Race report - National standard distance champs, Wellington, 12 March 2011

I had originally wanted to go well in this race, and, hopefully, head to Worlds. However, Worlds is in Beijing, on the Olympic course, and I can't imagine China will have shut down factories for a couple of months to clear the air. So, come race day, I didn't particular care about the end result (but obviously wanted to do well).

We drove down on Thursday night, stayed in Palmy, then had a leisurely drive down to Wellington on Friday. There was some concern the Japanese Earthquake might cause the race to be cancelled, but when we got down there at 5:45, it appeared to be all on.

The swim

The swim course was a rectangle in Chaffers Marina, which is a part of the Harbour you don't normally get to swim in. It was a deep water start. I ran into a mate from Wellington, who usually swims a bit faster than me, and I decided to hang with him and try to get a draft.

The first leg I went well, found some good feet, and got a draft. However, I wasn't working all that hard, and should have worked harder to find faster feet. Unfortunately, from there on, the people I'd been drafting got increasingly slower. I chose to draft off them, rather than pass an go a little faster, to save energy, but again, if I'd found better feet in the first instance, I think I could have gone a couple of minutes faster.

The run to transition was quite long, but I was reasonably quick. Swim plus T1 was 28:16 - not too bad, given what I previously would have done, but I do need to get faster.

The bike

I was looking forward to this (if only because I got to bust out my recently purchased Zipp 404, which I got stupidly cheap on Trademe). It's an almost entirely flat out and back. I turned out we had a southerly, which was great - no massive tailwinds, but no stupid headwinds either.

I worked hard to pass people on the way out, and hold a good power. At around 15km I found a friend, and I paced off him (legally) until about half way, when another dude passed us (and my friend fell over - yes, fell over - at the turnaround.

I paced off my new friend for almost the rest of the bike. This did save me about 10 to 15 watts, so was worth it. At times I felt like I should have worked harder, but my aim for the race was to have a good run, so I held back a bit.

The run into T2 was quite long, but I had a quick change over, and headed off. Bike plus T2 was 1:09:46 - not too bad, could have gone a bit faster, but certainly didn't smash myself. Average watts 204, norm power 210 - again, should really be higher, but oh well.

The run

My main aim for the race was to run sub-40. I've been running well recently. I did 18:04 in my most recent 5k, on a difficult course, and my hard bricks have been going well. I've been doing some hill repeats, and I tend to respond well to interval training.

The run is two dead flat out and back loops. I took off very quickly (too quickly- about 3:35 mins/km), so slowed down a bit, and tried to keep my average pace a bit below 4:00 mins/km. About 1.5 k in, I got a nasty stitch in my upper right chest. This decided to come and go mostly come) for the rest of the race.

I got to the turnaround, and about a k back, had to stop, and dry retch for about a minute (probably a bit under). I felt a bit better, and pressed on, noticing I was still on track for sub-40 (despite feeling like arse).

I got to the turnaround, and tried to keep pushing. I had a couple of people to catch, and I caught one just after the final turn before home. I pushed hard for the last 2.5 k's to make sure I had a good time.

The run to the finishing chute was long, but I was going to be comfortably sub-40, so strolled the last 50 or so metres.

Final time was 39:13. I was stoked to go sub-40 (I haven't done that ever, because I haven't run a stand alone 10k for quite some time), particularly given I felt terrible, and stopped for about a minute. Equally, I was a bit annoyed I didn't have the chance to go as fast as I could have - but I can't really complain.

Overall

Total time 2:17:15.

I finished 70th overall, out of about 172 who finished (plenty didn't), and 18th in my age group (I would have been top 10 in almost every other age group, just not mine...).

Swim was 125th fastest, bike 72nd and run 49th =. So a pretty good reflection of my strengths.

I have the club organised sprint race in Huntly next weekend, then Xterra, which I'm really looking forward to.

Virtual fundraising run for Christchurch

A few of us have set up a virtual fundraising run for Christchurch.

The website is here: http://run4chch.wordpress.com/
Fundraise Online page herehttp://www.fundraiseonline.co.nz/run4chch/

New Plymouth Half Ironman 2011 - race report

What a fantastic race. This was the inaugural event, and it was fantastic. The course is great, and it's really well located.

I've been training fairly well, but the volume has been down a little but since Tauranga, but the swimming's been improving, as has my running, and I was feeling fit.

I really wasn't in the mood for a Half Ironman on race morning, but I got everything ready (after leaving the drink bottles at my bro and sis-in-laws' place), got wetsuited up, and had a bit of a warm-up swim.

