Swim
Comments: The race started about 45 minutes late as we had to wait until all the pomp and circumstance was finished - speaches by various digntaries. Finally, all the swim competitiors were loaded on a barge and we headed up river. The barge turned around about 1.5k from the finish, someone on the barge blew a whistle and everyone jumped into the water. Must admit that I found the water clearer and cleaner that I had expected (then again you can not see bacteria). Anyway, soon into the race I found myself alone. There was a group of 5+ swimmer infront. These were mostly swimmers for relay teams (swim specialists). And then there was a group of swimmers behind me. I would have to say that based on my time the course was 300 to 400m longer than planned, or we were swimming into a light current. However, pleased with being the 2nd triathlete out of the water :) What would you do differently?: Not much. Managed to avoid most of the other swimmers when I jumped off the barge. Transition 1
Comments: average heart rate: 166. Upon exiting the water I stopped to put on my running shoes as we had to run about 600 meters to T1. Transition went pretty well. I took my time and had a gel. I could see that some of the relay teams had already exited T1. Bike
Comments: I had a good bike ride as I finished with a 31kph average speed - this is despite 2,000' of verticle from going back 'n forth over the bridge. The splits for the bridge loops were pretty even: 23:14 / 23:25 / 22:52. There was no hydration on the bike course. for pictures of the bridge check out: http://www.2bangkok.com/2bangkok/Bridge/wongwein/wongwein.shtml. Or, http://www.flickr.com/photos/mlapalme/2242155730/ Pretty cool. What would you do differently?: More time training on the bike. Transition 2
Comments: Average heart rate: 150. Pulled into T2. Dropped off the bike and headed off on the run. Run
Comments: The run was really, really hot (>100F + 95% humdity). I started to run and immediatly got a cramp, so I decided to slow down and walk for about a minute to reset my HR and cool down. This seemed to do the trick. The key to the run was heat management, espically considering that the race organizers ran out of H2O on the run course after the 3km mark. Considering the heat and lack of water, I was pleased with my decision making during the run. Post race
Warm down: Had to hunt for some water! Drank lots of water and took advantage of the Thai massage. What limited your ability to perform faster: Heat. Event comments: All in all I was pleased with my effort - 2nd out of the water and 3rd place in my age group. I was a little disappointed in the execution of the event - a mix-up on bike course and the lack of H20 on the run. But, I look forward to doing this race again next year. Average HR for the race was 154. Last updated: 2009-03-15 12:00 AM
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Thailand
38C / 100F
Sunny
Overall Rank = 14/113
Age Group = 40-49
Age Group Rank = 3/34
Woke up at 0430 to get ready for an early start. Headed down to the start a little late as the driver was not on time - a little unexpected stress. This was a smallish race so there were not crowds I was accustomed to. There was no bike or helmet check and the T1 area was not controlled - welcome to Thailand.
A few brave soles opted to jump into the The Chao Praya River to warm up. Since I was warned against even swimming in the river, I figured I would save my warm-up for the race.