First 1/4 distance race and a long ride

A week has flown by pretty quick. The reason is that I'm on a vacation. That's the best time. 'Downside' is that I'm mostly offline all the time which is really invigorating. Just like Pepsi Max. 

A week ago I raced my first Olympic distance triathlon. This took place in Kisko where I've been following others to race during the last years. This time I was able to be among them. Unfortunately, Lil' D was sick so sweetie couldn't start. 

The race it short:

Swim: 
Swim leg was shortened because of cold water. Instead of 1500m, we swam 1000m. And I still lost around 1000 minutes to my closest fellows. (As a reminder: I'm not racing anyone in this sport, because I am my worst enemy. Of course you always compare yourself to others, but I don't have plans to win anyone, I just want to conquer new experiences after 40.) Otherwise, swim was emotionless effort, but a good one. My own watch, awesome Garmin Fenix 2, showed that my time was 17:20. That's a PR.

Bike: 
For unknown reasons to me, my triathlon biking leg is usually smooth, kick-ass -spirited effort with a decent speed. My biking effort has totally, albeit positively surprised myself and my fellows (those few who really have been interested). Maybe it is the fact my legs are outran by spending 25 years running, but the aerobic engine is still there. I dunno. I don't think about it too much. At least biking is easier than swimming for me and that is enough for me. In Kisko I was 9th fastest on a bike with average speed of 38kmh for 41km.

Run: 
Of course, as a former competitive runner, one would expect that I would easily match others' pace on the road in a triathlon race. But those may not have experienced the pleasures of trying to run fast after ride a bike. But personally I have been learning this - how to start your running leg after riding your bike harder than you would imagine. This has been a fun process. In Kisko a hilly running course killed me - I ran 10km at 4:00/km. 

In all, I was and am really happy with this race. The biggest learning experience is related to your heart rate. During a longer race (like in the Half IM in two weeks) I really have obey my HRM.

After the race I took it easy. Others ran and biked long distances right after the race. I did't nothing. Except on Wednesday when I joined group tempo workout. I thought that it was moderated somehow, but no. It was full steam right from the start and it resulted a 25km ride with an average speed of 40.4 kmh.

Today I biked back home from Sastamala. After sweetie had opened her racing season, I jumped on my stealth bike and rode 4.5 hours (147km). Now I'm sore.