Swim, I might as well start with the really bad. Rather than rewrite this bit I will just hack it straight out of an email I sent the day after:
"The swim was horrible. The start being so wide actually worked out badly as it meant everyone was on the front line and this led to even more fighting than normal and a crush for the middle line. I could also bring the start time in here if you want a reason to move it. Sighting on a direct line into the low sun for the first straight and after the second sausage was a real nightmare. The flag on the hill helped but not enough. Add to this the silver hats were indistinguishable from splashes meant it was hard to see what was going on. The first turn was really bad, too early and too tight. The straight to the second turn was also too early for such a bottleneck, I was reduced to breast-stroke for chunks of it to avoid the fighting. Out of this turn and the straight to the island was the first time I got more than 4 strokes without getting pushed, tickled or punched. I mentioned above about swimming a direct line into the sun and this was the worst part for that. I almost missed going outside the orange buoy before the island as I didn't even see it against the sun and only went the right side of it because a kayak was on my inside. The tighter line into the island from previous years also made this another bottleneck so more pushing. Just for comparison on how bad the swim was with the extra traffic. On Wednesday I went for a pedal around the bike course before going for an easy swim lap to check it out, I took my time on that swim lap and did 13:07, today I was 14:36 flat out and on the verge of quitting."
So basically the swim wasn't fun. It was the slowest I have swum for a race in over 2 years. It was in fact slower pace than the 5k pool race I did in December last year.
Seeing how far down I was by the time I got to T1, I was on the verge of just jacking it in for the day but the weather was still nice and I didn't have a watch on to tell exactly how bad it was. Some of the people I should be racing were just leaving transition as I arrived so maybe the swim wasn't quite as bad as I thought (having seen the results it really was). I didn't rush the change but it was clean and organised.
Cycle, I am going to take the excuse that it was windy. This explains why some sections on the course were still PB fast even though other sections were frankly terrible. The first half I was struggling to get comfortable and make any headway. Despite being so far out of position I was still managing to lose places, and not just to flashy bikes or classy riders. It was getting to the point that I was expecting to see hybrids coming past at any minute. This went on all the way through the flat and climbing sections. Then at the infamous AA box I turned the corner and it felt like someone had added an engine. In hindsight it was probably a combination of sorting my breathing after the swim and turning into the wind-assisted section of the course. From there to the end I was overtaking a few people and at one point I was considering overtaking a car that was slowing me up. Even the climb back up to transition as fairly comfortable. Overall it was still slower than last year but only by 5 seconds and the second half was faster.
T2, Stupid! Having saved a few seconds by slipping out of my shoes before turning into the Knockburn grounds I then unclipped my helmet while I was still holding the bike. The marshall was very polite about it and gave me the chance to take a stop/go penalty while I reclipped then carried on rather than giving me a time penalty afterwards. Apart from that my second transition was fairly smooth.
Run.
I know I am running well. Just not off the bike for some reason. I ran over a minute slower than the same race last year. I was somehow passing people on the run. And looking at the results (without the 'Male only' filters in the box below) I was going about the same pace, or slightly faster, than a lot of the people I would normally be racing against at this point. The problems with that are that they were in the other heat or were so far ahead by this point and I should have been running about 2 minutes faster. The results suggest I only overtook 2 people that I was actually racing so I think the others that I passed must all have been from Heat 2 or on different laps.
All in this was the worst race I have had for a while, and having expected to go really well it actually left me quite depressed for a few days afterwards. All stemming from a bad swim. I am trying to dismiss it as just a bad day but until I get out and have a better day, or figure out exactly what went wrong, I am struggling to convince myself.
My next race is going to be a leg of the Moray Way Relay, so it is run only and I can at least get a chance to confirm that my running is working and it comes only a week on so will basically be off the same fitness and training as this race.
| Split times | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total time | Pos. male | Senior | Split time | Speed split time | Pace split time | |
 Swim | 14:36 | 65 | 40 | 14:36 | - | - |
 T1 | 16:24 | 72 | 41 | 1:48 | - | - |
 Cycle | 51:36 | 78 | 42 | 35:12 | - | - |
 T2 | 52:19 | 77 | 42 | 43.0 | - | - |
 Run | 1:15:01 | 75 | 41 | 22:42 | - | - |
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