Preparation
3 weeks between my last race, The Cave Triathlon 111, and this race. With 9 and 10 hours of training the first 2 weeks were decent, but not optimal. Not counting the time I spend putting in the physio exercises for my knee rehab.
Still in knee rehab and not even close to running yet, as such again a swim/bike for me. Goals for this race were:
- 25:30 - 1500m swim
- NP of around 270-280W
Location
Swim, T1/T2 and finish line are all located at the old camping grounds of Anhée. So from a logistics point of view this race is very easy. The swim was a one loop setup in the river Meuse, bike course was 2 loops of 35k each and the run course was 3 loops of 6k each.
Stay
As the race venue wasn't to far 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 0:26:04 AG-15/121
- Rolling start based on estimated swim times, 5 athletes at a time. At least for me this made that most of the time I had clear water in front of me. Even at the turn buoys there was no fighting to be able to take the turns.
- I planned to start easy, use the first 100m or so as a warm up and then try to get into a decent rhythm. The easy part I executed perfectly, however my rhythm on the day felt sluggish, I was still picking up other athletes, but looking at the overall swim time I might have taken it to easy. Need to try to push myself a bit harder next time and have confidence I can keep the pace. Although the buoys were on our right hand sight, I didn't had issues sighting, instead of sighting for the buoys I tried to sight for the athletes in front of me, using them as a target.
- AG 12% isn't my best nor worst swim, taking into account my 500m times at the pool are around 8:30, I had estimated my swim time to be around 25:30, so I swam around 30s slower than hoped in the end.
T1 0:01:44
- Had a hard time getting out of the water, with my legs kinda getting stuck under the platoon/ramp. Also had a hard time trying to get my wetsuit open, unable to find the velcro strip, I just pulled the zipper cord as hard as I could opening it that way.
Bike 2:08:40 AG-11/121
- 2 laps of 35k each, very rolling terrain, barely any flat, only the part following the river is a real "tuck and TT" stretch.
- I didn't do any reconnaissance of this years bike course, I did a recce last year and wrongly assumed it was the same loop just in the opposite direction. So the length of the first climb was a very unpleasant surprise during the first lap!
- Right out of T1 I started to pass people, during the climbs I tried to keep my power in the 300-330 range to have some legs left for the 2nd lap. Only 2 athletes passed me, one I never saw again, the other one I passed near the end of the first lap. At the start of the 2nd lap on the flat stretch along the river I closed the gap on a group of around 3 riders passing them right before the start of the climb, on that climb I tried to keep my power constant and was happy to see they were not able to hold my wheel, as they were sitting in each others wheel on the flat stretch along the river I wanted to avoid them sitting in my wheel the whole lap.
- I had started relatively light, with just the aero bottle and front hydration system, so in the second lap I was happy to use their aid station and almost drink half a bottle at once, bad idea as my stomach complained right away, luckily that feeling faded away within a few minutes.
- The last few climbs my legs started to hurt and on the fast decent near the end a bee flew into my leg and stung me, leaving me trying to pull the angle out of my quad at 50-60kmph.
- AG 9% - 32.6km/h - NP = 275W, 70.32km - 1050m elevation. So in the ballpark of the 270-280W NP I had hoped for.
T2
- End of the race for me as planned, jumping of my bike I was surprised I didn't cramp up at all, so good to know for future reference when I will be able to run again that I can push hard on the bike and not cramp up in T2, just a matter of taking in sufficient salts and minerals.
- Mentioned to a race official that I couldn't perform the run leg due to my knee injury and went of to the first aid station to get some ice to stop the inflammation of my quad around the bee sting.
Run N.A.
Overall
- Steady uneventful swim, need to try to push myself a bit harder next time.
- Happy with how the bike went, managed to hit my target power numbers and passed quite a few athletes.
Some lessons learned
- Dare to push yourself further on the swim, don't settle for a comfortable rhythm, if it feels easy it probably is to easy.
- Using the aid stations to fuel works well, advantage of starting with a lighter bike, especially worth considering on hilly courses.
- Great race course/venue to do again, as well for the spectators it's a great race with the 2 loop setup on the bike and 3 loop setup on the run.
Result
- Swim 0:26:04 AG-15/121
- T1 0:01:44
- Bike 2:08:40 AG-11/121
- T2 N.A.
- Run N.A.
- Total N.A.
Tags: Triathlon International Haute-Meuse race report, race report Triathlon International Haute-Meuse
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