Race Report - Leftbank Triathlon

Well after a few good weeks of training under my belt i decided to give the Leftbank Triathlon a crack.





I'd had a pretty easy week, so i knew i was going to be fresh but hopefully not to fresh - zing. Woke up nice and early, but my usual pre-race brekky of a banana or two and a Powerbar went out the window as i took a bite into my first banana and realised it had been horribly horribly beaten and therefore bruised. Not to worry. Got to the race with plenty of time and got a very good spot on the racks (not numbered). Before i knew it race start had come around and i was floating in the freezing river without a wetty. It was only a 400m swim, so i figured i would loose more time than gain ripping a wetty off after such a short swim.





After a bit over 6 minutes swimming i was out of the water 3rd behind Karl Reindler and some other person, a fast sprint (long run rather) into transition, it was on with my race belt...on with my race belt, i said ON with my race belt! The damm belt buckle had snapped, i lost about a minute trying to tie the damm thing on but eventually got it on. After being passed by a few people without faulty race belts it was back into it, onto the bike. Swim split: 7.21 (including transition).





The bike was a 4 lap 19k ride. What was taxing about this ride was the short and sharp hill at the start of every lap, followed by a deceivingly difficult positive gradient climb to the turn around. This was taxing, but what i found more taxing was the extremely large amount of competitors on course not staying left!! arrghhh!! Remember folks, when not passing please please stay left, no matter how wide the road is. Anywho, i put the foot down and had what i though was a reasonably good ride. kept a pretty reasonable pace through out and was pretty happy. Bike split: 33.31 mins





From here it was off the bike and onto the run. The run was also surprisingly difficult, with it starting flat then turning into a nasty uphill, a turn into further uphill, then a run all the way down, back to the flat and repeat. 4k. I had a reasonably good run and felt good through out, i smashed the last lap and worked my way into 2nd, but wasn't quite running as fast as i want. But hey that's something to work on over the next few weeks. However turns out i had the 5th fastest run split overall, so some good signs there! Run split: 17.55 mins



Final result: 2nd in 20 - 24 age group and 9th overall, with a time of 58.47, so reasonably happy with that :)





Well its back into serious training now, ultimately for Singapore 70.3 in March, but State Sprint Champs is in 3 weeks so looking forward to a good hit out for that!!





Cheers, markus

woooottt

If anyone wants to see a great picture of me have a look in the top left hand corner of the cyclebuzz.com.au website (you might have to wait a few seconds for the picture to come up)

haha its fantastic

training going super well, 100k ride sun with 5k run off the bike (ouch), 3.2k swim mon morning, 12k run arvo, 2.3k swim tues, and 10k track work (running) in the arvo, that was toughhhh. off for a swim this arvo as i missed it this morningggg. and then looking forward to getting smashed by sean tomoro morning for our weekly time trial (please sean no more 20k blocks at 330 watts!)

cheers peeps
markus

Easy week back into training

Well, its good to finally be at full health again (touch wood) and be able to train properly again. Ive got a couple of pretty easyish weeks before my proper block of training on prep for Singapore 70.3.

I'm really really glad because I've been really enjoying my training lately. All aspects my swimming, riding and running. I've also started attending a 'body balance' class once a week which is a mix of tai chi, yoga, pilaties and stretching which i think will be a good thing for just general flexibility and muscle work.

This week i managed 10k of swimming (with missing the mon swim) i did a double swim on fri which was tough but really good. 250k of riding including 3 x 20k tt on thurs in which we pushed (myself and sean) 320 watts for the last 20k farrrkkkk that was tough. Only 25k of running this week, but got some good speed work done.

I'm happy where I'm going at the moment and look forward to the next few weeks and definitely the start of December where i can really let loose. Will keep you updated

Cheers
markus

Running to catch up again

If anyone can pick what song that lyric is from well, you will win a prize...

Really enjoying getting back into my training now, actually loving it which is a good sign. Had a nice easy 10k run today around the suburbs, no ipod or music or any of that crap (i am a firm believer of running with no music) just me, the sound of my breathing, my feet hitting the ground in succession and my heart rate, nothing else...absolutely love it

markus