Chaniathlon 2017 Race Report
--- Tri or Trip? ---
Wonderful triathlon event in charming Chania of Crete (biggest Greek island)Triathlon and a trip to Crete to escape routine of Athens?
That's what I needed this June :-)
If I was asked to describe Chaniathlon Triathlon with two words that would be :
"Hidden Gem "
A clip I made from experience while visiting Chania and racing Chaniathlon.
I traveled with El. Venizelos from Piraeus to Crete friday night. I forgot to get a sleeping bag and I had to sleep in a couch for the night. Not the most comfortable sleep but it was so nice to wake up and get the ladder to upper external deck and watch the stars late at night.
Posing with a friend of mine, Ida before the race!
Racing experience has removed all anxiety from preparing my staff on Transition. Bike hanged. Race belt in the aerobars, cycling glasses on helmet. Next to the bike cycling shoes, running shoes and a bottle of water just in case there is still sand on the feet.
Round face, Black speedo swimming glasses and a yellow swimming cap. Thats all you need to dress up like a minion :-)
My swim lasted about 20 minutes before getting off the water. Not my best performance and a quick view in my Polar explained that. I exited water at 115 pulses so I didn't gave it all out on the water.
Starting my bike. There were four rounds of 4.7km for my distance.
Bike course seems like an English F in the map. Two slight ascents with 10-12 meters of total elevation made it look like an interval training because you had minutes of harder work will uphill and easier downhill parts to catch your breath again.
I didn't used my aerobars on the bike as I wanted to. It was too technical and I wasn't sure about cornering with them. I prefered the "better safe than sorry" strategy handling the bike from shifter levers mostly.
Race personal did let me use the Go Pro camera while racing to have a nice memory and a good clip for my indoor trainer for upcoming winter :
111
The picture above is while starting the run. Damn, all my race pics is with that stupid smile. Can't help it, its always a good fun! (well unless while in pain..)
My goal on running was to keep a steady pace for the whole running leg. So I kept at a moderate step cadence of 85 steps per minute and a pace of 06:30/km. It would be faster I guess but in the running look there was an uphill part that did slowed me down raising the heart rate to 168bpm. Didn't push it too much as there was a lot of heat and didn't want to try my luck with that back problem. (Already booked some needed sessions with my physiotherapist for next two weeks.
This is what my Polar V800 recorded. You may see all the details of the race here
 |
| This is what my Polar V800 recorded. You may see all the details of the race here |
Race was amazing. Organisers did a really good job in Chaniathlon
Entry fee (15euros if you did sign up early bird or 30 if you signed up last 15 days. And that was ..nothing to what I was offered : two pasta parties, a technical t-shirt with race logo, a bag with race logo and a handmade finishers medal. Also all of race photos were released with no extra cost.
I don't see a reason why I shouldn't participate in the next Chaniathlon triathlon next year!!! :-)
Happy finishers!
Next to me is Sotiria Oustambanidou, a reall fighter I met these days. She was diagnosed with diabetes and yet she hasn't given up on her self. She started training and got into Triathlon helping her health out.
She is an actual proof of the Ironman moto phrase
Anything IS Possible!
Chana & Chaniathlon... till next time !!! :-)
🇬🇷Father of three 👫🙆 Marathoner 🏃🏼 Triathlete🏊🚴🏼🏃🏼 AlmiraMan💪🏻 Trumpeteer🎺 Novel Writer 📝 Life is too short to wait. Live today! ✨✨✨ www.justbeforetakeoff.com.
ConversionConversion EmoticonEmoticon