Friday, July 3, 2009

Initial race report

After a few days "enjoying" the heat in the south-west, I'm back online with just time to post some initial results/thoughts. Proper race report to come soon.

Overall time: 7:00:32 - slower than expected. Excuses: heat, bike failure (chain, puncture, puncture, puncture...), legs failure.
273rd out of 282 overall, 45th female of 48.

Splits:
Swim: 41:29 - 224th/304 overall, 32nd/53 female
T1: 3:52 - 256th, 43rd
Bike: 3:43:26 - 288th/299, 46th/53
T2: 1:02 - 53rd, 9th (!)
Run: 2:30:43 - 259th/276, 44th/48

(Some finishers seem not to have a run time listed)

The swim was fine, start delayed due to fog but the water quality and temperature were pretty good, and there wasn't too much bashing going on.

T1 was pretty slow as the top tip of letting water into your wetsuit just before you exit the lake, to make it easier to remove, doesn't work if you have to run a long way to your bike. Also wasted time getting it stuck on the timing chip around my ankle.

The bike leg was the disappointment. Lap 1 was too quick really, but after reining it in a bit for lap 2, fate reined me in a bit more with a few bike issues, before the final hill on lap 3 killed my quads.

T2 was bloody quick, all I did was change shoes - perhaps everyone else wisely paused to apply suncream!

The run was a run-walk (or should that be walk-run); leg cramps (calves, quads, achilles) were far more of a problem than energy levels, after my quads problem on the bike. The heat was bad, but I don't think it was the killer issue for me.

Overall? It was great fun until I had to fix the bike rather than riding it. But I bloody well kept going. There are plenty of lessons to be learned.

In many ways, I don't want to do another one, but I do think I could do a better one... watch this space?

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