City Triathlon Karlovy Vary

The last weekend in August was all about the sprint-distance TRI in Karlovy Vary. Some time has passed already, so I will keep this one brief...

Before start photo with Jirka and Lenka from HiSport, and Lenka & Luca :)

Key takeaways:

• I do NOT like sprint races. Usually, everybody is pushing it. And pushing means putting in some serious effors that hurt :-)
• I do NOT enjoy racing with pros. And this one was all about pros since it was part of ITU European Cup, which took place on Sunday. Saturday was the day for juniors, friends of pros, sprint relay teams etc. Just the number of people racing with their names on trisuits was enough for me to realize that I am too ol' & slo' for this shit :)
• I do NOT like hilly courses :) This one was hilly and with lots of turns, which is the exact opposite of my ideal course (= flat and straight, where one could hammer it down).
• I do NOT like drafting races. And this one was of course draft-legal, the bike leg was really fast. And did I already mention it was hilly? :) I ended up in a group with 2 girls, which were the right match for my comfort zone and tempo. At one point we agreed that I will keep the pace up the pace in front during the last lap. You know, being a gentleman sometimes isn't the smartest thing :-).
• I DO like swimming now. I was actually surprised by my swim performance. Overall, I haven't done more than 10 sessions this year. No speed training, no strength drills as back in USK times. I didn't feel like giving 100%, quite contrary I tried to swim "my way" (meaning taking the long corner around the buoys and trying to avoid kicks in the face given my Doksyman bruising :). Yet I was 13th out of water. So wait for my times once I get back to swim "shape"!
• There IS lots of things I forgot and simply need to practice more. Transitions mainly. Packing for them, preparing them, "executing" them.
• I DO need to bike more! Run more! I lost 20 spots in ranking during my bike leg and somehow I managed to keep my final 33rd place during the run.

So all in all, a perfect race weekend.

The weather was awesome, I could have been much faster had I prepared for this more consistently. But as far as motivation goes, couldn't get any better :). This season is about to be over, and the next one starts soon... Official results.