Preparation
No particular injuries to speak of in the leadup to this race, step by step increased the run mileage after al the past running injuries. Felt really tired the days leading up to the race and on race day itself.
Goals for this race were to at least swim as fast as the past 2 years, which means around 19' or faster. Past years the bike course was 100k, while this year it was only 75k, so I was aiming for the same normal power output as past years, 251 - 288W. For the running leg I just wanted to be able to keep a decent pace, sub 5'/k, for the whole 14k, as I barely had 1 run of this distance under my belt a week earlier.
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 3 loops of 25k each and the run course was 4 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 0:17:58 AG-13/62
- Positioned myself on the far right of the start line, as I always breath on my left side, so I could keep better track of other athletes. Didn't start out to fast to avoid blowing up and having to catch my breath after 100m or so. Got into a good rhythm and for the first 200m or so was swimming side by side with another athlete, decided to drop onto his feet instead of trying to get ahead of him as we were swimming about the same pace. Until the first turn buoy I was able to stay on his feet. In traffic around the first and second turn buoy I lost his feet and by the second turn buoy I found myself with clear water in front of me, not sure if he dropped me or decided to slow down a little. I could see some athletes about 15 meters or so in front of me but wasn't able to close the gap. Exiting the water I saw around 18' on my watch and felt happy with the feeling in the water and the time clocked. Compared to last year I didn't feel like I was swimming way of course all the time and sighting as well went good.
- 2021: 0:19:00 (AG-55/141-39%) vs. 2022: 0:19:21 (AG-14/63-22%) vs. 2023: 0:17:58 (AG-13/62-21%), so about a minute faster than my past swim times at this venue.
T1 0:01:20
- No fighting to climb the ladder out of the water, easy transition overall.
Bike 2:04:51 AG-10/61
- 3 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. (75k / 235m total elevation)
- First lap went as planned, picking up athletes and pushing my power numbers. In the beginning of the second lap I pulled in 2 athletes. I noticed that one of the athletes was drafting of the other one pretty bad. I sat back for a bit eating and drinking and then decided to pass them pretty hard in the hope that he wouldn't jump on my wheel. Looking back at the numbers of that effort I pushed 290W average for 5' with a maximum of 433W. After that long straight I looked over my shoulder and yep, both were sitting right in my wheel. I pulled for a little longer, but at around 41k I said screw you guys I am not going to keep on pulling for you and dropped back behind them. Looking at my heart rate it is clear that from then onwards my power and heart rate numbers drop significantly. During the 3rd lap I felt bloated, my legs were really hurting and I wasn't able to put down even 200W. Speed went down and people started to pass me. Looking back I probably blew up my engine trying to avoid getting drafted off, although normally I should be able to hold 290W for 5' without much trouble. I guess the surge during that period combined with the heath is what got to me.
- AG 16% - 35.9km/h - NP = 251W, one of my worst days on the bike so far during race day. Only 2nd and 3rd lap were recoded on Strava: 40:14-37.3kmph-240W / 44:40-33.6kmph-187W. Compared to last year: 38:41-38.8kmph-288W / 38:47-38.7kmph-286W / 38:58-38.5kmph-275W / 39:34-37.9kmph-259W, so not even in the ballpark!
- 2021: 2:35:50 (AG-36/141-25%-251W) vs. 2022: 2:36:41 (AG-5/63-8%-288W) vs. 2023: 2:04:51 (AG-10/61-16%-251W).
T2 0:01:03
- Really felt bad coming into T2, thinking of calling it a day. But when racking my bike some photographer was taking pictures of me going through transition so I couldn't stop there! Put on my running shoes and headed out.
Run 1:38:39 AG-49/57
- 4 loop setup with a passage through the chilly cave, long stairs to climb and some off-road climb and decent. Only one aid station per loop to pick up some water which at a warm race day was not enough in my opinion.
- I knew this was going to be bad, right out of T2 I couldn't breath normally and felt all bloated, like all the water I drank during the bike leg was still sitting in my stomach. After running a few minutes I got stitches left and right so it became a long jog/walk/jog. At every climb I started to feel cramped up so I even had to walk the climbs. The only positive during the run were the people living along the run course spraying water on us and that my frozen bottle was still cold when arriving in T2.
Overall 4:03:52 AG-28/57
- Overall utterly frustrated with my race, bike and run were horrible and I felt frustrated for days afterwards about how bad it went. It actually took me longer to complete the 90k than it took me to complete the 111k 2 years ago! (3:46:41)
- Positive note was my swim, but because it was followed by such a bad bike/run that feeling didn't stick.
Some lessons learned
- Take more rest the days before a race so you are well rested on race day.
- Don't get frustrated when you see someone drafting, don't spill energy on it and don't blow your engine up trying to drop them at all cost.
- During hot race days pay extra attention to sticking to your power numbers on the bike or you will blow up.
- For hot race days put a small bottle of water in the freezer to have some cold water available in T2, especially when there are little aid stations available on the run course.
- It really helps to find some feet in the water instead of trying to stay in open water.
Result
- Swim 0:17:58 AG-13/62
- T1 0:01:20
- Bike 2:04:51 AG-10/61
- T2 0:01:03
- Run 1:38:39 AG-49/57
- Total 4:03:52 AG-28/57
Tags: The Cave Triathlon race report, Caveman race report, race report The Cave Triathlon race report
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