JoJo Thirasilpa's IM 70.3 Elsinore (Denmark)
Background
Age: 47, Weight: 63kg / 138lbs
This was my 3rd 70.3 (other two were in 2017 – Switzerland and Thailand) building off my first IM distance race last year in Austria. With a new job and a few ill-timed bouts of man-flu, my training this year has been inconsistent. Looking back on my training log, in 4 of the last 8 weeks I logged 5 hours of training per week or less. As such, I wasn’t expecting a lot from this race and was looking forward to some time away from work and the chance for my family to see a little bit of Denmark for the first time. Although this event is the European Championship, it fit into my schedule for the year.
This is one the easier triathlons I have experienced from a logistical perspective. After a short early morning flight from London to Copenhagen followed by a 50 minute train ride to Helsingor, we were checked in at the hotel around lunch time.
Pre-Race
Water temperature on the day was 17C / 63F with a forecast high of 21C / 70F and sunny skies and modest wind on the bike. My start time (last swim wave) was scheduled for an extremely leisurely 930 (pro start at 820). I got up shortly after 6am and had 100g of Rice Krispies – I am still astonished by the volume. Normally, I would eat a Power Bar and a 1/3 on top, but poor planning meant I didn’t have any with me, and I didn’t feel like eating anything else.
I was onsite by 745 and managed to get in for a swim warmup of about 10 minutes.
Swim
47:45 vs. 45:00 target
I seeded myself in the second holding group of the last wave (43’+). The swim is in the harbour in Helsingor and is a one loop swim with a few switchbacks on a course that basically follows the perimeter of the harbour. Surprisingly, this was the most contact that I have experienced in a triathlon swim – although I still didn’t consider it excessive. Unusually for me, I seemed to be passing a few people on the swim and encountered an unusual number of people swimming breast stroke. I attribute the higher than usual contact / swimmer density to the narrower (but still comfortable) swim lanes that layout of the swim course implies. I struggled with getting into a rhythm and while I managed to on a few occasions, it was only for a few minutes each time. I eventually resolved to just get through the swim.
T1 12:27 Yes, I take a long time in transition. I would say this though – this felt like one of my faster T1s (!) – there is a short run from the swim exit to bags / changing area, but the run to the bike park seemed like ~400m. Also, stopped to use standup urinal.
Bike
3:09 vs. 3:15 target
NP 146 / IF 0.78 / VI 1.05 / AHR 153
Given the limited amount of training, I elected to ride my road bike rather than TT bike as I knew that I was unlikely to benefit from meaningful time in the aerobars. However, it is a flat and fast course – roads are well paved with only 600m of elevation gain. I targeted .72 IF for the first 30’ and .80 IF thereafter – and managed to achieve this satisfactorily. I also drank 750 ml of Enervit (on course) per hour – per my target.
T2 5:07 Uneventful (and fast by my standards)
Run
2:10 vs 2:05 target
The run course is 3 loops around the Kronborg castle, harbour and city center with a bit tacked onto the last loop. It is flat with some dirt /grass paths around the castle and some cobblestones on the streets in the city.
The first 3 miles, my target pace was 9:50 with an objective of increasing the pace to 9:20 thereafter. I managed the first 3 miles at 9:50, but was unable to push faster – indeed my pace actually fell off to 10:27. AHR for the first 3 was 158 and increased slightly to 163 for the last 10 miles. I tried to eat 10 salt stick fast chews per hour (500mg sodium equivalent), but didn’t manage to get through this amount in the entire run. Also, I had one cup of Enervit at each aid station and 4 Enervit gels during the run as I could feel that I was beginning to get hungry.
Total time: 6:25 (a 29’ PB)
Conclusion
Although this was another back-of-the-pack performance, it is clear to me that my overall fitness has undergone a step change since my first HIM in 2017. I obviously need to do the work to continue to improve and look forward to “real life” settling down a bit to facilitate that.
Objectively, this is an enjoyable, well organised race. For anyone based in Europe, this is a very easy race to manage logistically. There is also a lot to do for partners / friends / children travelling along - the castle is well known from Hamlet, there are miles of beaches to walk and Helsingborg has plenty of cafes, shops, etc.
Many thanks for reading – any feedback is much appreciated.
JoJo Thirasilpa
Twyford, UK
1 July 2019
EDIT: Corrected my age (not sure how I was off by two(!) years)
Comments
@jojo Thirasilpa thanks for the report. Sounds like one I could jump into one of these years. Seems like under the conditions you had a great race. I can;t seem to shake the thought that you've easily got 5:00 in the bank if you can somehow streamline transitions.
Maybe a new thread to start for some tips-
Anyway congrats on the finish.
Great report @JoJo Thirasilpa , I think Id like to have a go at this race sometime, another one to add to the list 😁
I know that you knocked a massive amount of time off your best 70.3 time as well so congratulations on that.
Definitely need to work on those transitions, free time is waiting there. I have found that actually writing down the night before the order in which I am going to do things has helped me a lot, it's not so much as there is a right/wrong order but that you know what you have to do, you do it in the order you've set your self, then move on. It has helped me to stop faffing so much, as I've actually put on bike shoes before fully taking off my wetsuit, I knew what I had to do, just didn't have a set order in which to execute.
Congrats again
I love the smile on your face coming down the finish line!
It sounds like this sport is giving you everything back that you put into it, and it fulfills your own personal definition of "fun".
Transitions: massive amounts of time are available to you in T1! The usual joke here @ EN is, "You must have been baking cookies there" Here's a wiki post which collected numerous tips for more efficient transitions:
The real key to getting down from double-digit T1 is: ruthlessness. You have to go through everything in your routine and in your gear which is not absolutely necessary. Necessary gear: helmet, maybe sunglasses (unless helmet has a visor), bike shoes. Everything else is a choice which is made for comfort, but will slow you down. No socks, no uniform changes, no food or pills (they should already be on bike), etc. In T2, the use of the Go-Bag which has things like: race belt/bib, glasses, sunscreen, nutrition...and is to be carried out on the course, to be put on while running, is the #1 time-saver. Leaving just shoes (and maybe socks) to deal with during the transition itself.
Having said all that, as I get older, I'm more willing to favor comfort over time. But you are young and hungry - find time anywhere you can, you'll smile MORE at the finish!
@Patrick Large @KARL BONNER @Al Truscott Many thanks for your feedback - especially regarding transitions! I agree that there is room for much improvement here! All I would say is that a slow T1 was made quite a bit slower due to what turned out to be completely unfounded concern that I might be cold on the bike cycling in a wet trisuit. This led to a complete kit change in T1 to strip wet suit / swim suit to dry trisuit which was completely unnecessary. I'm sure apart from that, there are other efficiencies to be gained.
Thanks again for the comments.
Thanks for writing up this Race report. Congratulations on your PR. This looks like a great race to use as an excuse to go to Europe. If consistent training can fit in to your life , more PRs will come.
Thanks @Robert Sabo I don't have a lot to compare against, but the European IM branded events I've experienced have been consistently well organised.
Congratulations! Thanks for the report. Nice to do well when you didn’t have the training you originally planned on. Like others have said lots of easy time to save in transitions.
Thanks @Tim Sullivan !
Congratulations on your PR JoJo; especially considering the lower than planned volume of training in the lead up to the race. I noticed a few people swimming breaststroke in Roth I don’t know how people do breaststroke in wetsuits , I tried it this morning and its really hard...inefficient and slow 🤷🏼♀️
Thanks @Abbey Bonner !