RACE PREPARATION

Lausanne Triathlon is actually my first race of the season. Having raced long-distance the last couple of years, I really wanted to go back to short course racing for the thrills, but also to gain some speed and improve my long distance performances in the long term.

In the weeks coming up to the event, I did very specific indoor bike sessions on the turbo sessions. First, I wanted to test myself and did an FTP session (table 1). This is key in determining your power zones (if you use a power meter…). FTP is your Functional Threshold Power, which means it’s the maximum wattage you’re able to sustain for one hour. Now doing a one-hour time trial is a horrible experience, so you can do smaller versions.

I usually do two tests: 20min and 8min FTP test and then I can extrapolate the number from the results I get.

I basically average the two tests, and I obtained a 260 watts FTP. Now that my FTP was set, I could do some really nice workouts such as this one (table 2).

This session is designed to ride your bike at FTP, and push yourself hard onto Z5 to push the boundaries and increase your FTP. Furthermore, this can also simulate race day situations when you have to overtake someone else.

On the running, I kept my sessions fairly easy overall, with some fast KM. I would most of the time run after my bike rides, putting strong starts above race pace.

For the swim, I had two sessions per week (only). One aerobic and technique, the other being 50m, 100m and 200m intervals, way above race pace.

I only had 6 weeks to prepare for the event, which was very short, but I was looking forward to the challenge of switching from long course to short course!

TABLE 1

TEST	RESULT	FTP
20 min	267 watts	254 watts
8 min	296 watts	266 watts

TABLE 2

SET	FTP	TIME	COMMENT
Warm up	50-75%	10 min	Gradually increase
1	50-90%	5 min	Cadence drills 100rpm+
2	50-75%	5 min	Diesel mode
3	100% 110% 50%	2 min 1 min 1 min	6x in total 2 min FTP, 1 min Z5 1 min recovery
4	75%	5 min	Diesel mode
Cool down	75>50%	5 min	Spin nice and easy

RACE STRATEGY

ALL OUT!

RACE NUTRITION

Pre-race dinner : sweet potatoes, broccoli, spinach and tofu.
Morning : maiday boost, energy bar, espresso, energy drink.
30min pre-race : maiday before.
Race : 2 sips of energy drinks.
Post race : recovery drink.

RACE RECAP

SWIM 750m (lake)
The swim went well, I felt I had a good rhythm, and was quickly in the first third and kept under control. Going out of the water, my watch read 13min, I was fairly pleased. But in reality, considering my training I should have been closer to 12 minutes.
32nd AG / 68th Overall

BIKE 20km
The course was really nice, with mostly flat sections, but three little uphills which I had simulated as well on my turbo sessions. Overall, I was only overtaken by a couple of guys, I shouted at a few people who were drafting, and overtook a lot of athletes. I biked the 20km in 32min which I was really pleased about.
20th AG / 32nd Overall

RUN 5km
The run was brutal. Although most of the run was flat, there were very short and sharp sections of 50-100m which went uphill with almost 25% incline, and once you used the power on those, it was really hard to get going again. I never found my rhythm, and I couldn’t run faster than 4min/km, 15sec above my predicted pace.
25th AG / 43rd Overall

OVERALL
1:09:19
23rd AG / 35th Overall

I wanted to be in the top 20, but today wasn’t the right time. I was a little tired, didn’t sleep well the last few days. However, I am pleased overall and it’s a good stepping stone for my next event: Seeland Murten Triathlon!