Hi,
on the 6th October I took part in the most important race of the season - the National Triathlon Championships. This was the key race in my training year since I started training in November. Two distances were available, Sprint (750m swim, 20km bike and 5km run) and Olympic (1500m swim, 40km bike and 10km run). I took part in the sprint. Although I made my utmost to peak for this race, I had been feeling very tired and somehow lost motivation to train at very intensive levels. Moreover, during the week leading to the race, I had to change bike shoes as I had trouble with the mechanism that clips the shoe to the pedal. The new one I bought is much better - with an improved system to remove the velcro.
Weather was cloudy during the early hours of the morning but not as windy. I was particularly relieved that the water was not cold. I had been able to swim during training at a very good pace and was aiming to finish in less than 13:30. However, the swim course buoys were different than usual. It was going to be my first beach start (shown in video below @0:43) as opposed to the usual deep water start. I felt really strong in the swim but finished in 14:59. Data from my watch shows that I have been going fast and when I compared times with other athletes, most athletes slowed down in this new course as well.
By the time I came out of the water it had started to rain. I had a very good transition and decided to get well underway before putting my feet in the shoe. Being a new shoe, the cleats (the parts that connect the shoe to the pedal) were a bit stiff and when setting them up I did not manage to clip them properly and in the process of putting my feet in, the shoe fell. I had to stop and turn around with the bike. I lost nearly 40sec before starting again. The course was extremely slippery and I was seeing a large number of athletes slipping in different parts. I had ridden my bike in similar weather conditions but never in a race so I was a bit unsure about braking procedures. I quickly learned that braking needs to be much longer at the turnaround points as the water reduced the friction on the rims. I finished the bike course in 35.01. I felt it was a good time considering the conditions and the time lost to stop and put in my bike shoes.
I registered the best transition (T2) from all the sprint and olympic athletes.Soaking wet, I set out determined to set a personal best at least in the run. I did not use the watch to guide me as I wanted to go by feel. I was looking behind me all the time to see if competitors were closing in on me. In fact, in the last kilometre I was seeing someone getting closer and closer. Even though I had made a good run so far, I had to push harder than ever before to avoid being overtaken.
During the last few weeks I noticed some improvements in my running and although I did not have time to measure than improvement in training, I knew I had to do the utmost. I kept telling myself "it's the last few metres and you can rest after all the work done this season". This kept me going on - to the point that I increased the average pace from 4:31min/km to 4:16min/km. I finished the run in 22:19 - a personal best by 12sec.
The total race time was 1hr 13mins 16sec. Although my personal best was almost 3mins less, the wet road conditions did not allow for such times. It has been a very good season for me - starting out last November with a time of 1hr 19mins 30sec and slashing times in all three disciplines, thus improving by 9mins overall. Now it's time to rest for at least 3 weeks before starting again on a new journey and new targets to improve my times especially in running. I will be preparing to take part in 2 distinct races in the athletics calendar: the Mdina to Spinola on the 22nd December and the Malta Half Marathon on the 23rd February 2014.
For this season I wanted to thank my wife Maria for her constant support and my child Elena. I also want to thank all those who have helped me out during my training and those who came to support me during the races.
Cu
Anatoly
