Allerthorpe Post Race Analysis - Back on a high note.

I have to write these down before I forget.

Thank you to my lovely family-in-law

Before races:

• Check tyres are OK & change / repair as necessary.
• Charge your garmin(s)
• Awkward things to remember to pack - number belt, track mitts, sweat band, hair bobble, HRM 
• Remember to set up the HRM settings on your Garmins - screens, alarms
• Check the lock laces on shoes

From today's race - learnings

Swim - went off a bit fast but not too bad.  I need to focus on upping the time which I can hold that pace.  All in all though, I am really glad with my performance.  I managed to hold on to a few people but let it go and swim on my own when I needed to take it easier.

Bike - Didn't know what HR to hold and my HRM kept telling me my HR was too low.  I guess I had it set to 4 minimum and I was mostly riding at 3.5 to 3.8.  Thing is, that's actually 4.5 to 4.8 so I was nearing my assumed threshold.  I backed it off to 3.5 to see me through the event but that did feel a bit slow so I upped it again.  It translated to around 20 mph on the bike so that was a bonus compared to previous PE rides.  To conclude on this, zone 4.8 is about right for being close to threshold for me.  I now need to concentrate on going faster in this zone and also coping well with occasional sorties above that threshold.  I can have a play with 3.9 & 4.0 in training.

Run - The run was trickier to keep an eye on.  My watch kept going off at the beginning leading me to believe I also had a HR low alarm set on that.  I didn't so the time I wasted walking and trying to change the alarm was truly wasted.  I seemed to settle down into a pace although I could only look at average HR because I hadn't set my screens up properly.  I eventually found my HR and realised that the alarm was going off because HR was high... so I need to do more Brick sessions then...

I continued for a while at a steady pace, keeping below my alarm limit of 173 but I was just getting passed a lot.  When someone came past me who was going only slightly faster, I dropped in behind him as he was a good size for me to draft him.  The extra heart rate of 180 bpm (anaerobic now) was offset by the reduced effort of running into the wind.  I reassured him that I couldn't keep it up, stuck with him for about 5 minutes then dropped away again when we hit the sanctuary of hedgerows.  

When two miles was called on the run, I tried to lift my pace to keep the number of people passing me to a minimum.  It wasn't too difficult to do and although it made my HRM sing out, it felt do-able.  With 1 mile to go I checked the time and estimated I could beat my PB if I strode out to an even faster run.  Unfortunately I couldn't keep it up longer than 1 minute and my legs started to ache and people started to pass me.  It wasn't a major event today (although a very important part of my recovery) so I backed off and waited until the final leg into the finish before releasing the finish beast!

The finishing beast was not strong enough to keep a couple of athletes at bay but it was enough to stop most of them from passing me.  My sprint finish started just before turning off the road and no-one else passed me.  Nor did I catch anyone.  It was 3 minutes long but felt like a lifetime.

Things to do before my next race:

• set up the screens on the run watch so that I have the information I need - like actual HR.
• More brick bike-run sessions.
• Sub Th workouts to improve speed & consistency.
• Super Th workouts to get accustomed to accelerations & to make speed attacks stick.
• Endurance swim speed sessions in the water.  Work on speeding the third lap from 10:30 to 9:30 then all laps to 9:00
• Look up how much time I was able to hold the finishing pace that I attempted with 2 miles to go and work on extending it.  Max HR duration 5 minutes at 180.
• Check the bike HR settings for sub- and super- threshold limits based on today's performances.  Aim to keep 3 Peaks HR lower than that.

Swim: 29:07 average SPM = 53 Laps: 9:00, 9:33, 10:31 (T2011 - 29:45)

T1 - 4:27 Forgot gloves and went back for them in this weather! (T2011 - 03:56)

Bike - 1:16:52 Z3 - 12:29 Z4 - 59:05 Z5A - 2:04 Z5B - 0:44 Z5C - None - how very restrained! (T2011 - 1:12:52)

T2 - 2:48 Left helmet on & forgot to switch to lock laces! (T2011 - 02:42)

Run - 1:01:46 Z3 - 0:55 Z4 - 37:30 Z5A - 13:28 Z5B - 9:48 Z5C - 0:14 (T2011 - 57:41)

Placings:
Overall - 198 /
Women - 34 / 49
Women AG - 9 / 13

Though I claim I could advance at least 8 places based on the number of people having a little walkie during the swim and the large peloton that passed me on the bike course.