Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Racing Qatar – Fun in Aspire

          Since last two years the Aspire Sports Academy organizes a series of five short aquathlon races. 500m swim in the pool and 5k run always has been that nice quick morning race which just wakes you up and kick starts your weekend. This year was no difference, so the day after Dukhan triathlon I was ready with around 200 of other sport lovers to enjoy 30 minutes of morning exercise J
          Start is staggered with two swimmers starting every 30 second in one lane and progressing by switching lanes every lap to the other side of the pool 10 lengths away. I did this race around 5 times previously and because it is always the same, I knew exactly what to do to get ready.
          3-2-1-GO! I started swimming as fast as I could, paddling hard with the hands again. I got tired obviously after few laps and had to slow down. Slowly overtaking few other swimmers and complicated lane changing was always putting me off my rhythm, so with all this together I was same slow as always once out of the pool!
          I ran out, put my shoes and t-shirt while running and sprinted towards the 5k circle around Aspire. Usually I get a stomach cramp or pain after swim, but this time nothing was stopping me from running a decent 3:50 min/km pace recovering some time I lost on the swim.
          It was working well all the way and I still finished in 30:15 total time putting me on 7th place overall and which was 15 second short of my eternal goal to finish below half an hour! But I felt strong and if my inner sole doesn’t get stuck when putting on my shoes, if I don’t have to put any shirt on, if I learn more efficient turn in the pool and swim a bit faster…I feel that I can shave off those few seconds and make it next time J
          This as on Saturday and after Friday off the next weekend I was at the same place for Tri Club Doha Super Sprint triathlon! This new group organized a similar race as the aquathlon only with a bike leg included. And distances 250 swim, 10k bike and 3k run were promising another quick race.
I read somewhere that swimming warm up is very important, so I swam 3 laps before, which might have been too much, because even on 5 pool swim I couldn’t go full speed all the way. But maybe not! I’m probably just a weak swimmer and I’m wasting energy on my bad technique J
          This time I bought a trisuit so I didn’t have to waste time changing, but I still had to waste time putting my shoes on! Anyway once I got onto the bike track I tried to go 100%, but it was difficult, because it was not an ordinary bike leg! I was around some parking lots and on interlocking pavement, which was pretty bumpy! So going 2 loops making many sharp corners, roundabouts and rattling on the bricks like on Paris-Roubaix was not very pleasant and fast triathlon ride. But I did fourth fastest time with around 34km/h average and started moving up the field!
          On the run I wanted to climb even more and started almost sprinting with 3:30 min/km. And it was surprisingly possible almost all the way. I only got short of breath for the last 500 meters and that was probably why I didn’t sprint to the finish line. That missed sprint cost me third place overall, because with the fastest run time 10:40 and 34:43 total time I was fourth overall  only 5 seconds behind the third! I was first man in my 30-39 age category, but the overall standings are what I usually look at. So I have to be two minutes faster next time to claim number one…probably not, but from the second place was not that far J We’ll see…

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