Pre-race
This would be my first triathlon (at least
if we do not take the very very short distance I once did
when I was 10 years old or so into account). My last weeks of training had been
acceptable and in general I felt that I was fit enough to complete an Olympic
distance triathlon.
The days leading up to the race were rather
hectic. I was in Denmark in the beginning of the week and as my flight, which
was scheduled to arrive in Tokyo Thursday 9:40AM, was cancelled just before
departure I started worrying about getting in back in due time to catch the jet
ferry Friday Morning 8:25 from Takeshiba station to Niijima. Luckily SAS was
able to put me on a plane to Frankfurt where I could catch the ANA flight to
Tokyo Wednesday evening arriving in Tokyo Thursday 4PM, leaving me enough time
to get back home, meet with Sekiguchi-san to pick up the tickets and a set a
club clothes so I could fully represent the club (yes, I know you are not
supposed to race in clothes you have not been training in, but I decided to
overrule that J).
We had decided to arrive at Takehashi
Station around 7:20AM to make sure we did not run into problems due to the fact
that I was brining a rather big bike bag, which meant we had to leave home
around 6:45AM. Everything went well on that note and a nice Japanese man
assisted us in buying the additional 1000JPY ticket so I could bring the bike.
There were several other triathletes on the ferry (and several bringing bikes),
but Maria and I were the only ones from Aoyama triathlon club as rest of the
members would take the evening ferry, which would arrive in Niijima Saturday
morning a few hours before the race.
When we arrived in Niijima we were picked
up at the harbor and taken to the nice ryokan that later served us to a lovely
and healthy Japanese dinner and breakfeast. We spend rest of the day touring the island.
At first we took a short walk to the seaside and later we rented a bike for
Maria and toured what we later found out was part of the race bike course.
Next morning rest of our fellow triathlon
club members arrived and we started preparing for the race that was set to
start at 1PM.
Swim (Official time: 27:14)
Garmin connect: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/314725094
Trainingpeaks: http://www.trainingpeaks.com/av/4LRTCMLQ6QGMQF24CCVFEZ2XCI
I had a short dip in the water before the start and the water was just as clear and beautiful as everyone had told me. Although I had have been tried trying to convince myself that since this was my first triathlon I had no specific target time and the overall goal was just to finish in a convincing manner, I of course had some kind of ambition in terms of time in the back of my mind. It was more of less something like:
Swim: 30 min.
Bike: 120 min.
Run 45 min.
And then 5-10 minutes for transition, so
the overall target was somewhere between 2:40-2:45.
The swim in Niijima is a two round loop. I have previously been told that it tends to be a little shorter than 1500m, but when we were looking at the course before the start Ikeda-san told me that the course this year looked longer. And then he told me that I looked nervous J He was probably right.
The swim was tougher than I thought it
would be. Around halfway on the first loop I had to do my first breaststroke
just to catch my breath and check that I was heading in the right direction. Also,
in general I noticed that I was breathing on every second stroke and not every
third, which I usually do.
After the first lap you have to go on to
the beach and enter the water again for the second lap. I enjoyed the break from
the swim and took my time. Just when I started the second lap I looked at my
watch for the first time and realized that I did the first lap on app. 14
minutes. That gave my confidence a boost and the second lap went a lot easier
than the first one. I still had to do a few breaststrokes once in a while, but
just knowing that I could still do the swim in 30 minutes made it a lot more
fun. I also started to pass others from the waves that started ahead of us which
just made me wanted to go even faster.
T1 went ok. Removed wetsuit, mounted
glasses, helmet, HR strap and go. I don’t have the exact time, but I think it
took app. 2 minutes.
Bike (Official time: 1:17:33 – incl. T1 & T2)
Trainingpeaks: http://www.trainingpeaks.com/av/LA6OAL42LH65QYD6XKT22EQBEQ
The bike course is a three-time loop around
the island. My plan was basically to try to keep the average speed above 30 km/h.
I have been doing most of my training indoor on my home trainer, so I didn’t
really knew what effort it took to keep this speed, but I knew that if my HR
stayed above 160 for too long I could probably get in to trouble on the run.
It
turned out that I could keep the speed above 30 most of the time. There were a
few hills, but besides that, the course seemed fairly fast. Looking back, I
think I could probably have pushed a little harder on the bike, but then again,
you’ll never know how this would have affected the run.
I ended up with an average speed of 31 km/h. T2 also went ok, mounted socks and running shoes and off I went…
Run (Official time: 47:45)
Garmin connect: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/314725104
Trainingpeaks: http://www.trainingpeaks.com/av/EA33IHRETVZM7PSQTLVU3YLQSA
…into an insane steep climb.
I had heard about this climb and although I come from a country that is flat as a pancake I usually don’t mind running uphill.
My stomach did not feel too well and I could sense that I should not push to hard. Still I managed to take over several others and just before I reached the top of the hill I caught up with Sekiguchi-san. I said hi to several other team members and received high five from the fast guys that were ahead of me when we saw each other on the course.
The atmosphere was really great. I would have liked to go harder, but my stomach told me it was better to keep the pace steady so I would not get into trouble. So that’s what I did and I finished the run in 47:45, which was slower than what I had hoped for, but with a total time of 2:32:32 I couldn’t be anything but satisfied.
During the race I thought about how tough the 70.3 distance I have signed up for in November will be, but when I heard my finishing time I immediately started thinking about how much training I needed to do to go below 5 hours on a 70.3 J
I had heard about this climb and although I come from a country that is flat as a pancake I usually don’t mind running uphill.
My stomach did not feel too well and I could sense that I should not push to hard. Still I managed to take over several others and just before I reached the top of the hill I caught up with Sekiguchi-san. I said hi to several other team members and received high five from the fast guys that were ahead of me when we saw each other on the course.
The atmosphere was really great. I would have liked to go harder, but my stomach told me it was better to keep the pace steady so I would not get into trouble. So that’s what I did and I finished the run in 47:45, which was slower than what I had hoped for, but with a total time of 2:32:32 I couldn’t be anything but satisfied.
During the race I thought about how tough the 70.3 distance I have signed up for in November will be, but when I heard my finishing time I immediately started thinking about how much training I needed to do to go below 5 hours on a 70.3 J
Post-race
After the race we went into the big onsen
that are placed right next to the sea. Free entrance and both cold and hot tubs
– it was great! Later we went to the big party and saw prices being handed
over. After the official party ended we visited another triathlon club’s camp
and joined their grill party. They were a bunch of really nice people, which I
hope to see again at other races. I had brought some Danish alcohol and candy
and some liked it more than others. But both Maria and I had a really nice and
fun evening and we will hopefully be joining the race again next year!
Thank you to Sekiguchi-san and rest of the
club for arranging a fantastic trip!
