ETU Qualifiers Review

ETU Qualifiers Review

Training for the European Triathlon Championships

I am thinking about participating in 2014 ETU Triathlon European Standard Distance Championships (Kitzbühel, Austria June 19 2014 - June 22 2014) by competing in Anglian Water Standard Distance Triathlon - 22 September 2013.

Review 23 September 2013

About the Race
Swim 24mins, Bike sub 58mins, Run sub 42mins = 2:05 Total.
I had a good start to the swim, working hard for 300meters and then getting into an excellent group of faster swimmers and getting pulled along for about 700meters. However on the turn for home I missed the buoy and had to head back out to make the final turn that I had missed. This cost me at least 1 minute, maybe more but I finished with a good time nonetheless. A bit disappointed it wasn’t an excellent time.

My transition was very poor due to lack of practice. I was slow getting the wetsuit off and messy with the bike and helmet. This is something I need to improve.

The bike was hard and I was surprised to go sub-58 since there were a few hills were I crawled up at 10 mph. However the flat was good and at times I reached 57kph. I choked on fuel because I couldn’t eat and breath at the same time. I felt sick and didn’t drink enough. I was de-hydrated on the run.

I dreaded the run since it was the first serious run since achillies problems 5-6 weeks ago. I was tentative at first, but found a rhythm albeit slow. I set-out with the aim of not letting anyone overtake me, unless they looked too young to be in my age group. I was racing for position rather than time.  42min for a 10K is poor, but the overall time might be good enough to get me in the top 4 and maybe qualify for ETU in 2014. However my hopes are slim since the fastest time for my age group was 1:57, making my 2:05 look a bit pathetic.

It makes you think when 50-55 age-group athletes race faster than Jersey’s Commonwealth Qualifying Time! My aim next year will be to get closer to this standard and 2:05 isn’t a bad starting point given the circumstances leading to the race

What went well (and I’d again next time!)  
•    Good swim draft
•    Good bike, dropped the gears and spun to avoid cramp
•    Gels on the bike worked well
•    Good feet out coming into transition
•    Shortened led stride and quickened pace on run

What went less well (and I’d do differently next time!)  
•    Poor swim navigation (don’t trust just to follow others!!)
•    Eating on the bike (choked)
•    Bad fuelling strategy (too much, too sickly)
•    Bad hydration strategy (not enough)
•    Bad bike prep – should have been ready in transition much earlier



Tim HJ Rogers
timhjrogers@googlemail.com