Wellington is the biggest race in my calendar. It is not only the National Champs, but the qualifier for World Champs, and a good way to gauge where I am in relation to most of the same age groupers. Over the past 2 years I went to Welly with great expectations, and it turned out to be an average to poor race. These are the times
2009 - 0:22:40 1:11:41 0:38:09 2:12:30 88th overall
2010 - 22:27 1:11:34 35:44 2:09:45 5 28th overall
This time around things changed
2011 - 22:38 1:07:33 35:51 2:06:02 18th overall
Swimming
The first thing that stands out is that my swimming is consistently up there, all of these times I was at the tail end of the first group of swimmers. I guess that if there’s any progress to be made here it will require a mechanical change of some sort.
The bike,
4 minutes shaved is less than a 10% increase, but an increase indeed. The two factors that have made a difference here are the amount of time I’ve spent time trialling, and the addition of a pair of zipp 404’s to my race arsenal. What a difference do these bad girls make!
The run
I was stoked with my run last year, and I am disappointed with my run this year. I had the secret objective of going sub-35, and it didn’t happen. Overall it is not bad and it shows how strong the training has made me, being able to keep going faster or stronger in the three disciplines.
Tansitions and nutrition
I’ve made good inroads on this front. The transition practices at brick sessions do help a lot, and racing a few races in the season I’m used to live on gels for up to 4 hours.
On an unrelated note, I’ve just entered IMNZ 2012, 800 dollars later I am excited, but also a bit sad, as the budget for the last couple of races for this season has disappeared, meaning no more fun at the races for a while.
Stay tuned for some more action, and a few cosmetic changes to the blog,
2009 - 0:22:40 1:11:41 0:38:09 2:12:30 88th overall
2010 - 22:27 1:11:34 35:44 2:09:45 5 28th overall
This time around things changed
2011 - 22:38 1:07:33 35:51 2:06:02 18th overall
 |
| not sure what my right hand is doing |
The first thing that stands out is that my swimming is consistently up there, all of these times I was at the tail end of the first group of swimmers. I guess that if there’s any progress to be made here it will require a mechanical change of some sort.
The bike,
4 minutes shaved is less than a 10% increase, but an increase indeed. The two factors that have made a difference here are the amount of time I’ve spent time trialling, and the addition of a pair of zipp 404’s to my race arsenal. What a difference do these bad girls make!
The run
I was stoked with my run last year, and I am disappointed with my run this year. I had the secret objective of going sub-35, and it didn’t happen. Overall it is not bad and it shows how strong the training has made me, being able to keep going faster or stronger in the three disciplines.
 |
| good straight line coming out of a bend and overcompensating with the right arm |
I’ve made good inroads on this front. The transition practices at brick sessions do help a lot, and racing a few races in the season I’m used to live on gels for up to 4 hours.
On an unrelated note, I’ve just entered IMNZ 2012, 800 dollars later I am excited, but also a bit sad, as the budget for the last couple of races for this season has disappeared, meaning no more fun at the races for a while.
Stay tuned for some more action, and a few cosmetic changes to the blog,
Increase indeed !!
ReplyDeletegreat racing, solid times all the way around...you just crush those run splits
and high five on the IMNZ signup !
D
Nice job Valen. Congrats on IMNZ. HUGE!!
ReplyDeleteAwesome work on the bike this year and yay for IMNZ! My partner has signed up again too so I'll be there cheering loudly. Will this be your first full distance? woohoo exciting!
ReplyDeleteHey Valen, great race! The conditions were pretty kind to us.
ReplyDeleteGood luck for Ironman.