The swim

The swim was two (apparently) 950 metre, triangular, laps. It's in a harbour without any funky tides, but there was a little bit of chop, and not a massive field.

I tried to find feet early, but perhaps got a little bit wide (given the size of the field), so pushed a bit to find someone to hang onto. About 250 or so metres in (the first buoy) I found some feet, and comfortably hung on for the rest of the lap (I was not having to work all that hard - I'd lost the chance of getting onto fastish feet, so the aim became energy preservation, rather than a massively quick time).

At the end of the first lap we had a quick beach run. It turns out I'm a lot quicker than anyone else who swims at my speed, and I gained about 20 metres on the five or so people who'd been around me. This actually wasn't great, because I didn't want to swim on my own. So I swam for a bit, eventually someone caught me, and I hung on for another 300 metres or so. After the final turn, the guy I was following started going a slightly funny way, and I eventually lost him, and the last stretch was a mixture of on my own/finding feet.

I was more than comfortable throughoutt the swim, and came out in a very pleasing 35 or so (35.49 to the timing mat), which is pretty good, and even if it's 11 metres shorter than Tauranga (which it may have been), it's about the same time but with amuchh smaller field to draft off.

The bike

There was a long run to T1, where we were given a bag with my helmet, etc. I got some help taking my wetsuit off, put it in the bag, and I quickly got my bike and headed off.

The bike is a fairly hilly to rolling course. No big climbs, but very little flat, so it's hard to get into a rhythm. There was a fair bit of climbing to start with, but I made sure I contained myself, and didn't push too hard (oddly, big guys were smashing themselves to pass me on hills, but I was going quicker on the downhills...)

I was feeling pretty good on the way out, and drinking a lot more than usual (the sea in NP seems quite salty, and I think I swallowed a bit during the swim), and held a fairly comfortable pace. I knew we were supposed to have a tail wind out, but I swore we had a very sight headwind - boy was I in for a shock. Peter Hughes was a a technical official, so it was nice to see a familiar (from the blog world at least), and get a bit of on course support.

I got to the turnaround in 1:20, then realised how wrong I'd be - there was a nasty, constant, headwind. Not only did I have a lot of false flats (the climbing version) on the way back, but I had to do it into a headwind. My average watts on the way out were 185, norm watts of 201 (so about right), AHR 166. I was passed by quite a few people on the way out. With one exception (a former elite cyclist who can't swim to save himself), who blitzed the bike course, I would see them again later.

The way back was hard, really hard. I caught a few people, and tried to keep a consistent effort, but it was tough, and I was struggling to hold a good wattage. But I kept slogging along, not doing anything too silly. There were people around me, but not really anyone to pace off, so this was a long, slow, effort home. It took me 1:40 on the way home (I was just under 3 hours, which was nice!). Average watts home (when it should have been easier to hold a higher wattage, because of the wind) were 180, norm power of 191 - so really not good enough - AHR 162.

Overall time was 2:59:49, average watts 182, norm 196 (lower than Karapiro or Rotorua 2009), AHR 164. Almost exactly 30 mins slower than Tauranga. But given the fastest time (Mark Bowstead) was 2:25, it was clearly not a fast course.

The run

So he bike wasn't quite as quick as I'd have liked, and I was feeling a bit zonked after the ride home. But I'd saved a bit off energy, and the legs felt good as soon as I hit the run. There's a bit of a climb, then it's fairly rolling after that (never too hard, but there's a couple of nasty little climbs). The race started at 7:30, so it was already really hot, and there wasn't an aid station until about 3.5 km (half way into the first of three laps). There were two on course (so six all up), it's just that you couldn't get to the first one early to start with.

The run was really hot, and I was holding a comfortable, if not super quick, pace. I was caught a couple of k's in by friend number one, and we ran toghether for about a lap and a half. I held his pace comfortably, but my stomach was feeling a bit gross (and I threw up in my mouth a few times). I'd already passed a few of the people who raced past me on the bike.

About a lap and a half in, a dude from Germany caught us. He was here to to Challenge Wanaka, but got ill, so had to pull out, so came and did NP instead. He was holding a faster pace, and I quite comfortably kept up (while friend number one dropped off). He didn't look super old, but after the race I discovered he was about 45, and some post race stalking led me to discover than he's done a 9:30ish Ironman, and been to Kona. I kept up with him for the rest of the race (and we continued to pass people) - we both took time at aid stations to throw as much water as we could over ourselves (and took time as the local kids with the hose/bucket/water pistols), enjoyed the chat, and we finished at the same time.

