Ishigaki Report

Ishigaki 2009 happened last Sunday, and I am quite satisfied with the result. Overall 2:36, with 30:00 swim, 1:15 bike (pb) and 51:00 (pb) run. Before you say anything, let me point out that this is an overall PB for me, with 7 minutes less that my prior OLY distance in Choshi 2008.

Training was pretty light overall as the early season date (26 April) meant that this was pretty close to the end of the ski season (which as many people know, takes precedence for me over triathlon). I started running a little bit (2 x 30 minutes per week) about 12 weeks ago, and despite the low volume and intensity (this was merely a job), this helped me shaving 4 minutes over my previous run. Ski and leg strength training must have helped keep the mechanics in good shape, and the light running would have restored some of the required endurance. During the last 2 weeks, I did a few bricks with the triathlon group, doing repeats of run after bike to get the feeling of the run after the bike.

During Ishigaki, the run part was a little rough to start with, but very quickly (within 1k) became reasonable comfortable, ie within the range of my usual comfort.

The bike split was pretty good for me as well. This is 5 minutes faster than my prior split in Choshi, and Ishigaki 09 had a pretty long transition (a least 2-3 minutes run to reach the transition) so I think this pretty good. In comparison, the fastest age grouper this year completed the bike in 1:04, so my 1:15 is within reasonable range considering my current ability.

The swim was the part I actually lost ground over last year. My Ishigaki 08 swim split was 28' and I think I managed to get this down to 27 or 26 in Choshi. Doing 30' on Sunday was a little lame, and this basically reflect the total lack of training (baring 3 or 4 sessions) in the pool.

Overall race was awesome, with the whole NFCC team and my wife, and this is a great motivator to get back into triathlon training for the season. I'll make Choshi my A race this year, with 1 or 2 intermediate races before then to keep me in good check. I am currently building a training plan to improve both the running and swimming, hopefully significantly, while also making some small improvements on the bike. I'll post the training plan soon, watch this space.