Triathlon Performance Analysis - Comparison to Expectations

In my Expectations Management post, I said what our time budget was for the various parts of the race. I thought I ought to compare them to what actually happened....

I have corrected some of the times because the course was a different length than I expected in some places - the swim was ~720m compared to 750, and the cycle was about 16.3 km rather than 20 km. On the other hand the run was 5.6 km rather than 5 km (cycle and run lengths according to my gps watch).
The results of the race are published on the Hartlepool Council web site.

Phase	My Budget	My Optimistic View	Actual	Corrected
Swim	30 min	20 min	16:06	16:46
Cycle	60 min	50 min	43:41	53:36
Run	30 min	20 min	27:21	24:25
Total	120 min	90 min	1:31:52	95+5 (transition) =100 min

So once I have corrected the times for the slightly different race distances, the cycle and run were both mid way between my budget and 'optimistic view' (so maybe I couldn't have done the cycle much quicker after all - I guess the tandem and Benjamin is a lot heavier than the bikes most people were using, and I don't like to go too fast in case it goes unstable...).   The surprising one was the swim being faster than my optimistic view.   I think that is down to Laura helping pace me up and down the pool so much.

Our finishing position was 142 out of 158 starters which is what I would have expected when we set out.  I was surprised it was not higher after the run because we were overtaking quite a lot of people, but I think we were un-lapping ourselves rather than really overtaking them.    So I am quite pleased that our timing was in line with our earlier 'Expectations Management'!.

Another Cycle Practice

Had another go at the triathlon cycle course on Sunday.  A bit breezy, but not too bad.   Averaged 22 km/hr.  I'd like to do it a bit quicker, but that will have to do.   It is quite hard work and the challenge is going to be to eat enough to keep me going - more about that later.

A bit more cycle practice

Back in our comfort zone this morning - another crack at the Triathlon cycle course.  The difference today was that there was a bit of a stiff breeze, and more importantly there was an event on the sea front that meant there were a lot of dog walkers on the cycle path.
I don't mind sharing the path with pedestrians - they have as much right to use it as me, but I was starting to loose my sense of humour with the number that liked to walk 5 abreast and expected me to squeeze past them - this meant lots of slowing down and accelerating, which takes it out of you when the combined weight of the tandem and Benjamin is about 70 kg - makes it rather a heavy bike!

We gave up with the cycle path after the half way point and used the road.  It was just as well because we found that the road has some hills that the cycle path bypasses (well, small undulations really, but it makes a difference with a 70 kg bike....)
Anyway, this is all just an excuse for us being slower than last time - it took us about 64 minutes (against our budget of 60 mins), and I was feeling a bit worn out after it - will have to work on my eating....
Benjamin enjoyed the ride though!

Cycle and Run 1

Had our first go at doing the 20 km cycle ride, then trying to run....

Cycle went ok - less wind than on Sunday so not so much difference between the outward and return legs as can be seen on the ridewithgps analysis.

Averaged over 21 km/hr, and we covered more than the race distance (22 km rather than 20 km), in about 1 hour, which is ok by me.

Forgot to take my gps logger off the bike and take it with us on the run, so no detailed analysis.

The run did not feel as bad as I had expected - we did one lap of the course (~2.5 km) in ~15 min. This is over 9 min/mile pace, which is probably why it felt quite easy.

Benjamin is less confident in going fast in the wheelchair than he is the tandem (especially on bumpy ground - he doesn't trust me!), so I might have to limit how hard we push the run anyway.

Cycle Course Practice

Rather than our usual leisurely Sunday morning cycle ride, we decided to try out the triathlon cycle route - it is from Hartlepool Marina down the promenade to Seaton Carew and back - three times.  Should be about 20k of easy flat riding.

I was not planning on it being a difficult ride, so we only brought a few jelly snakes for sustenance - quite a mistake!

The Hase Pino tandem is a bit ungainly at low speed and tight turns, so we had a few little problems - the main one is when we leave the road to join the cycle path on the sea front where there is only one dropped kerb so we had to squeeze between cars to get onto the path.  Then there is a bit of a chicane to get through the sea wall.

Benjamin on his Hase Pino tandem.

The main thing though is that normal North East England summer weather has returned, and there was
quite a stiff northerly wind so we blew nicely to Seaton Carew, doing about 30 km/hr, but once we turned to head back we slowed a lot.  The first return leg we did about 20 km/hr, but by the time we got to the last one, the jelly snakes had worn off and my legs were not doing well, and we only did about 15 km/hr.   Overall average was just over 19 km/hr, so we are on course to do the cycle in about 1 hour, which is what I had expected.

Benjamin was very pleased with travelling so fast and shouted encouragement and waved a lot.   No sign of helping with the pedalling though, even when I was struggling on the last return leg!

I definitely need to come up with a plan for what to eat though - jelly snakes, mars bars, or something high tech?   I'll have a go at calculating how much energy I will need, then I will know how much to eat - a future post once I have done some sums.

Cycle Preparation

We do quite a lot of cycling on our special tandem, along with my daughter, Laura on her bike - it is our usual Sunday morning activity.

This summer we have done a few longer rides to get us ready.   Our favourite is from Hartlepool - Greatham - Cowpen Bewley - Billingham - Wolviston - Castle Eden - Hartlepool.

When we did it a few weeks ago we did it a bit too quickly and the pub at Castle Eden had not opened when we arrived, so we had to do a little detour: http://ridewithgps.com/trips/1518156.

This ride was over 50 km, so is well in excess of the 20 km ride for the Triathlon, so we should be ok
for that.  There is no way we will keep up with folks on lightweight road bikes though!

It was so hot that we had to stop at the pub for a  well deserved glass of something nice!