Afternoon Aquathon

While on a week's triathlon training camp at club la santa in Lanzarote after a few days of early start swims followed by multiple other sessions I took part in the weekly aquathon the resort organised which had an unusual start time of 2pm.

It was listed as a 200m swim and a 3km run although I think it was a bit further but my GPS had lost the GPS plot.

The swim was in the outdoor 50m pool, so was only 4 lengths :-)



However it was into a headwind so there was some small waves on the outward part. The left lanes were meant to be the fast and the right the slowest  so I went near the right as not so many people and easier to get out. Luckily we had organised the people in our lane to stay on the right hand side and I followed somebody slightly quicker than me. Other faster lanes people were swimming slower breaststroke and people were getting knocked.

I got out of the pool in 4:23 which was a bit slower than planned but trying out different swim technique and the few days exercise already had fatigued me a bit.

The transition was from out the pool which I had some running shoes ready passing my swim hat and goggles to somebody I knew. I then carefully ran along the top poolside which was already quite wet and up the steps to the left of this photo where the timing mat was. This took me 1:02 which quick for me which I was pleasantly surprised with. I had also tried some different kit options as was a short race.

The 3km (2 miles) run then ran post were this photo was taken, then carefully down some steps and out of a resort gate. The route was then a loop around the lagoon and back in to the resort finishing with about 300m on the athletics track. However the first km was in to a strong headwind, at least it dried off my tri suit a bit.

The next km was alongside the lagoon with a side wind which you had to be careful the wind did blow you off the path and give you an additional swim!!



The next half km you had a back wind but then a short incline towards the resort complex (in the photo background) which was sheltered from the wind. You then ran through the main gates and on to the track for about 300m to the finish. Nobody overtook me on the run but I overtook a few and was running strong all the way to the end.

The 3km run took me 14:14 (7:38/mile) which I was pleased with due to the weather conditions and the training I had already done that week.

It was a good race which I learnt some different kit options in T1 and felt strong on the run.

I was planning to do the sprint triathlon in 36 hours after this but with a half marathon between this my legs did not feel up to it so I decided recovery was a better option.