Run time was 1:38:31, actual pace 4:47 mins/km, norm 4:44, AHR 168, max 179.

Overall

Final time 5:17, 19th male, 21st overall (out of about 100). 5th in my age group, and the 13th fastest run overall (men and women) - which showed the value of not smashing myself on the bike.

I loved this race. It's a great, scenic, course, well organised, and had a great vibe. It;s really what Karapiro should be like, except it's far from it. I'd definitely be keen to come back next year.

I'm happy with the race. Faster swim than Tauranga (should have gone faster even), albeit on a possibly shorter curse, slower bike in tough conditions (should have been a bit quicker) and the same run on a rolling course after a much harder bike.

Next I have nationals in Wellington on 12 March, then Xterra on 9 April - I'm looking forward to both, particularly Xterra (given I don't want to go to Beijing, nats is less important, apart from pride – because I know a lot of people racing, and will have a lot of friends there to support me).

Sweet competition

I'm positing this, because it increases my chances to win. And also because it's a rad blog (about things I'm partial to).

Mike - if you enter and win, I get the watch. Agreed?

http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2011/01/garmin-forerunner-310xt-giveawayjanuary.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+DcRainmaker+(DC+Rainmaker)

Tauranga Half Ironman 2011 – mission accomplished

Yep, I did it. I went sub-5 hours. 4:47:33, in fact, so fairly comfortably under. I'm really happy with the result, but have already started working out where I could (or should) have gained a bit more time...

I won't go into the pre-race at all – Kate has summed it up very well here.

Race morning

I woke up just prior to the alarm, at 3:30 am, and notwithstanding the sweaty night's sleep (thanks to a very hot cabin), I felt pretty good. I had oats, blueberries and yoghurt for breakfast (which is, give or take, what I have almost every day), and I think that worked better for me than porridge. I had pretty much packed the car the night before, and we headed off just after 4:30.

We arrived at transition just on five (when it opened), and it was nice to have a bit of time up my sleeves. I had an issue pumping my rear tyre – my new floor pump head doesn't fit in the gap in the disc covers, so I had to borrow someone else's pump.

Unlike Kate, I wasn't stressed at all. In fact, I was perhaps a little too relaxed. I think that was partly because I had time up my sleeve, and I knew I'd worked hard over the last few months.

I did muck around a bit, and had to wait in line for a while at the bathroom, but eventually got wetsuited up, and headed to the water. There were people everywhere, but I managed to get a bit of warmup, somehow managed to find Kate for a pre-race kiss, then I found my position, just to the left of the wide buoy.

The swim

I have been happy with my swim recently. I had a couple of lessons with Jeremy Cronin at the endless pool at the Waikato Uni rec centre in December, and they've made a massive difference. I had always thought I swam well, that I had good body position, a good stroke, etc, and couldn't understand why people with much worse looking strokes swam much faster than me. Turns out I wasn't wrong – just that my swim timing was terrible – I was swimming catch up, and has massive dead spots in my stroke. So the last few weeks have been dedicated to stopping that, and making sure I'm always propelling myself forward. It was tiring – because I wasn't having rests – but it made an immediate impact on my swim speed. So I was interested to know how that would translate into the race.

I went hard to the first buoy, and basically got sucked along. I couldn't actually go around the buoy, because there were too many people cutting across in front of me, and I wasn't going to wait for them to go around properly. I kept working hard, and finished the first (700m) lap in what seemed like no time at all. At that stage, there were masses of people up and walking, all the way to the shore. I tried to swim, but there were too many people in my way, and, frankly, walking was quicker. Once around the buoy, I was able to swim clearly back to shore, then start the second lap.

That was when it started unraveling, somewhat. I was feeling comfortable, but I kept on losing people. When I swam next to people, I was keeping up with them or even going faster. When I decided to try and draft, I all of a sudden lost them, and couldn't keep up. I often found myself with clear water in front, and no feet to get onto. Also, I nearly had my timing chip pulled off, so had to stop and adjust that, and twice had my goggles punched (not hit, but punched; seriously, who even swims like that??) off my face – so had to stop and fix that – again slowing me down. But I kept working, and once at the final buoy (and the walkers) I dolphin dived my way back to shore (quicker than either swimming or walking), and came out in 37:00 exactly. A swim PB, so something to be happy about, but I actually think I should have gone faster, and I will keep chipping away at it.

