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 Swim
Comments: The WPFG wave started 10 min before ours and I was so caught up on watching them that I didn't remember to zip my wetsuit until they called for wave 2 to get in the water :) All I could see was a load of very fit people so I decided to stick to the back and just try to pace myself, I just didn't want to burn out. I was very surprised that I only 'bumped' into someone else once in the whole swim, different than the sprint tris I done where I almost felt it was a fight for survival with all the kicks and punches... That helped me get into a pace pretty quickly, my navigation was really good and when I least expected I was on the first buoy. Realized that it was going to be my longest OWS EVER and tried to see if there were many behind me. For the next 100/200m zigzagued a bit but brought it together to the end. After exiting the water there was a walk that probably took me over 1min before crossing the timing mat. What would you do differently?: Push the pace a bit harder  Transition 1
Comments: Big transition but I found my stuff pretty easily. Socks on, were wet in 2 seconds. Took one gel and kept the other to take during the bike leg, walked to the mounting line. What would you do differently?: Try to run  Bike
Comments: I was confident on the bike course as it was flat but I didn't count on how much faster the other people went. I wanted to make sure I was working on the bike without pushing me to the point of not being able to keep the pace. The two laps of the course helped me not to feel like I was way at the BOP until the home stretch when I realized there were only two people behind me. It was surprisingly an enjoyable ride (maybe it shouldn't have been...) and I kept seeing people from my club supporting or on the course which was lovely. What would you do differently?: Need to train more on the bike Transition 2
Comments: Pretty straight forward, was in doubt about changing my socks as my feet were still wet and I had a spare pair but decided it was too much of an ordeal What would you do differently?: Try to run  Run
Comments: I started the run knowing I was way at the bop and I was really warm, the first mile didn't seem to go at all and I begun to wonder if I would end up walking, ran past one of the volunteers and asked about a water station and she told me she didn't think there was one and I thought I just could not run the whole way with no water... at that stage I noticed just in front of me the Brazilian woman I met in transition, she told me she was on her second lap and was feeling it, her pace was slightly slower than what I was running but it was such a massive pick up to bump into her that I decided to stick with her pace. When we got to the end of the lap there was a water station but the girl was pouring the water and couldn't hand us any in time, another one of the Brazilian athletes ran past us and shared his sports drink - felt like part of a proper athlete's team lol. Half way through my third lap (and my new friend's last lap) she picked up the pace but at that stage I couldn't keep up. Only one lap to go: seen my swim coach which was really nice, and was again almost on my own on the course bar a handful of stragglers. The last half mile the police started moving the cones and I was glad I was on the home stretch. What would you do differently?: Stick to my pace - not get so worried about bonking Post race
Warm down: Got 'interviewed' after crossing the finish line and felt a it like a travesty since I wasn't puffed or feeling like I had really exerted myself (I think I was expecting to feel more like when you finish a marathon...) What limited your ability to perform faster: Fear of not being able to finish lack of sufficient bike and run training Event comments: The WPFG made the event super special and with an amazing atmosphere Last updated: 2013-08-06 12:00 AM
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GB
Intersport
Sunny
Overall Rank = 346/351
Age Group = 35-40
Age Group Rank = 13/13
I had all my gear sorted out the night before and packed in the car to avoid stress. Had a bowl of porridge with banana and a cup of tea before leaving at around 7am. When I got to Belfast I put on my contacts, got my stuff and headed to transition. There was quite a bit of broken glass on the carpark floor and I was split between carrying my bike to avoid a puncture and not carry to spare my arms for the swim...
Once I got to transition I started to panic a bit, the event was being held in conjunction with the World Police and Fire Games and all the athletes from around the world were intimidating. Plus I kept meeting other people from my club who were taking part on the sprint event, all I kept thinking was that I was so out of my depth and that people were probably wondering what was I thinking... (I certainly was, and if there was an option there and then to change to the sprint I would have).
Got my transition set up, used the toilet and got changed into my trisuit, took my dry clothes bag to the bag drop and went back to check my transition again when I heard behind me two athletes from the WPFG trying to communicate and realized the woman (who couldn't understand the instruction about racking her bike) spoke Portuguese, so I translated for her for a bit and ended up meeting all the Brazilian triathletes taking part on the games.
I drank a redbull whilst hearing the race briefing (and translating) and started to relax and enjoy the atmosphere.