Absolutely horrible start to this race, I have never had the thought of quiting go through my mind so strongly.
I had a panic attack (a first for me) within the first 300m, brought on by not being properly prepared for an OWS. Looking forward/down in a lake and not being able to see anything, combined with an aggressive field and poor mental preparation led to me having to swim inside of the triangular course and take a couple minutes to regain my focus and get my head on straight.
The wet suit felt so tight, and I was having issues breathing properly. A safety canoeist was heading over to check on me when I spotted the womens division (which was started two minutes after the males) heading my way in a big hurry.
I started to swim again, this time making sure to exhale underwater and try to get a rhythm going. I got to the first turn with some of the lead womens pack beside me so I swung wide to give them plenty of room and me lots of space.
I finished the first loop just over 20 minutes, which was a normal swim time last year, I was excited by that. But I still took another minute to myself on shore and then started the final loop.
My stroke improved and the second loop went much better.
My split times even with having such a poor swim, is where I was last year. This makes me excited for my next OWS race and hope I can finally break the 2minute/100m barrier which I can't seem to crack.

More OWS practice before.
Have wet suit half stripped off when getting to strippers.

Slow transition because of its length, approximately 250m and weather conditions didn't allow proper set up of gear or rain would have soaked everything.

I am a chicken on wet roads because of an earlier wipe out on wet pavement so I wasn't able to take advantage of some serious downhills.
Biked half of the course in the rain, missed bottle at one aid station which could have been disastrous.
Lost 2nd half of straw on aero drink, 2/3 of the way through.
Ate gels and drank gatorade.
Bike had issues changing from big gear to small one, I think this was caused by lack of lub on chain because of rain/puddles.
Race pace was based upon HR and not speed, this worked out very well for me. Had plenty of legs left for the run after



Forget about gels/gatorade there is no way of completing an Ironman bike with them for me.
Going to experiment with CarboPro.

Long transition and forgetting race belt caused slow time.
Bored a random racer some dry socks, Karma always helps.

Pick it up a bit

Started out purposely low pace, I didn't want a repeat of last years HIM where I bonked out at the half way point of the run.
I got passed a fair bit despite running at a decent clip, but really reined myself in so I wouldn't get caught up in a race with other participants. I kept telling myself "you'll pass them on the second loop".
First loop went beautifully, lots of gas in the tank so I picked up the pace for the 2nd loop and started picking off other races, alot of whom I noticed had passed me on the first loop some of which had bonked badly.
One of the most solid runs to date for me.

Had some stomach issues near the end of the run which I contribute to the gatorade/gel sweetness. I need to find an alternative fuel source.

Wade into the cool leg to help the legs cool down, an hour massage afterwards....she was mean and fabulous all at once :)


Freak out on the swim and lack of sustained leg power on the bike.


Great race, recommend it to anyone looking for a HIM.
Michellie Jones and Tom Evans competing was a great touch. They are very impressive athletes, I had no idea Tom and Michellie were such strong swimmers.