I’ve been to busy/lazy over the summer to write anything on the blog but I figure now it’s time.
In early June I raced the Swedish long course triathlon championships in Motala. It’s the ITU distance meaning 4 km – 120 km – 30 km. The weather sucked big time with air temp of about 12 degrees and water temp of about 15. This meant that the swim-leg was shortened to 3 km which I actually didn’t mind since I’m not a super strong swimmer. On top of that the rain started pouring down during the bike leg. This meant a lot of suffering on the bike for a lot of poeple. I was lucky enough to borrow a pair of gloves from a club-mate just before the race which I think really saved my day.
Swim went OK, transition was slow because I wanted to get on some extra clothes, but it was the same for most people. After only half an hour or so on the bike I realized that there was no chance that I would be able to maintain the 230 watts that i had planned for. My legs just felt too heavy and stiff, probably due to the cold. I managed to stay just above 200 w and still did a decent bike ride with an average of about 34 km/h on a course with some very steep up-hills and a lot of wind.
The first 10 kms of the run felt pretty awesome, I quickly became warm again and felt pretty strong, probably due to the fact that I hadn’t been pushing very hard on the bike. Actually, the following 10 kms felt really good too, even though I slowed down a little. On the third (and last) 10 km lap I was passed by the same club-mate that had lent me his gloves and I decided to try and keep up with him. He was running a 4:30 pace but soon increased the pace to around 4:20/km. I didn’t manage to keep this pace but finished just 20 seconds behind him with a 2:21 run (4:42 min/km).
Overall I was very happy with my effort. I finished 29th in the Swedish championship and 13th in my qualifying age group, thus landing myself a spot for next years world championship, and so did a couple of my club-mates from Stockholm City Triathlon.
Really looking forward to representing Sweden next year!
The start, source: http://www.relaxedsports.com/2014-Vattern-Triathlon/
Alpine Exposure 