23rd May - Swashbuckler Half

With a cold up until the morning of the race I wasn't feeling too confident, however waking up with no cold seemed to bode well for the day.

Swim and T1: 43:44 mins
Bike and T2: 2:30:16.7 hours
Run: 1:44:29 hours
Total: 4:58:29.7 hours
Place: 67th (7th in age group)

The Swim was really tough, felt like I pushed hard and was pleased with my swim, really strong current but I felt like I dealt with it well, still need to increase experience in open water.

The Bike was really good, legs felt very tight at the start but I dont think there is a way to avoid this. 1.75 Go bars 400ml of ISO and 400ml of Water. Averaged 19.5 mph which is very good for me, felt fine throughout but ITB was a slight problem towards the end. Going to get that sorted.

The Run was what I had trained for, I came out with the intention of doing sub 45 min 7 miles on both laps. I felt pretty tired at the start but kept to 6 min miles and felt like it was completely attainable for first 4 miles. I didnt drink any water at the first two feed stations which was a big mistake. Took some jelly beans at 5 miles which picked up the pace for me again. At 5 miles two things happened, ITB in my right leg started and I was thirsty. I took water at the next feed station and cracked on. First lap was around 44 mins so was nicely set up for 2nd lap. ITB cleared up a little bit but was still very thirsty. At 9 miles I took on a PowerGel (caffeinated) and some more water (maybe a cup). My pace had dropped to about 9.5 minute miles and I was not feeling it (really hot). the gel kicked in for about 15 minutes but I was dehydrated and in deficit I think. 2nd Lap was 1 hour so quite a bit down, pretty disappointed with it but then at least I went for it.

Lessons learnt:

1. Open water swim experience needs to increase a lot.
2. Need to sort ITB on bike as it did transmit to the run (unexpected).
3. Need to increase length of bike on brick sessions, legs have no trouble with transition but do with endurance.
4. Need to take on much more water on the bike so that I am overhydrated for the run (750ml of each?).
5. Need to take gel at end of the bike.
6. Need to take on at least 2 gels on run (poss 3)
7. Need to drink little and often on run, mixture of ISO and water (depending on stomach).

Overall Im really pleased with the time, sub 5 hours is pretty good. I actually enjoyed the whole thing (until the last run lap) during the race which was really nice. Learnt a lot about my body and its weaknesses/strengths. Swim time was a little disappointing but I went as hard as I could, bike time was really good, run time disappointing but at least I went for it. Felt good to take myself to a point where I couldnt give anymore on the run. Lost a little bit of mental focus so want to work on that too.