Athlete Name: Katsuyuki Kiya

Race Name: 2024 Sainokuni Triathlon in Kazo

Year: 2024

Total 03:18:09 33rd place (8th place)
Swim 0:31:08 81st place
T1 2:46
Bike 1:42:15 48th place
T2 6:37
Run 1:04:46 20th place
Garmin data
https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/15696768453/1

○Each data (Garmin)

Swim
0:31’02” (2:08/100m) 1450m 7Swolf Heart rate 156/163

Bike
1:36’43” 57.96km AV36kph AV183W NP186W 85/114rpm 155/171bpm 94.4TSS IF0.765

Run
1:01’03” 14.62km 4:11/km, average pitch 187spm, average vertical movement 8.2m, average ground contact time 208ms, heart rate 173/185bpm, 50.8/49.2%

☆Brief review☆

My time was slow, but I think I was able to show my full potential It was the first time in a while that I was able to “control the race myself” until the end

I still need to improve my swimming and cycling (especially the cycling), but I was simply happy that I was able to reach the final run without slowing down on the cycling, run at a good pace, and finish without pain

I had trouble falling asleep and woke up several times during the night

I was back before 3am I woke up suddenly, so I thought I’d get up

Sleep about 6 hours

I wasn’t particularly nervous, but I guess it’s because it’s the first race of the season

Woke up my wife at 3:30

Leaving before 4

I had my bike and all my race gear in the car last night

My destination was the Watarase Reservoir

Swim 2.5km (3 laps), bike 72km (10 laps), run 15km (6 laps)

Settings slightly shorter than the middle distance

Arrived at the central parking lot of the Watarase Reservoir after 6am

It was forecast to rain in the afternoon…or rather, thunderstorms!? It was announced that the swim and bike distances would be shortened

Swim 1.5km (3 laps) ), bike 57.6km (8 laps), run 15km (6 laps)

It looks like an OD (I’m not good at short distances because I’m not fast 😅)

Put it on the bike rack in transition and prepare for swim, bike, run

It’s forecast to rain so I put the run in a plastic bag

I finished everything except putting on wetsuits so I went to the toilet to lighten up the weight

There was a long line for this and by the time I got back it was past 7pm

The transition area closes at 7pm

I quickly applied Vaseline to my wetsuit, grabbed my swim cap and goggles and went outside

It was a relaxed competition so I wasn’t told to be punctual, which was a relief

Put on my wetsuit I didn’t do a practice swim (I didn’t want to get cold) and sat in the front row and waited until the start

I conserved my energy

It seems the buoys were placed a little further forward

I’m going to get overtaken anyway, so I want to start as early as possible and find someone to catch up with

Rolling start every 10 seconds in the front row

No battles

But groups B and C, who started before me, were swimming quite a bit

I almost bumped into them a few times

The visibility was low, about 1m

The water tasted tasteless and odorless

I knew the unique tightness of wetsuits and the difficulty of moving my arms because I had swum 2.5km in wetsuits at the pool last week

So it didn’t bother me that much.

Last year, I went off course on the first lap and swam to a buoy on the finish side,

so I kept my head up a lot to check the position of the buoy.

After the first lap, when I landed and reentered the water, the number of people had calmed down and I was able to swim at my own pace.

…I guess I shouldn’t have felt so relieved. On the second lap, I was going to go around the buoy at the back and head back to the landing point, but I ended up going to the buoy on the finish side. 😅

I think I swam about 50m more than I should have.

On the third lap, I calmed down, checked the buoy, and headed to the finish side.

After the swim, I took off my cap and goggles and moved to the bike rack.

Take off my wetsuit. While doing so, I put on my bike cap

I quickly wiped my whole body with the towel I had prepared

It was forecast to rain this time, so I hesitated, but as I had practiced, I wore a trasuit, inner shirt, calfskin, and sleeves under my wetsuit

(The trasuit is to open the front zipper during the swim to relieve the tightness on my chest and make it easier to move my arms)

It was cool this time, so I put away my buff (neck cover)

I wiped the soles of my feet especially carefully with a towel before putting on my bike shoes

Then I put on my eyewear, put on my headgear, and pushed my bike to the boarding point

After passing the boarding area, I stopped once, straddled my bike, put my shoes on the pedals, and set off

B Things I was careful about when I came:

– Drink lots of water

– Don’t let my heart rate exceed 150

My target zone was 200w

I was able to do it at 200 at first, but my power started to drop towards the end

I realized I had forgotten to put my chest bottle in when I started riding my bike, so I put the empty bottle I had put in the bottle cage on the saddle into my chest

I felt the effect last year, and I tried it this time because it seemed like it was okay according to the rules, but

It was annoying that bugs got in through the gaps in my chest and started crawling and biting inside my stomach (^_^;

I was overtaken by a few people, but I didn’t mind and just kept doing it at a heart rate of around 150. Maintain

Just stay calm

Be aware of not pushing with your legs (without using your quadriceps) and rotating with your hips (gluteus and iliopsoas muscles)

My power gradually decreased in the second half, but just by being aware of not letting my heart rate rise

I could feel that my legs were still strong until the end, and I felt like I could do it on the next run

Finished 8 laps

I got off my bike just before the dismount line and took my shoes off the pedals

I put my shoes on and went to my bike rack

It looked like the rain was still okay

Before putting on my shoes, I applied a lot of Vaseline to the soles of my feet

I was practicing shoelace stoppers (spring insoles/shoelace won’t come off) while wearing my shoes ) and finish it off quickly.

This is really good.

I thought about checking my stamina with Garmin here, but I stopped and just went by feel.

I knew it would drop to 1% along the way anyway, and all I had to do was have spirit at the end.

As soon as I started running, I felt my heart rate rise, but it soon calmed down.

I didn’t hesitate to go to the first toilet and lighten up.

I quickly overtook the few people who passed me at this time.

After that, I continued to run at the limit of the pace (it felt like about 75% of the pace) for 6 laps.

I kept overtaking the trasuits who had passed me on the bike.

Only one person passed me in the middle and I couldn’t keep up after that… I said to him after the race that he was really fast and apparently he ran under 4 minutes and was 5th in the running lap.

He saved his energy until the 5th lap and then picked up the pace for the last 6 laps, knowing that he might collapse.

He only managed to run under 4 minutes (3:46/km) for the last lap.

I checked my Garmin later and it seemed he ran 4:11/km.

I’ve been struggling with 4:30 lately, so this was a good run.

I guess the support from my wife and son Kona along the way really gave me a boost.

I especially got a boost from Kona’s high-five.

I’ll have a recovery week for the next 2 weeks.

I’ll rest well.

But I feel even stronger now.

I want to think more greedily about becoming faster and put it into practice.

〜K2