Bicycle training is apparently not necessary in order to achieve a respectable Olympic Distance triathlon time. I finished the Niijima triathlon this weekend in 2:31:23 despite essentially zero training on my bike.
I finished the course 3 minutes slower than last year:
2010 2009
Swim 26:09 (58th) 26:28 (93rd)
Bike 1:24:49 (100th) 1:22:05 (76th)
Run 40:25 (8th) 39:42 (4th)
Total 2:31:23 (44th) 2:28:15 (39th)
* 44th out of 242 / 39th out of 170 finishers
Going into the weekend I was very stressed about my lack of bike training. Though maybe I was even more stressed about sleeping in the bowels of a boat and then waking up and doing a triathlon swim in the cold Pacific Ocean.
The boat turned out to be a charming adventure again this year though - there is something inherently exotic about embarking on an overnight boat trip to a remote island with 21 fellow athletes. And the triathlon went well -
Swim - The ocean water was really, really cold. The first moment jumping into the water was not at all pleasant. But as usual the worst part was the anticipation of the cold water. Once we started swimming, the water temperature was simply a non-issue. Still I struggled at the start
making the adjustment from a winter of training in a
calm, warm swimming pool. My first lap was 13:15, while my second was 12:45 as I got into a rhythm and I begun passing other swimmers. My time is only 19 seconds faster than last year, but I think I did swim much faster as indicated by my much higher place this year.
Bike - I thought I was in really big trouble when after only 500 meters of cycling my muscles started screaming with surprise. What an unfamiliar activity. But somehow the long-term muscle memory from decades of bicycling across the
United States and around Seattle and San Francisco kicked
in a bit. I was able to ride in my aero bars and push the bigger gears for a good percentage of the rolling course and enjoyed the sunshine and scenery.
Run – The lack of bicycle training seemed to manifest itself more once the ride was over and I started running. The uphill coming out of the bike to run transition was an ordeal. I could see teammates ahead of me on the turnaround sections, but I just did not have the strength this year to make up the huge lead they had established.
Though my Niijima time was "respectable" considering my lack of bicycle training, I do hope to improve on this by mid-summer.
Every May I run the Fuji Susono Half-marathon. For some reason, that is not entirely clear to me, I am the organizer of this event and in charge of coordinating the overnight adventures for 25 or so teammates. I am generally pretty good at planning travel, but in Japan everything is inscrutable to me, and I have been out of the country for weeks, so the activities are a bit chaotic. Fortunately my teammate Chiba-san is amazingly organized and diligent and it turns out to be a great little weekend trip with a nice express train journey to the sprawling resort situated on the side of Mount Fuji. We enjoy singing and dancing and feasting and skating and lots of family activities.
ride out on the final 4k downhill section and make up for the slower uphill start like I did back in 2008. Maybe it was the fatigue from recent travel and stress, or maybe just mental weakness (or maybe the basketball shorts I raced in). I felt completely drained at the completion of the run and was passed by 3-4 people over the final 5k (in contrast to most of my recent races where I have managed to pass competitors the entire race). Still I was able to enjoy a 5th place podium finish and the nice weekend. 
