Aberfeldy Middle Distance Triathlon - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

The swim to the first bouy had some minor swimming on top of people, but after the first turn everything was fine. My right goggle was filled with water so I was trying to sight with my weaker left eye. No problems though, I managed to find my way to all the turns ok, even the almost invisible black banana boat that was used for one of the turns.
The swim is absolutely gorgeous, you would struggle to find a better setting than in Loch Tay with the surrounding mountains.

Felt like I took ages but I guess the time is not to bad. No real problems other than dropping my banana.

The majority of the first 8 miles is climbing. Pretty tough start, I didn't feel like I had any rhythm going until we got to the flattish cirle Loch Ranoch. By then the majority of fast cyclist had passed me so I started to feel less rubbish.
Just about exactly on the half way mark my bike made some very strange noises, I stopped to see what was wrong but all looked ok. Started again and the noise disappeared. A little while later my pump started to slip from its holder and foul my front cogs (this had probably been the noise), I was able to pull the pump up as I cycled but this was an on going problem for the remainder of the day.
Finally climbed back out the valley and headed for home. This is a tough cycle.

This event has a split transition which really messes with your head beforehand. T2 was great though. Someone collects your bike from you and another helper passes you your t2 bag.

The run basically follows the River Tay down to Grand Tully at which point you double back on yourself. As a result it is a gentle downhill for the first half and gentle uphill for the second. I felt great for the first half but started to die on the second half. The last 5 miles seemed to take forever. Through sheer bloody mindedness I kept going and managed to keep running all the way.

I found a seat in the leisure Centre and sat down. Pretty soon afterwards I felt like my lips were fizzing, then my fingers, then my whole body. Apart from the fizzing everything felt fine, then after about 30 mins I was still fizzing away and my vision was going from my right eye.
I drank some sweet tea and had a flapjack, eventually headed off for a shower and my body returned to normal. I spoke to one of the coaches the next day and he reckoned I had burned up all my sugar reserves and that I should have eaten more on the run.


Fantastic event. If you have the chance to do this race then take it. The scenery is fantastic, the marshals are fabulous. Its a small event with less than 200 competitors but the organisation is first class.