Preparation
Picked this race as it is one of the closest to my home, and an Olympic distance so not that taxing on the system as a 70.3.
Only 1 week since my last race, Ironman Maastricht 70.3, so not much of specific prep for this one. Last race was on Saturday, I did some training on Monday and Tuesday, legs didn't feel recovered so I took the rest of the week off to "prep" for this race.
Still in knee rehab and not even close to running yet, as such again a swim/bike for me. Goals for this race were:
- Olympic distance - 1500m swim: in Triathlon International Haute-Meuse a month earlier, which was wet suit legal, I did (26:04), so hoping for around 27:00 as it would be non wet suit legal for this race
- NP of around 280-300W as it's only 40k
Location
Swim is normally in the canal north of Lommel, but due to algae swimming in the canal was not allowed. Luckily the organization found another swim location not that far out at the Barefoot Beach. T1 was located at the Barefoot Beach, T2 and finish line both were located in the city center of Lommel.
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 day.
Swim 0:28:13 AG-20/68
- Actually pretty cool setup with the 2 loops and beach run in between. The water was surprisingly clear.
- Mass start running from the beach in the water, so always a little hectic. I didn't start to much near the front on the right side taking into account that I always breath left, this to be able to keep an eye on where the other athletes were swimming. I avoided traffic by staying on the right side and was able to have relative clean water like that. Also at the turning buoys traffic wasn't to bad. On the way back of the first lap it was already stretched out so no more traffic problems at all. 2nd lap I didn't encounter many athletes, as by that time athletes around you all swim at around the same pace, I think I passed 2 maybe 3 athletes in this 2nd lap.
- AG 29% is pretty bad, time of 28:13 corresponds to a swim pace of 1:52/100m which is just awful, even for a non-wetsuit swim. Didn't feel bad during the swim though, guess I am just really really slow without a wet suit.
T1
- Uneventful transition, with first a beach run to the bike followed by a run on tarmac to the mount line.
Bike 0:59:59 AG-5/68
- 2 lap setup, no incline worth mentioning with some very fast stretches alongside the canal. Replaced the battery of my power meter on the bike, so this time I did have power numbers on the bike.
- Right out of T1 I basically put the hammer down, having in the back of my mind it's only 40km, so around 1 hour, I got this! Nobody passed me on the bike which is always fun. First lap I really felt strong and tried to keep my power around 300W. Coming into town I was coming in so hot that I almost crashed in one of the corners near the finish line because I started to peddle to quick after a corner and my pedal almost launched me in the air. Luckily I was able to correct in time and stay on the bike. Early in the second lap however I felt seriously overheated and noticed that I couldn't get my heart rate down, so I had to dial it back a little as I started to feel not to great because of the heat. Looking back at my heart rate, it never dropped below 150bpm for the first 26k, while my max heart rate is only 163bpm. When I dialed it back I was able to get it down a little, but for the rest of the race I felt like I couldn't push it for 100% anymore. So basically the heat just got to me.
- AG 7% - 40.1km/h - NP = 280W - 16m of elevation. So in the ballpark of the 280-300W NP I had hoped for even with the slower 2nd lap.
T2
- End of the race for me as planned, mentioned to a race official that I couldn't execute the run leg due to my knee injury and watched a bit of the race unfold until I was allowed to check my bike out.
Run N.A.
Overall
- Happy with how I felt during the swim, but not happy at all with the swim time, the difference between my wet suit and non wetsuit swim times are immense.
- First lap on the bike was fun, second lap I didn't feel great and the heat got to me. Overall still managed to hit the lower end of the power target I had hoped for.
Some lessons learned
- Huge difference in swim times between wet suit and non wetsuit swims just indicates that I'm a sucky swimmer 😁, maybe see if you can work on body position in the water, as the wet suit helps with the buoyancy of the body.
- Next time you race in such hot conditions and the start is in the afternoon, try to add your liquids as late as possible to the bike, maybe even freeze it or add ice cubes, as now you were basically drinking lukewarm water.
- 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 x loop setup on the run. Multiple people living alongside the bike/run course opened up their garden hoses/pressure washers to provide some cooling for the athletes, which was very welcome!
Result
- Swim 0:28:13 AG-20/68
- T1
- Bike 0:59:59 AG-5/68
- T2 N.A.
- Run N.A.
- Total N.A.
Tags: Hoeks Triathlon Lommel race report, race report Hoeks Triathlon Lommel
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