Numazu Triathlon

I return to triathlon competition at the Numazu triathlon ekiden (relay) last weekend.   It is a unique triathlon relay in that all 3 team members complete the full sprint triathlon -- a 750/500 meter swim, a 20k bike ride, and a 5k run. Our club enters 4 teams and I am on the lowest seeded D team. 

I lead off for my team - and with only 50 meters between the rocky beach and the first turn, the swim start is even more frenzied than usual.  But I steer a course far to the outside - perhaps you can see me in the picture above - a lone pink cap veering wildly to the right, far, far behind the early leaders. 

Even though the 750-meter swim distance is significantly shorter, my time of 15:09 is no faster than my recent races of 1500 meters, 2-miles, and 3800-meter distances. No matter the distance and effort I end up swimming at a pace of 2-minutes per 100 meters.

But I am pleased by the effort when I emerge from the water and hear that teammate Stan (B Team)  is only steps in front of me (Stan being a strong swimmer and good benchmark for me from recent triathlons).  

We enter the transition and as you can see us pictured to the left. I had decided before the race to just plop down to take off my wetsuit. Meanwhile you can see Stan putting on his jersey backwards.  Despite this wardrobe mishap, Stan is faster out of T1.  And I never do manage to catch Stan on the bike.  But given my complete absence of outdoor cycling, I am pleased with my bike leg - I pass more than a dozen riders, covering the narrow, out-and-back course in 38:24.  

I am competitive on the 5k run segment which mercifully (given the hot day) is primarily on shaded trail. My recent trail running seemed to help me --after the usual adjustment issues over the first 500 meters, I begin to overtake the other participants, and at around 3k I manage to even overtake Stan.  At this point I realize I have a shot of catching the A team's lead triathlete - the legendary Chad who I see on the turnaround, his face contorted with pain.

So I am inspired to accelerate over much of the last 2k, particularly the trail leading to beach where I manage to sprint past Chad (pictured)  in a brief, competitive burst (though I after this effort I am spent and content to follow Chad through a final confusing and exhausting chute that takes us through the agonizingly heavy sand to the handoff).

I am surprised to have done as well as I did (it is difficult to compare triathlon times across different courses, but I placed ahead of teammates who have been faster than me in previous triathlons).  I was convinced that the shorter sprint distance would put me at a disadvantage, especially given that I only seem to swim at one speed as I note above, my cycling background is on long slow cross-country treks rather than short fast time trials, and my transitions tend to be rather languid, which would weigh more heavily on a short course.  But in fact on this day I perform much better than all my weak Olympic distance efforts in 2012, let alone my humiliating debacle at last year's Taiwan Half-Ironman (which I had thought was "my distance").

It is all great fun.  And my D team manages to finish 103rd overall.