AG 8% - 38.0km/h - NP = 288W, racing almost the entire race on my own allowed me to pace better, not going to deep into the red on the climb compared to last year. Overall I was happy with my bike split, I was hoping for a NP of around 270-280, so spot on.
- 2021: 2:35:50 (AG-36/141-25%-251W) vs. 2022: 2:36:41 (AG-5/63-8%-288W) Compared to last year my power numbers were higher, but the lap times were slower. I assume this is due to the effect of riding in a group in 2021, where this year it was a solo TT for the vast majority of the race. I think there was more wind in 2022 vs 2021 as well, especially on the way back to the transition zone. In both occasions the lap times increased during the race, need to try to keep that more steady.
T2
- End of the race for me as planned, surprisingly I didn't cramp up hopping of the bike so at least it looks like my nutrition strategy was on point.
Run N.A.
Overall
- Happy with how I felt during the swim, although it didn't translate into a better swim time compared to last year. (2021: 19:00 vs. 2022: 19:21)
- Overall happy how the bike went, managed a higher NP output compared to last year, due to race dynamics however this resulted in a slower bike split. (2021: 2:35:50 vs. 2022: 2:36:41)
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.
- 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.
- Controlling yourself on the climb does result in less degradation in the lap times.
- With a mass start, get into the water early on to get used to the water temperature and to avoid traffic.
Result
- Swim 0:19:21 AG-55/63
- T1 0:01:05
- Bike 2:36:41 AG-36/63
- T2 N.A.
- Run N.A.
- Total N.A.
Tags: The Cave Triathlon race report, Caveman race report, race report The Cave Triathlon race report
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