King of the Hill - Triathlon

This swim was brutal. Very limited space (close to rocks on the right hand side), around 175 people in the 1st wave (all men under 40) so it was a whirlpool. I positioned myself stupidly in the middle-back, started to fast (faster than other swimmer around me) and ended up straight in the middle of war. Somebody pulled my goggles so they lost the seal, had to stop to put them back but never got the right seal back so was swimming with very limited visibility. Obviously when I stopped to correct goggles people were swimming over me, pulling me under water, kicking, hitting. not nice. After the first buoy I got a bit of space so it was a bit easier. After 2nd buoy I was almost at the end of the wave so there was very little people around me so I finally got into my own speed. Unfortunately because limited visibility I was zigzaging so probably did about 850-900 meters altoghether.

Would definitely position myself in the wave differently. Next time with same conditions (limited space and lots of people) I simply start at the end of my wave.
I would take more time to get the goggles right back into place and make sure I can see where I swim.
I would definitely put some lubricant (even fecking baby oil or vaseline) on my neck as the wetsuit rubbed against it (quite sore now - day after the race)

good transition - need to practice jumping on the bike and increasing my speed with feet on my shoes

I would put some lubricant on my ankles to remove my wetsuit faster (got stuck a bit in there)

I recovered after swim around 2nd km. Overall good cycle, passed good number of cyclist. First women (2nd wave) passed me at about 7km (which was great success :) and I was passing even more people downhill (max speed 65km/h), was going over 60km/h for good couple of minutes.
About 20-30 people (or more) from the 2nd wave passed me on the 18th km.

I would definitely drink more + cycle harder. When I started I had HR 180-185, after 2nd km it dropped to 170, after 10th km (downhill for 5km) my HR dropped to 155 and stayed about 160 for last 5km of the run. I suppose I was afraid to push to hard before the hilly run.

very good transition. the only thing I could do better is to jump off my bike when coming to dismount line

nothing - all good

Run is my worst discipline. I was afraid of this hilly run. Started slowly, walking up the hill. It was going better than expected, at the 2.5km I had 17min on the clock so was aiming for 34mins. Second 2.5km was faster so I finished 31.38.

Push harder - Its my best 5k from all my BRICK trainings but I think I could push for sub 31.

1. Swim
2. Was afraid of running up the hills


Altogether it was a good race. I'm quite happy because I improved my personal best by over 2minutes even though my swim was 250m longer (my first triathlon was 500m swim). I cycled 4minutes faster than my PB and I ran 7mins faster than on my first triathlon (even if the course was much tougher).
My next triathlon is in 2weeks time with flat routes so I will be hoping for sub 1hour 35minutes.