Took off well and was well ahead within first 100, then my goggles started to fill... Did ok even with goggles, but I started to get whacked with clapotis from the pool side and felt like I was drowning. Had to stop twice to sort goggles and ended up "cruising" behind the now leader - quite pissed off!

tighten the goggles for race day - looking like a punched panda is better than being beaten!

T1 wasn't!
We were led out to the proper start following a van - I reckon there was about 30mins from finishing my swim to starting the bike! :)

The HR monitor was a great motivator - and I stayed in zone 5 throughout the working sections (obvious dips on the technical downhill sections of the course where you HAVE to slow down (well I do anyway!) Ave 171 Max 182 - which is a new max - I found I could ignore my leg pain, because I knew my heart wasn't maxed out and force some more out of the legs (maybe ok for short course - I guess this might not work on longer courses!)

I was trying a different drink from mormal - I'll go back to my normal, home-made stuff thanks! For Goodness Shakes are great after the event, but horribly gloopy and not wet enough(!) for during!

Also I knew that my drivetrain was F***ked before I started and although it was cleaner than when I bought the bike, it still got snarled up - not badly to stop me, but again, it's grief you don't need on race day!

Race organisers grabbed bikes off people which was fine, but I wasn't expecting it and it left me a little disorientated - had to go back and grab juice from bike!

Also I only took my helmet off because I was fed up with rainy specs and "found" my helmet when my hands grabbed my specs! (Muppet!)

Be more assertive! Sort my bike myself and STRETCH the legs before I start the run! (time invested early would make for a faster run, I think - see below!)

It was horrific for the first mile! My legs were mince after the bike ride, but I didn't want to "waste" time by stopping - eventually the penny dropped and my body slowed to a walk of its own accord - I took the hint and stretched the hamstrings before continuing - much better! My HR graph is mostly zone 2 and 3, because I couldn't get my legs to run it's noticibly better after my stretching stop - a steady zone 4!

A really satisfying moment in the last half mile was catching and passing a guy I'd clocked at T1 - a carbon cyclo-cross bike and thighs like Chris Hoy. As I passed him feeling really chuffed that I'd caught anyone on the run, he commented "I knew you'd get me on the run; I'm a cyclist!" (Arse!)

STRETCH in T2. Then stretch some more! I could probably have knocked a minute off my time if I'd invested a minute's stretch before I ran!

erm - oops! did some legs stretching after then a lot once home - will do a lot more next time!


inexperience!


Hard to rate this race as it was my first, so I've nothing to compare, but it was the usual No Fuss blend of good craic and good organisation. The drawbacks were all my own inexperience - planning to work on that now! :)