The bike

I had a reasonably quick T1, and I was off. I hadn't practiced getting onto the bike with the shoes already attached, which was silly, as I had a couple of problems, but once on, I was away. Except I wasn't. I had (for the umpteenth time, I might add) forgotten to zero the torque on my Powertap, which is important, because otherwise the power data (which I use to pace myself in races) is meaningless. So I stopped pedaling, took all my weight off the pedals, zeroed the torque (which didn't need it) and then I was off.

The plan was to ride at between 200 and 210 watts. This is a flat course, and my normalized power for last year's Rotorua and this year's Karapiro Half's was about that, so it seemed about right. I was holding that, feeling comfortable, and passing a lot of people. Then a few people passed me, and I noticed that I could (legally) follow them, and it saved me about 15 watts. And that is how I rode for the rest of the ride. If I felt someone (or a pace line) was going too slow, I went to pass, holding about 210 watts. If that meant I passed them, I did. If I couldn't, then there was no point, and might as well save my legs for the run. It worked well, I had some regular company (off and on – most people really can't hold a consistent output, and were usually going faster or slower than me). There was one guy who was going well, and I tried to keep up with him, but when we got onto Parton Road, he ended up between two cars, and I lost him, which is unfortunate, because when pacing off him I was holding about 200, which meant I was going fairly quickly.

A bit before half way, I was passed by a fellow called Chad, who (for the most part) seemed to be going well, and I managed to pace off him for almost the rest of the ride. I had some regular off and on company, but eventually lost all those people.

We had a tailwind heading out, a headwind coming back, then, oddly, a headwind heading out, and a tailwind back – almost perfect really. It was never that strong – I held about 33-34km/hr into a headwind, and 39/40km/hr with a tailwind. Also, I was using Vittoria Open Evo Corsa CX's and latex tubes for the first time in a race – and they were noticeably faster and smoother.

I knew I was on target for sub-2:30, so pushed towards the end to make sure that happened – which it did, 2:29:23. I was happy, and knew that I was going to have to run pretty poorly to take longer than 5hrs.

My average watts were 178, normalized power of 184, which is much lower than any other race – but that was mostly due to legal pacing (I wasn't drafting), which, frankly, is just smart racing (and shows what a useful tool a power meter can be for racing). It's this that makes me keen to get out of the water faster. I could have gone harder without hurting myself too much. In the circumstances, it wouldn't have led to a faster race, but if I were out of the water quicker, and riding with faster people, then pacing off them, and holding a higher power, would have resulted in a faster time. Something to work on.

AHR was 161, with a max of 179, so I certainly held something back for the run.

The Run:

I had a quick T2 (which wasn't aided by my neighbour deciding to place his bike in my spot, not his), and I was off. I was keeping a high turnover, and had to slow myself down (I was going at 4:05 mins/km, give or take, and the plan was to head out at 4:15 mins/km).

There were people everywhere, and plenty of people cheering for me(some who knew me, some who simply read my name on the race number, and plenty who just liked my orange shoes), which was pretty rad (and quite different from either Rotorua or Karapiro. I was going well, but Marine Parade was already very, very hot, and I knew I had to take in a lot of fluids/keep myself cool. I was averaging about 4:15 mins/km at the turnaround at Tay Street, and tried to hold that until the mount, but my legs were getting quite sore, and I slowed down to about 4:22 mins/km at the base track. I didn't kill myself on the base track, and once off, was averaging about 4:30 mins/km, which is slower than I'd have liked, but not too bad.

After the track, I tried to pick up the pace, and I just couldn't go as quickly as I wanted. I had to focus on keeping my cadence up, as this is how I run best, and it naturally keeps my pace high, but I was getting very hot (even though I was tipping water on myself all race), and while still running sub 5 mins/km, just couldn't get it closer to 4 mins/km. I was still passing a lot of people (in fact, only one non-team runner passed me all race), and near the Tay Street turnaround, I saw Gene, my old coach (who not so long ago would have handed my ass to me on a plate, but isn't quite in top shape), and tried to catch him. I was nearly at him at the base track, but he pulled away, and I just pushed myself to get around in a good time.

Once off the track, I tried to push to the finish, which was only moderately successful. When I saw the race clock, it was at 4:48 something, so I kicked on to try and get under 4:50, which I did, getting home with the clock at 4:49:33 (it turns out I was a couple of mins quicker, because that was the pro time), a pretty good effort.

I finished the run in 1:38:09, AHR 166, max 173. Average pace was 4:43, norm pace 4:41 (so a pretty even effort). Again, not as quick as I would have liked, particularly given I was able to save some energy on the bike. My hip is still not 100%, but it never really hurt too badly.

