Waveney2

Was a little apprehensive about this one, having felt like I had a cold coming on yesterday (endless sneezing and runny nose). Getting up at 6am didn't help! But once I got into the routine, I was fine. Registration, transition, changed, ready to go. Bring it on! Was number 23 going to be as lucky for me as 24 was last week? I see I'm in a wave with Julia Green from Ipswich (the winner of my age category in May, when I was second) - can I keep her in sight and maybe beat her this time? Can I break 1:05? We'll see.

Swim: into a lane with Sally and Lyn counting, a smile and good luck from Kerry doing her swim manager bit, and it was off. A good first length but I felt tired quickly, not as good as in the Sportspark last week. There's no magic catch, no strength in my pull. Oh well - just try to hang on and do as well I can. 16 lengths fly by, and it's out of the water (inelegantly as always) and to my bike. Look at my watch - 7:51. In my amazement I stop the timer, instead of hitting lap. Duh. Transition is slow as I have too much unnecessary stuff like buff and gloves. Thinking about it afterwards, I don't need those for a sprint! Kerry shouts at me to get a move on 'cos she wants her tea...

Bike: off to a poor start by failing to get clipped in on the mount line. I'm just standing there pawing ineffectually at it. Eventually find it and I'm off. Settle in along the Flixton road, no other competitors in sight. My rival is long gone, I reckon - she was going very strongly in the swim. The long climb out of Flixton seems longer every year, but there is a flash of hi-vis in the distance. Eventually catch up just after the little bridge, and overtake on the hill. Manage to reel in another couple on the main road, where it's getting windy, but all of them were from previous waves. Finish well, just dropping below 18mph average. No crap to take from transition, just change shoes and go.

Run: I felt pretty good throughout the run - definitely the strongest of the three I have done. I even powered up the big hill and was surprised to see the turn point so soon! Overtook one person from a previous wave. Time was 18:05 but the time in Waveney2 does include T2, which it doesn't for the May edition of the race (where I got 18:12). I got 17:57 last Waveney2 though, which should be measured the same way.

Finish time 1:05:23, which I was really pleased with. It's still about 4 minutes off the winning time for my category (Julia Green again), but it's a PB - and to be honest I had not done much (OK, barely any) bike training, and that let me down a bit.

Breakdown:

W2'08 (W1'08) [W2'07]

Swim: 7:28 (8:01) [8:46]
T1 + bike: 39:50 (40:02*) [40:47] *includes T2 as well
T2 + run: 18:05 (18:12*) [17:57] *does not include T2
Total: 1:05:23 (1:06:15) [1:07:30]

My bike computer said 17.9mph average, compared to 18.8mph last time, which is a disappointing drop, but not unexpected given the lack of training. It was a little bit windy but not that much.

Overall position: 61/114 (88/130) [72/115]
Women's race position: 9/29 (10/31) [15/36]
Age group position: 2/5 (2/7) [5/10]

Official results - W2'08 report - W1'08 report