2010 Niijima Triathlon

Last Saturday, (May 15, 2010) I went to Niijima Triathlon again and completed the race. Here is the race report I posted to Namban Forum.

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Mika

Total 2:45:58 (7th women, 103rd overall)

I always like this Island Series tri, and this year, with no exception, I had a very good time with fellow Namban triathletes and supporters.

Swim 30:05 (136th, PB!)

The swim part is always my biggest challenge, especially this one was since I had to get over my trauma from the last year ( see my last year's report at http://tokyorunningdays.blogspot.com/2009/05/dnf-at-niijima-triathlon.html ). The water was cold just like last year and waves were even higher, but I told myself, " After that, I finished 3.8k IM swim, also finished another Olympic distance tri and have been swimming at least 3 times a week since March. I am a better swimmer now, and I have a new wetsuit. I should be fine." Swimming to the first buoy was the hardest. I had to battle with the flashback from last year's bad memories. But after turning the first buoy, it all got easier and better. Just before the 2nd lap, I found Pia, a strong Finnish triathlete woman who sometimes trains with us, just in front of me. I tried to keep up with her and thanks to her, I could keep my concentration on just swimming. I finished my swim part with more than 5 minutes PB time.

Transition 1

I was too happy about my swim and may have lost concentration, but it took sooooo long. I passed Pia by over 1 minutes at the swim part, but she left way earlier than me. Many Namban supporters who witnessed my T1 pointed out if I was having a cup of tea or something....that's the one I should improve for my IM race. No teatime anymore.

Bike 1:27:21 (incl. T1 and T2, 124th)

I tried hard to catch Mary who left T1 about 2 minutes earlier than me, but during the 3-lap course, every time I saw her at the double back part, I had to face the fact that I didn't close any gap. She was so strong and finished the bike leg 3 minutes earlier than me....

Transition 2

I don't remember anything, but I must be, again, very slow....

Run 48:32 (68th)

Super hilly course! I couldn't believe they put a water station in the middle of the steep hill. I wonder who can take water properly since you have to breathe so hard. Anyway, I was still way behind Mary but wasn't giving up. At the turn around point of the first lap, I saw her and realised that it's way to go to reach her. All I could was just keep running, hoping to be able to catch her up. Finally I found her back at the 3k to go area and caught her at the last 2k or so. She made me work so hard!

BTW, I wonder if this was my hallucination, but during the run, I saw Kimm running barefoot and smiling....(he actually ran barefoot and passed some fast guys at the run leg, amazing!)

Special thanks to Phil for arranging the minshuku & karaoke and Leng, Meg, Arnaud, Alex and Gerard F. (all the way from Sydney) for the loud support!