5 years of Triathlon

Well it’s been 5 years that I’ve been involved in this crazy sport.  Back when I started I never would have imagined I would be where I’m at.

I think I have a long ways to improve, and a lot to learn about myself and the sport.

Last year I posted a summary of the results from the Pleasant Prairie Triathlon over the course of my Triathlon career.  Well here is the summary of results from 6 Pleasant Prairie Triathlons:

• 2003 – Sprint    – 1:31:02 – 17:07/0:43:28/28:09
• 2004 – Olympic – 2:30:15 – 24:09/1:16:32/46:34
• 2005 – Olympic – 2:07:50 – 19:55/1:07:05/38:18
• 2006 – Olympic – 2:08:05 – 19:54/1:05:00/40:36
• 2007 – Olympic – 2:02:55 – 18:44/1:02:10/39:43
• 2008 – Olympic – 1:56:29 – 20:07/0:55:36/38:15 – Bike was a bit short so we will call it 1:59 for future referece I said it last year, and I’ll say it again – my run needs work. 

With my bike being about a 59:45, there has been a ~2 minute improvement in bike split per year over the years – I have a feeling the improvement on the bike (at least for this distance) is going to start tapering off.  If I really work over the winter, I can probably get down to a legit 58 bike split, but we’re talking averaging nearly 26 mph, and probably in the neighborhood of 330 watts.  Considering my FTP is in the 300 to 310 range right now.  That’s a tall order – 10% improvement.

With "less" work, I can probably gain as much or more time on an Olympic Distance race by improving my run versus my bike.  Continuing to chip away at my swim probably can’t hurt either. 

What I really need to figure out is how to just man up for those long races and ride times that are very inline with a race this short.