This time Im glad to say I hit it very much head on!
Early start and drive down there, met up with Jamie (his first tri), got setup and chilled, the venue was at a leisure centre with a heated outdoor pool. The race started about 8am with 2 people setting off every 30 seconds until around 10:15am my start time was 10:10.
I was super excited to get this race going, being my first proper triathlon since IMDE I was keen to show myself that I could hit the short distance hard and PB!
The swim was 300meters consisting of 4 laps of the pool, as soon as I started I knew I felt good having quickly left the guy I started with and overtook 2-3 people in the process
Had a great swim with an overall time of 00:04:59 - 11th overall on the day (wanted top 10 :()
straight out into transition with my tri suit on and the no sock option I made quick work of it but almost made a huge school boy error in grabbing my bike before putting my helmet on, that wont happen again!
T1 - 1:16
Out on the bike my heart rate was sky high but I knew it was only 13 miles so I knew I could push hard as it was flat (apparently according to Jamie)....... Well flat wouldn't be the way I would describe the course,I`m actually not sure they could have put more hills in there even if they wanted, reminded me of Wimbleball in Exmoor. I pushed and pushed and averaged around 20.3mph through the course which I was very chuffed with having been so hilly. I was only overtaken by 2 people who were clearly decent triathletes.
I pulled my feet out of my shoes for T2 at about 12.75 miles however the course was unexpectedly longer so I ended up having no shoes on for about 10 minutes which was`nt ideal. I raced hard into T2 and a quick change into trainers and I was good to go.
T2 Time - 0:00:39
Out on the run I knew it was going to be a slog as I had worked so hard on the bike, my heart rate was through the roof but I knew it was only 5k and I could push through it. The run was all offroad trial through twists and turns and a few hills, it seemed to go super quick and again was only overtaken once or twice. I continued to push hard and could feel my ITB tightening but nothing was going to stop me finishing this race strong, I pressed on and eventually came into the final half mile, I was overtaken by a guy who was behind me at the swim start, we had abit of banter then pressed each other for the finish, I was spent, he started extending his lead and I tried to keep up but my knee said no. I finished strong and used everything I had.
Run Time - 21:14
Overall time - 1:08:09 - 26th position overall out of 350+ people
The guy who overtook me at the end beat me by 7 seconds overall
Looking at my overall times, I think my swim is still very strong, bike very acceptable but my run seems to let me down, think to get better at the short game my 5k needs to come down to 17minutes Im a long way off that!
Great event tho, will be entering again next year! very well organized and great fun!
