Race Review - Huntly Standard Triathlon

http://resultsbase.net/event/3085/results

It has taken me a while to write this report as I have just been swamped with work and life getting in the way for the last week. 

About 4 days before the event I emailed the organiser to try and get my swim time bumped to a slower lane. I asked for about 2 minutes to be added. When I turned up to register I was still down on the original time but that lane had swimmers I was comfortable with so I decided to stick with it even when I was offered a move to the slower lane. 

The swim itself went better than I expected. I managed to get a good tow from one of the other swimmers for a big chunk of the middle of the race. That was eventually broken when one of my team-mates overtook me and the guy in front managed to get a body-length gap when he was overtaken the next length. I couldn't get across the gap and he stretched away. I was still out of the water in 27:19. Only 11 seconds down on last year. Much, much better than I expected, despite being a minute down on what I really wanted to do this year. 

Transition was safe, but not inspiring. I managed to forget my race number and I had to do a quick stop to put it on just after I crossed the timing mats. 

The bike ride itself was pretty average. A big tailwind on the way out should have made for some ridiculous segment times. Several of the other athletes did post ridiculous times, and the ones around me that I would normally catch quite easily I was struggling to make any headway. Once we turned out of the tailwind I managed to catch a couple of them but I couldn't get away from them through the crosswind section. Some aggressive cornering from one and strong climbing from the other meant that they turned back into the headwind with a decent lead on me.

And then I went to sleep. Into the headwind my mind wandered off into a daydream. I was keeping one of them in sight, staying about 30m back to avoid any risk of drafting penalties but paying no attention to the other. I did several miles like that before my brain switched back on and I realised that the other rider who I should have been comfortably able to keep up with into a headwind had disappeared out of sight on a long straight section. I managed to switch back on, cruised past the rider I had been behind and with a bit of effort managed to drag the second rider back in to sight just as we reached the edge of town. As we approached transition I had closed the gap behind her but my second transition was pretty slick and I exited in front. 

However I was almost 4 minutes down on last years bike. I can blame a bit of that one the wind but most of it was about my legs. 

I then went out pretty quick on the run. I actually felt pretty good the first lap and was cruising along at a decent pace. I was on course for the 2 hours 30 that I predicted and was feeling like I might even have a decent run. On the second lap I started to suffer just as I reached the climb. At about mile 4 I started to feel sick, and apple flavoured gels don't taste any better the second time. And things got rapidly worse from there as my hip flared into agonising pain and I pretty much hobbled the last two miles. I gave up nearly 4 minutes just over those last 2 miles, ending up running nearly 5 minutes slower than last year.

Overall I finished in 2:32:52, 8 minutes down on last year, 12 minutes down on people that I was beating in June, and in significant pain. The First Aid team sorted me out with an icepack for my hip but writing this 10 days later it is still aching whenever I go beyond about 20 minutes of effort. 

So a disappointing finish to this years race season and my only standard race of the year, but there are some good points to pick out. The swim wasn't what I wanted, but was much better than I expected. Sections of the bike were good. First half of the run was good. And now I have 6 months to get ready for my next one.