Descent swim given the less than ideal preparation. (First open water swim of the year anyone?) I started in the front row and made my way to the underwater buoy line I remembered from last time I swam in this lake. Found some feet but the guy was too slow, so overtook and was on my own until the first buoy when I caught a group that had taken a less direct line. Splendid. They were just about the right pace and I stayed with them for the next three buoys until it was just me and one other guy left. He was also on to the buoy line approach and I basically stayed on his feet till the exit ramp. Good stuff.

From where I was with my swim fitness and with no open water swims this year I was very pleased with this swim. All I can do is swim more and do more OWS. Simple.

Started running as soon as I hit the swim exit ramp and had the goggles and cap off and the wet suit off to my waist when I got to my racking spot. Quickly got out of the suit and put my bike shoes and helmet on. Ran to the mount point and jumped on but had some trouble clipping one foot in. Don't think it slowed me down too much though.

Not much. I think I'll put the shoes on the bike next season to avoid any clipping in issues. Apart from that this was really good. 9th fastest transition in my age group and given it's only my 3rd ever wet suit swim to bike transition, I'm very pleased with that.

Decent bike. Settled into a nice rythm quickly and felt comfy. Going up the lake was a strong headwind where I averaged 19 mph and the way back was easy at 25 mph. Lots of traffic but never anything I had slow down for. I only had one sketchy moment when someone drifted across the road as I was overtaking them. ON YOUR RIGHT!!!!! sorted that one out. Took a gel on lap 3 and drank a good swig of water every lap.

All I could do was train more. A few longer workouts on the trainer is what's needed if I'm to improve my bike leg.

Took the feet out of the shoes on the bike and did a good dismount. Ran to my spot and racked the bike quite well. Got the socks and shoes on quick and set off WEARING MY FRIGGIN HELMET! At least I noticed straight away and was probably only 10 meters from my spot. Silly donkey. Still managed to have the 14th fastest T2 in my age group.

Take my helmet off before starting the run.

In my 2 olys so far I have suffered badly running off the bike and this was to be no exception. Felt completely twatted after about 100 meters. Not good. My legs were like lead and I was struggling to breathe, but I persevered as best I could and the breathing settled a little, as I tried to focus on getting it under control. As I got a little more comfy I tried to up the pace, but whenever I did the body went no, to the point where I thought I might barf or pass out or maybe even both. I was feeling proper rough and just had to steady it and take whatever my body would give. I did manage to raise the tempo a little bit on the last lap and nearly keeled over after passing the line. At least I gave it everything.

Not much I could have done on the day. Tried to focus on form as the pace went down the drain and I think that saved me. I clearly HAVE to do some bricks in training as I keep on having BIG issues running off the bike.

Walked to where the family was sitting and did a little stretching.


Wait for it.....Lack of training. I thought I was in a better place with the run this year, but I think those 2 weeks holiday 3 weeks before the race messed up the run to some extent. Still. I'm a husband and father first and a triathlete second, so you gotta take what you can. The swim also has some room for improvement, but I'm hoping a solid winter of swimming once a week will help with that.


These organisers are the most experienced in the UK and it shows. Everything ran like clock work and they even had a huge inflatable slide and a Mr. Whippy for the kids.