I was in the lane with the fastest women and we were seven. Another girl and me pretty much swim the same time and we were the slowest so we decided to try to draft the others as long as possible and then if we are only two let take turns with drafting. Well that strategy did not really work out. I started last (2 were gone right away as they are really fast) and the other 5 of us were together at the beginning and I drafted for 200m and then overtook the 2 girls in front but by then the other 2 girls had quite a bit lead of on us so I had noone left to draft and swam at the front for the reminder of the swim. After 550m I slowed down a bit in hope that the girl behind me would go in front but she didn't and after that I just kept swimming my own pace until the end. I would have love to see 13:59 on the clock but I am still happy with this swim. It did not feel to hard and I kept a good rhythm.

I was in the 2nd lane from the exit stairs on the side so at the end I hit the wall and instead of trying to pull myself up at the high end I just crossed the lane next to ours and took the stairs out of the pool. 15 seconds to get out and over the mat.

Don't underestimate my swimming abilities and try to stick to some faster swimmers right from the beginning!

This was 30secs faster than last year but still I think for this short transition area it is way too long. Its probably possible to take another 10-15 secs of that. Numberband on, Garmin on, Helmet and Glasses on and off I went. Shoes were on the bike and when I jumped on I did not hit the shoe and my left toes scraped over the asphalt which was not a good feeling!

I was really looking forward to this bike ride. I knew we would have tailwind up the hills and headwind down and that is just the best combination. Did a lot of high cadence spinning up the hills so I would have enough energy to push hard on the way down and this tactic worked great. Missed 1 girl in front of me on the bike but also overtook 3 girls which put me in 4th place at that time. On the way down I even overtook some guys which sure does not happen often. One gave me a ride for my money and I let him go in front in the end (stayed just legal length behind him) to save his ego ;). Caught another girl just before T2 which made me go 3rd into T2.

My stand-alone 20K TT PB is 35:47 so I took 24secs of that PB and I biked 4,5 minutes faster than last year on this course! :)

This was way too long and the simple reason for that was that I just could not get into my shoes. I opted for the Brooks today and they are tight. I did not use speed laces as I knew with them I would never get in them but even having them wide open proved a challenge today. Toes were numb and cold and I got quite frustrated. Probably lost about 30 seconds there which is not good. Still 20 secs faster than last year though!

Started running and I was just flying. Decided to ignore the Garmin and just dont look at the pace. I concentrated on good form, running towards the inside and made a deal with myself right from the beginning to not worry about the knee and just run and if I get pain then so be it. But somehow I knew I wouldnt and even if I would have continued through it. This was my run and I was running for myself only and gave everything I had. Took a quick look at the Garmin at the turnaround point as my goal was to be there in 13 minutes and the time was 12:xx at thaty point and I did not look at it again untilt he last km and I knew I would get a huge 5km PB out of this run and I just could not stop smiling :)

Ended the run with a 5km PB by 2:43 (old PB was set one month ago) which is just amazing especially with the little running I have been able to do the last 4 weeks due to the knee! Ecstatic!!

Note: The Garmin put the distance at 4.83km but it was the same course as last year where it was 5km. Either the Garmin did not show right (I turned it on 5 secs too late) due to the 180 degree turn or more likely the turnaround cone was at the wrong place... Pace wise this would be a lot more realistic if it was short.....

Ended the race in 1:16:09 which is almost 10 minutes faster than last year!