OSIM Corporate Triathlon - 3rd Nov 2007

Just got this in the mail - yup it's my official race cert from my last race this year. Two things of significance on this race cert: (1) I am officially a veteran now (past 40), and (2) I may be one of the youngest in my new age group, but it did not make me any faster (48th out of 92 veterans). ;-)

What's kewl is that my swim seems to have improved tremendously - I did the same race 2 years ago and came in 21 min 36 sec, which means I have improved by a whopping 955 seconds or 26%! ;-) Besides having good stroke correction advice from KN (whose identity will still stay secret) and R1/R2's swim coach, I think my start position also helped. I decided to try starting mid-pack this time (rather than my usual end-of-pack start position). It actually felt rather uncomfortable, because I was "forced" to swim right in the middle the whole way, thanks to being sandwiched between swimmers to the front and back of me. It felt like quite a fast pace, but I also remember feeling frustrated that I could not do a full stroke without touching the feet of the guys in front.

I got out of the water feeling a bit more "winded" than I would have liked, which probably explains why I got slower on the bike - 2 years ago, I did it in 41 min 56 sec, which means I was slower by 111 seconds which translates to a drop of about 4-5% in speed. Kinda frustrating that all the "go faster" add-ons to the bike - zero set-back seat post, Q-rotor chain ring, and racing clinchers - may not have contributed as much as I would have liked. :-(

While I am still a SLOW runner, I am encouraged that somehow I have picked up some speed. 2 years ago I did the run in 32 min 22 sec, which means I am now 145 seconds or 7.5% faster - like I said, not much, but faster is faster. :-) Perhaps running the 15km race 6 days before the Corporate Triathlon really did help.

So what does this mean in terms of my training plans for 2008? Well, I guess it means that I will do more of the same - mixture of intervals and long swims/runs, one brick a week, and some strength training. I would really like to ride more than once a week, but with the work and family commitments, I can't see it happening. One difference I will make is that I will (try) to be less "anal" about making my full number of sessions every week. More than one of you have told me this before - that at my (sporadic) level of training, I really don't need to have a rigid plan split into base/speed/race phases. What I will do is just stick to the motto of "Doing what I can" and not be too fussed about training sessions missed due to the kids, work, weather, etc... It's all part of my plan this year to focus on what's REALLY important. The other change I will try is to increase my long swim/bike/run to double Olympic (International) Triathlon distances - 3km/80km/20km.

In terms of my 2008 race calendar, I will probably start with the Singapore Biathlon 1st March, maybe the City Duathlon 18th May, working up to the OSIM International Triathlon 13 July, and ending the year with the New Balance Real Run and the Corporate Sprint Triathlon. If I do reach my long run objective of 20km this year, I may even close the year with my 1st even half marathon. Sounds like a plan huh? :-)