Suzu Triathlon Results

Here are my results from this past Sunday's Suzu Triathlon

Total time: 6:43:22
Swim (2.5k) 52:07
Bike (100.2k) 3:54:23
Run (23.3k) 1:56:52
65th place overall

1. Swim - 52:07
I swam well. At the Lake Stevens Half-Ironman earlier this summer it seemed like I was just floundering along - merely trying to grab a breath every stroke, avoid getting kicked, and keep pointed in roughly the right direction. At Suzu I could concentrate on making long smooth strokes and positioning myself in the pack. During the second half of the race I passed at least 10 swimmers. I even managed to draft for long stretches off swimmers from the previous wave overtaking us. Compared to my last place swim finishes of a few years ago, I felt like a real competitive swimmer as I staggered out of the water (117th out of 400).

2. Bike - 3:54:23:
Riding through Suzu's scenic blend of rugged coastline, forested mountains and traditional Japanese village was almost pure pleasure. I was able to stay in my aero bars on the flat stretches and maintain a pace over 30k per hour.

At all the big triathlons I have done (Sado, Wildflower, IM Japan..) all the participants exclaim how that particular triathlon is the most mountainous of all. I would say emphatically that Suzu has the most steep and challenging hill section.

I kept reminding myself of Mary's advice to keep eating, and consumed 2 Powerbars, 3 gels, a pack of Cliff Shot Blocks, and 2 bananas. I was worried about running out of energy like I did at Lake Stevens and my recent Edogawa training ride. But I felt genki throughout - I was loudly singing (Walking on Sunshine by Katrina & the Waves) during the last section of the bike. The caffeine helped too -during the whole race (and pre-race) I consumed a coffee, 2 Vivarin, an Espresso Love gel, a Coke, and a chocolate gel - probably a total of 800mg of caffeine.

I had grown to assume that all big triathlons will provide a water bottle exchange, but unfortunately Suzu only had tiny paper cups of ice cold water at the exchange. Foolishly I only had brought one water bottle and felt terribly unprepared - twice I stopped at aid stations and had volunteers ladle water into my bottle.

3. Run - 1:56:52 -
I managed to hang on reasonably well during the run. I walked frequently. Very frequently. Probably 20-25 times. My strategy was to run 5 minutes at 4:30 pace then walk for a 20-second interval, but the aid stations every two kilometers meant I was walking even more frequently. Mentally I felt pretty good, and for the first two-thirds of the race I clung to the fantasy that I would somehow speed up at the end and finish under 1:50, even under 1:45. But the heat started taking a real toll on me (I am convinced I am more atsugari than other triathletes). My lack of long training runs for a 23k distance over the past 6 weeks also hurt. I struggled the last 7k.

After the race I was hot and weak and had no appetite. I decided to rest next to the medical tent because it was the only place I could find shade and room to lay down. I must have looked pretty bad, or maybe the medical staff was just bored. They brought me a sleeping pad and blankets and ice and took my pulse and my temperature. I repeatedly told them I was just chotto kimochi warui, but they still looked pretty worried. I kept thinking if I could just get to somewhere air-conditioned (maybe a Royal Host?) I would regain my appetite, eat something, and generate some strength, but our minshuku was 8-kilometers away. I weighed myself when I finally did get back to the minshuku hours later and I was a startling 56 kilograms.

The end of my triathlon was not particularly "glorious" but everything else was a triumph.