The Xterra Hammerman is an offroad triathlon or duathlon which takes place at Kincaid park. 2015 was the 15th anniversary of the event and my first attempt at the event. I competed in the Duathlon where we complete a short run, then bike then run again.
Although I used to run a lot when I was younger (17+ years ago) I have not really run for a number of years consistently aside from a short stretch whilst I was living in Bogota.
I went into the event with an all out approach and what I would describe as very little training, not just the running side but the biking too. Although I have been on my bike a lot this year, I have not been mountain biking or racing and my performance at this event highlighted that.
Training plan.... errrmmmm I decided to do the event on the 20th June and the event was on the 18th July.
I managed to get in 7 runs before the event which took my pace on the local flat course from 8:50min/mile to 7:50min/mile
I also managed to get out mountain biking a few times to remind myself how my bike felt.
How did it go???
The course is pretty hilly and for the first run I managed a 7:57min/mile pace. which I was happy with. The run is clearly faster than the swim as most people were still in the water when I started out on the bike. My transition time was a little slow but for a first event I was happy with my speed.
The bike went surprisingly well, I didn't really see that many people on the bike course, I was passed by 5 or 6 people and passed 3 or 4 people but mostly I rode on my own. I did look into some splits later on that someone had posted to Strava and I was definitely stronger than some of the people I was racing against (who posted to Strava) towards the end of my ride but not enough to catch them. I am currently lacking in speed which I knew was going to be the case coming into the event.
The second run was a tough one, I have not biked then gone straight into running ever before and my legs didn't really want to work for the first mile of the course, not helped by the fact that it is uphill at this point too. I ran the second run with a pace of 8:52min/mile, not actually that far off what I was expecting.
Full results can be found here
I finished in 4th place in the Duathlon a whopping 6min 26seconds down on the guy ahead of me.
Am I happy with that? Absolutely, with some training I really see I could make some improvements.
Win outright? I don't think so, but a top 20 in the Triathlon I sure hope so, now to try some swimming as well.
Thanks to all the crew for putting on such a fun event, see you all in 2016.
Although I used to run a lot when I was younger (17+ years ago) I have not really run for a number of years consistently aside from a short stretch whilst I was living in Bogota.
I went into the event with an all out approach and what I would describe as very little training, not just the running side but the biking too. Although I have been on my bike a lot this year, I have not been mountain biking or racing and my performance at this event highlighted that.
Training plan.... errrmmmm I decided to do the event on the 20th June and the event was on the 18th July.
I managed to get in 7 runs before the event which took my pace on the local flat course from 8:50min/mile to 7:50min/mile
I also managed to get out mountain biking a few times to remind myself how my bike felt.
How did it go???
The course is pretty hilly and for the first run I managed a 7:57min/mile pace. which I was happy with. The run is clearly faster than the swim as most people were still in the water when I started out on the bike. My transition time was a little slow but for a first event I was happy with my speed.
The bike went surprisingly well, I didn't really see that many people on the bike course, I was passed by 5 or 6 people and passed 3 or 4 people but mostly I rode on my own. I did look into some splits later on that someone had posted to Strava and I was definitely stronger than some of the people I was racing against (who posted to Strava) towards the end of my ride but not enough to catch them. I am currently lacking in speed which I knew was going to be the case coming into the event.
The second run was a tough one, I have not biked then gone straight into running ever before and my legs didn't really want to work for the first mile of the course, not helped by the fact that it is uphill at this point too. I ran the second run with a pace of 8:52min/mile, not actually that far off what I was expecting.
Full results can be found here
I finished in 4th place in the Duathlon a whopping 6min 26seconds down on the guy ahead of me.
Am I happy with that? Absolutely, with some training I really see I could make some improvements.
Win outright? I don't think so, but a top 20 in the Triathlon I sure hope so, now to try some swimming as well.
Thanks to all the crew for putting on such a fun event, see you all in 2016.
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| Not sure who took the photo but thankyou |
