This is a set-up as I'll be looking to compare this year's IMMT with my prior two efforts. Clearly I'm no longer hoping for a 13 h finish. I might actually have to be able to run longer than 30 min order to accomplish that!
2012 Triathlon Season in Review
by Sue (Notes) on Saturday, September 29, 2012 at 2:58pm
Now that my 2012 triathlon season has ended, I thought I'd answer a question I've gotten a couple of times. That is, to what do I attribute the large improvement in my iron distance finishing time. I had a few ideas, but was unsure that any one reason dominated. Here's what I thought of:
1. I spent the winter doing an almost weekly 30-40 min treadmill run where the bulk of it was spent trying to push my pace faster. It must have worked, because instead of running at ~12 min per mi as I did in 2010, I was easily running at 10 min/mi this year, often surprising myself with some slightly faster paces even over longer training runs.
2. I used the same triathlon training plan for both races. But with the experience of "I know I can do this" in my pocket, I was willing to push myself more in the work-outs. Over the course of the 20 week training program, that amounted to:
2010: 182.8 h, 1131.1 miles (bike and run mileage was somewhat under reported due to: use of spinner at work, faulty bike computer at home, or poor Garmin 405 performance on the roads)
2012: 218.2 h, 2068.5 miles
--> That's 35 additional hours and up to 937 additional miles covered. Damn!
3. Sexy bike upgrade. In Lake Placid I used my Giant road bike. Despite a professional bike re-fit (including aerobar adjustment), this frame doesn't quite fit me (top tube is too long) and I never grew into the gearing on it. For the gear heads: 53/42 chain rings with 175 mm crank, 12-25 9-speed cassette. The Cervelo though, seems to fit me very well, with gearing I find pretty easy to use (50/34 chain rings, 165 mm crank, 12-25 10-speed rear cassette), and presumably the wheels (Zip 404's) add a bit of, well, -zip- to the ride. That said, I did not get the 4 mph upgrade in speed I read about, but maybe one needs to be a faster rider in the first place for some of the aerodynamic qualities of the bike to matter. Or so I have read about aero-helmets at any rate.
4. I weigh less. I participated in Wisconsin 12 lbs lighter than I did Lake Placid. Surely it's less taxing dragging less weight across that mileage.
Anyway, in the event I cut:
- only 8 min off the swim. Could I be better, probably; but I honestly don't believe my swim improvements will ever be a game changer in my long course performance.
- ~1 h off the bike. That came from an overall pace increase from 14.0 to 16.1 mph. I didn't actually bike that slowly in Lake Placid - some of that time was spent at bathroom stops, which I did not make in Wisconsin. This is a bit humbling to me b/c in my mind, I bike at 17 mph (and run like a Kenyan)!
- ~1.5 h off the run. That's an overall pace increase from 14:55 to 11:31 min/mi. Granted, I blew some time in Lake Placid with the premature finish chute misdirection, but wow, what a difference (3.5 min/mi).
I think I have more improvements to make in both cycling and running (and also weight loss), and anticipate some strength training and live coaching should help get me there. New IM goal finish time is 13 h. Wonder how long it'll take me to get there - Mt. Tremblant? Might be too soon. We'll see.
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