Preparation
Last race was on 18-08, so I had 4 weeks between races including 3 weeks of decent training (> 10h/w) and a little less than a week of taper. After those 3 weeks of training and all the exercises at that physio, my legs felt pretty knackered the Tuesday before race day, so I decided to shut it down at that point and start my taper, only had a short swim on Thursday morning before the race on Saturday.
Still in knee rehab, so again a swim/bike for me. Goal for this race was to have a race inline with past years race I had at this venue:
- 30:53 swim
- NP last year was 227, aiming for 270-280W this time
Location
Picked this race as I loved the venue and the organization last year.
Registration, swim, T1/T2 and finish line are all located at the promenade in Almere Stad. So from a logistics point of view this race is very easy. The swim is a one loop in Weerwater which is an artificial lake, so no current whatsoever. The bike course was a flat one loop setup around the city of Almere Stad.
Stay
Drove up to Almere on Friday, arrived around noon and went to the same Italian restaurant as last year for some pasta. Picked up my transition bags at registration, checked my bike and bags in and headed to the hotel. This time I picked a hotel a little closer to the race venue, it's a 10 minute drive from the Bastion Hotel Almere to the race venue. Unlike last year, this time bike and bags check in was the day before the race and race start was at 8:20 for the middle distance. So on race morning I woke up around 5:00, headed to the race venue, had some bagels for breakfast around 6:00, prepped the bike and double checked the transition bags. Tried to get out of the rain as soon as possible and relaxed till just a few minutes before race start in the convention center.
Swim 0:31:06 AG-09/79
- Full distance and middle distance races happened on the same day this year. Full distance athletes headed out some time before the half distance athletes. 1 lap for middle distance, 2 laps for the full distance. Unlike last year, this year the swim course was clockwise, so I knew sighting would be a problem with my left breathing.
- Rolling start using starting pens based on estimated swim times, as I headed out to the swim start as late as possible because of the rain and cold outside, I had to hop over a fence to join the estimated 30-34min starting pen. If not I would have to wave through way to much traffic on the swim if starting dead last.
- During the entire swim it felt pretty crowded, especially until the first turn buoy. No warm up before heading into the water for me, so I tried to take it easy and gradually get into a good rhythm, which especially in the beginning was hard because there was barely any open water. I tried to swim more to the outside of the loop to get some clean water and managed to get into a good rhythm this way. The rest of the swim was pretty uneventful, managed to keep a good rhythm, never felt gassed. I did have to adjust my course a few times as I was drifting to the left, which I am already used to by now to be honest.
- AG 11% isn't my best nor worst swim, pretty close to last years swim time (13s slower), I bet I lost quite some time deviating to the left multiple times, but overall happy with how the swim felt.
T1 0:04:33
- No issues getting my wet suit out and prepping for the bike leg. There was some traffic jam though after un-racking the bike and running to the mount line.
Bike 2:22:33 AG-3/79
- 1 loop setup for the middle distance around Almere, 2 loops for the full distance athletes. Almost the same loop as last year, due to some construction work it was a 96k loop instead of the regular 90k.
- From last year I knew it could be very windy out there, but unlike last year it didn't felt like the first 45k where with the wind and the last 45 against the wind. It felt more like for most of the ride wind was coming from the side. I actually didn't look at my speed for the entire ride and purely focused on power as I knew wind could mess up speed pretty bad here.
- Last year out of T1 I took the time to bring my heart rate down after the swim before putting some power down on the bike. But that took quite some time so this year I just ignored my heart rate and right out of T1 I focused on my power numbers. Looking back at the numbers it seems it took about 15k for my heart rate to drop below 140bpm. Aiming at 270-280W my heart rate should be in the 130-140 ball park based on training rides. It was really wet out there, luckily no flat nor crash for me. I did loose my bottle behind the saddle early on in the race, but not really a problem as there were more than enough aid stations out there. Sticking to my numbers I was passing people on a regular basis until I got to 2 other athletes that were riding at around the same pace as I was. After a while a pack of riders passed us, we looked at each other and went WTF! I overtook the pack with a surge, then back on the front tried to stick to my numbers but of course they would pass me again, really annoying. 3rd time overtaking them, between 35 and 38k in, I surged pretty strong, looking back at the numbers I actually registered a max power of 488W doing that. But it did help, I never saw the pack again for the rest of the race 😁 From there on I was able to stick to my numbers with here and there a surge to pass athletes that were going at around the same pace as I was. Last year I really faded near the end but this time I was able to keep the power up right up to T2.
- AG 4% - 40.4km/h - NP = 276W, 96.3km - 28m elevation. So in the ballpark of the 270-280W NP I had hoped for and I believe a new personal record for average speed.
T2
- Wanted to run of the bike, just to see if my legs would cramp up after a hard bike leg. Was pleasantly surprised that I didn't cramp up at all, could jog through T2 without any issues.
- Mentioned to a race official that I couldn't perform the run leg due to my knee injury and took advantage of the facilities by taking a shower and get a massage.
Run N.A.
Overall
- Happy with the swim as it was in line with last years performance and it never felt to hard.
- Very happy with the bike leg as I could hit the power numbers I was aiming for and I didn't fade near the end.
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.
- No need for a bottle behind the saddle in this race as there are enough aid stations.
- Great race course/venue and organization, perfect race for a PR.
- If I do this race again, be careful swimming to close to shore, as the underwater plants are quite abundant there, so maybe better to avoid that.
Result
- Swim 0:31:06 AG-9/79
- T1 0:04:33
- Bike 2:22:33 AG-3/79
- T2 N.A.
- Run N.A.
- Total N.A.
Tags: Challenge Almere-Amsterdam race report, race report Challenge Almere-Amsterdam, Challenge Almere-Amsterdam 70.3 race report
Comments
Post a Comment