I am astonished to run 36:48 for the 10k run portion of the Murakami Triathlon Sunday. I am astonished I could run 36:48 at all, let alone after pushing through a 72-minute 40k ride. So despite the fact that stormy weather forced the cancellation of the swim portion of the event, my second triathlon event of 2008 proved another fine adventure.
When we arrived in Murakami on Saturday we were met by fierce winds blowing in from Siberia and huge foaming breakers crashing on the beach. Since I have been laser-focused on swimming this summer I was disappointed when the officials replaced the swim with a 1k beach run in heavy sand to start the event.
As usual I was unorganized during the final hour before the triathlon start. I felt reluctant to take my bike to the official race bike mechanic knowing I would be met with scorn and disgust, but I am so clueless about bike mechanics and could not get my front wheel to spin true. Sure enough the bike doctor was shocked and horrified by all the rust and neglect. I could not understand most of his grumbling in Japanese as he struggled with my bike, but what I picked up on was clearly shock and disdain: "hidoi, maintenance wa dame desu, toriazu shoganai..." I had pinched my front brake cable when I reattached my aero bars and lost various bolts and my front spokes were completely rusted, but thanks to the last second adjustments it appeared that my bike could survive another event.
When the starting gun went off I high-stepped through the sand as best I could, entering the bike transition zone about 10-seconds ahead of most of my teammates. But alas they overtook me right away, despite all my effort to prepare and focus on a fast transition.
The 40k ride along the Sea of Japan coastline was scenic with the huge waves breaking on the rocky shore. I rode well - my approximate time of 1:12 is a PB for this distance though I struggled a bit in some wind after the turnaround and during a short downpour toward the end of the ride.
Perhaps I slacked off a bit on the bike to save strength for the run, but I think I pushed pretty hard and my thighs felt sore when I dashed out of the second transition zone. And yet the bike ride did not seem to slow my run down at all. I felt like I was moving fast and this was confirmed when I saw my 2k split of 7:15. I passed Phil Ryan around 3k and he told me Anthony was just up ahead which further emboldened me. I hoped to finish ahead of the upstart Anthony who has just started doing triathlons this year, but who is clearly a natural talent. I finally managed to pass Anthony at about 7k as I maintained a steady 3:40 per kilometer pace to the finish.
My effort was good for 3rd place out of 49 runners in my division.
When we arrived in Murakami on Saturday we were met by fierce winds blowing in from Siberia and huge foaming breakers crashing on the beach. Since I have been laser-focused on swimming this summer I was disappointed when the officials replaced the swim with a 1k beach run in heavy sand to start the event.
As usual I was unorganized during the final hour before the triathlon start. I felt reluctant to take my bike to the official race bike mechanic knowing I would be met with scorn and disgust, but I am so clueless about bike mechanics and could not get my front wheel to spin true. Sure enough the bike doctor was shocked and horrified by all the rust and neglect. I could not understand most of his grumbling in Japanese as he struggled with my bike, but what I picked up on was clearly shock and disdain: "hidoi, maintenance wa dame desu, toriazu shoganai..." I had pinched my front brake cable when I reattached my aero bars and lost various bolts and my front spokes were completely rusted, but thanks to the last second adjustments it appeared that my bike could survive another event.
When the starting gun went off I high-stepped through the sand as best I could, entering the bike transition zone about 10-seconds ahead of most of my teammates. But alas they overtook me right away, despite all my effort to prepare and focus on a fast transition.
The 40k ride along the Sea of Japan coastline was scenic with the huge waves breaking on the rocky shore. I rode well - my approximate time of 1:12 is a PB for this distance though I struggled a bit in some wind after the turnaround and during a short downpour toward the end of the ride.
Perhaps I slacked off a bit on the bike to save strength for the run, but I think I pushed pretty hard and my thighs felt sore when I dashed out of the second transition zone. And yet the bike ride did not seem to slow my run down at all. I felt like I was moving fast and this was confirmed when I saw my 2k split of 7:15. I passed Phil Ryan around 3k and he told me Anthony was just up ahead which further emboldened me. I hoped to finish ahead of the upstart Anthony who has just started doing triathlons this year, but who is clearly a natural talent. I finally managed to pass Anthony at about 7k as I maintained a steady 3:40 per kilometer pace to the finish.
My effort was good for 3rd place out of 49 runners in my division.