Overall:

I finished 18th out of 52 people in my age group. Interestingly, none of the 17 people ahead of me swam slower than 32 minutes, and you have to go to 40th to find anyone who swam slower than me. I had the 313th fastest swim time, 110th equal T1, 177th fastest bike, 62nd equal T2 (actually annoying, as I would have been a lot quicker but for my friend and his bike getting in my way) and the 107th fastest run.

I enjoyed the race, and I'm really happy with the time, and my approach to the race. I enjoyed the on course support, and it was choice to see my sister and brother-in-law out there, and Mike, who took a lot of rad photos (which are here).

Things to work on:

As usual, the swim – here it made the most noticeable difference, because being with stronger cyclists would, almost certainly, have resulted in a faster time;
I think I had my nutrition dialed in pretty well on the bike, but again probably didn't drink quite enough; and
Just need to keep running. It should be my strongest leg, so I just need to keep working on it, and getting back in the groove.

Next up in the New Plymouth Half Ironman. The course looks great – tougher than Tauranga, but not as hard as either Rotorua or Karapiro. I have an easy week this week, then a month until NP. It's not an A-race – my major races are Nationals, a month after that, and Xterra, a month after that. Hopefully I'll go well at NP, then be flying come Nats and Xterra.

Tinman 2010

Last year, after a disappointing race at the Contact event in Rotorua, Tinman gave me a lot of confidence.

This year I've been training hard, had a couple of hard races, and have been a bit tired recently. So we had a relatively easy week, and I was keen to see how I'd go this year.

We decided to stay the night at the Mount (having gone to some afternoon drinks at a mate's in Rotorua). We found the best Mexican ever for dinner. Food = awesome. Chillies = not a great feeling tummy the next day. Lesson learnt (if it wasn't already obvious)

The swim

Last year at contact, I took 31 minutes, which was very, very poor. At Tinman, two weeks later, I somehow did 26:30 including T1, which was just a bit silly.

This year, I did 29:16 for the swim, and 1:56 for T1 (which is slow, but oh well). The swim was definitely slower all round. Last year Kieran Doe did 16:12 including T1. This year he took 18:22, plus 55 seconds for T1 (he was the fastest both years). So clearly it took longer.

I also didn't do swim as tactically well as I should have. I did try to draft, and I was feeling much better than at Contact (and my arms never got sore), but I could have gone faster, and should have pushed harder at the start, and held on for the rest. Lesson learnt.

The bike

Last year I took 1:10:50, averaged 196 watts (normalized power of 202), average HR 171. This year, I knew I could hold a slighter higher output, and was feeling pretty good. I took 1:07:40, averaged 202 watts (normalized power 209 watts), average HR 171 (so higher power for same HR).

This year I discovered the pain in the a** that is the bunches (didn't really have a problem with it last year). I was riding a fairly consistent output (thank you, power meter). People around me were not. They seemed intent on chasing me, passing me, then slowing down (to a speed slower than I was going). I was particularly pleased when a bunch passed me, two people tucked right in in front of me, two behind me, and a couple to the side, boxing me in (which resulted in a drafting warning). This also made my average watts lower, because I ended up drafting (unintentionally) intermittently .What was interesting was the different legal drafting made - up to 20 watts some times - so good to remember.

Then again, I know the Half will be like this, so lesson learnt.

Addendum - just checked, and despite having some dude get in my way, and not being able to get one of my shoes on properly, I had the 16th = fastest T2 (out of the dudes - 4 women were faster), which is choice.

The run

Last year I took 43:54 (for the 10.5 or so k run). That included the run out of transition. This year I took 44:19 (plus some additional time for the run out of transition - maybe 40 - 50 seconds). So slower, but I was not feeling quite as good, and my hip was hurting a bit.

This year I took just over 20 minutes for the first 5k (norm pace of 4:01 mins/k - compared to last year's 4:02). I kept trying to push, but was slowing a bit, and then got to the mount track. Once again, it was hard, but I held an okish pace all the way around (but didn't push on the down quite enough). I didn't have quite the same kick at the end as last year, so was about a minute slower all up (second 5k+ [it's a bit long] took 24 or so minutes (4:24 mins/k), with a norm pace of 4:20 mins/k - compared to an actual 4:18 mins/k and norm pace of 4:03 for the rest of the run). I had an average HR of 176.

So not as good as last year, but my hip wasn't feeling awesome, and I haven't been able to run anywhere near as much as I had at this point last year.

Overall

So, I was about 2:30 slower this year than last. But that's almost totally because of the swim. I rode better, and didn't run too badly.

I was a bit disappointed after the race, because I hadn't felt like I could push as hard as I wanted. But on reflection, I didn't do too badly.

What's pleasing is that I felt pretty good afterwards, and I feel really good now. I'm not sore (well yet, anyway), and keen to crack back into it.

Blue Lake (Contact Tri-Series) Race Report

Last year I went into this race having been ill a couple of weeks prior (which stopped me from doing the bike in the Karapiro Half). I hadn't really recovered from that, and I had a disappointing race.

This year I had done the Half, and had been training quite consistently, so I hoped I'll do alright. But my hip injury started flaring up again (mildly) again, and for the preceding week, Id been feeling really tired. On Friday I had a scheduled day off, and I was not feeling great, and felt like I was coming down with something. So I started pumping myself with vitamins, etc, and took Saturday off too. Come Sunday, I was feeling ok - not 100%, and still a bit tired, but not so bad that racing was a bad idea.

The weather this year was amazing. The water warm, little wind, and barely a cloud in the sky. So whatever happened, it was a great day for it.

The swim

I struggled at Karapiro. A lot. But I have seen improvements in the last couple of weeks, and had a couple of hard sessions at squad (I may have overdone it slightly). Last year I was abysmal, and took 34 minutes (including T1), so it could only get better.

I started off wide, and had a good, hard, first 200m. I lost the feet in front of me, then unfortunately had clear water, so swam to the first buoy by myself. I started feeling decidedly average, and worried about whether I was over the lurgy. I saw a slow fat dude to my left, so decided to follow him. And follow him I did. I was right on his feet for over 1km, and apart from about 2 - 3 minutes when I lost him, and worked hard to get back, I got sucked along. He wasn't fast, and it was criminally easy, but I figured that if I wasn't going to be fast anyway, I might as well put no effort in.

Having got out of the water, and run up to transition, I checked the Garmin, and it said I'd been 30 (including the run). I had a very slow T1 (just not feeling like hurrying), but I officially took 31:47 including the run up to T1, until the point I excited transition on the bike - so I would have been sub-30, which ain't flash, but not too bad either, in the circumstances.

I'm also a bit surprised, because my Blue Seventy is being repaired (one of the seems came undone), so I had to swim in the Xterra. I didn't realise before now, but it take in a lot more water than the Blue Seventy - which certainly feels like it slows me down!

The bike

The course this year had changed. It has two instead of five laps, and heads out towards Lake Tarawera. It's not all that much easier than last year, so was still tough work!

By dint of my slow swim, I had no friends on the bike (no change there). I felt pretty good, and was able to hold a good average pace for the bike. Before the 1/3ish way through turn-around I saw a guy from Wellington we know (and, swimming aside, I should be faster than), so I kept pushing hard to try and catch him. I continued passing people, never got passed, and although I didn't catch my targets, I wasn't far off.

I averaged 201 watts, with a normalized power of 224 watts - not too bad for 1:24:46 of riding (I have cut pushing the bike, etc from that time). AHR 170, max HR 187.

I was strong on the hills, but couldn't push as hard as I would have liked on the downhills/false flats - something to work on I suspect!

The run

Felt really average to start he run, and was worried about whether I had the energy. I started off at an ok pace, but it quickly slowed from there, and I was running pretty pathetically.

I got passed by a couple of guys starting their second laps, but when I got passed by a chick on her first, I decided to buck up, and started following her. After a few uphills, I got my groove back, realised she was slowing me down, and I pulled away. I caught quite a few people from then on, and was not passed again. I didn't push the second lap hard, just tried to keep an ok pace. I knew I was down on energy, so didn't want to do anything silly.

I took 54:12 - about the same as last year, when I wasn't very pleased. This year I was happy to be able to pick up the pace when needed, but otherwise just didn't have the energy.

Overall pace was 4:51 mins/km, normalized pace of 4:34. AHR 169, max HR 175 - so certainly not as high as I should be able to hold for the run, and indicative, I think, of general fatigue.

Overall

Not too bad. A tactically (if not technically) good swim, an ok bike, and a slow, but strangely satisfying run.

I was clearly lacking energy, and unlike last year, have a whole heap more training/fatigue in my legs. I was really tired after the race, and today decided to take swimming off, to get over whatever I'm suffering from, and generally freshen up a bit.

Until next week, when I see if I can do better than last year at Tinman =)