A friend and I decided that it would be best to stay over the night before so we didn't have to worry about getting to the venue on the day and something going wrong. We hired a campervan and stayed in the campsite right near to the start line. Was glad we stayed over as it meant I could just concentrate on getting ready for the race and not worry about a journey and forgetting something.
Woke up nice and early and straight away the kettle was on for coffee and to add hot water to my porridge. Also had a banana & peanut butter wrap which has become one of my favourites recently. It was then time to get changed and a quick set up of the bikes and then head down to transition.
Got in to transition and I find myself overthinking everything like I always do. I have I got enough gels and how to set up my transition space. This is something that I shouldn't do as it makes me nervous about the race and I start to forget to do stuff. I had planned to open all my flap jack and malt loaf bars wrappers so when on the bike it would be easier for me to access and I wouldn't have to worry about opening anything. Well since the fact that I forgot to do this meant I didn't eat what I should of done on the bike.
Start of the swim, my wave started at 0640hrs and I felt really good, I felt ready and I knew that my swimming has become one of my strong points. So the race begins and straight away its a mad panic to get going and straight away I feel someone actually grasping at my ankles, physically holding on and trying to pull me back. I soon put a stop to this and started kicking in anger, there's no need to grab hold of people. As the swim continued I was struggling for lace and decided it would be easier to swim out to the left and get some clear water. 200m later it all calmed down and I found myself swimming alongside someone. I soon realised that I was swimming the exactly the same speed as him so decided to get behind him and draft off him to make it a bit easier for. By the time the swim was coming to the end I felt really good and finished the swim in 32:13 mins. Straight in to transition and on to the bike the weather at this point was wet and cold, but I decided to stick with just my trisuit on and hope the weather got better throughout the bike.
I soon get in to a very good rhythm on the bike and was enjoying it was hitting a good average speed and was able to ride at a good speed considering the weather. Had a reality check about 15 miles in where we were approaching a tight left hand bend. The guy in front of me over cooked it and the bike went a way from him causing him and his bike to slide across the road. This then made be be a bit more careful on any corners. The whole bike course was really good and I really enjoyed it. The only thing I wish I did differently was to take my feet out of my shoes earlier as trying to take your feet out whilst going down hill over speed humps is not fun. Bike time was 2:51:27 hours. This was the fastest that I have bike that distance and my legs knew it.
In to T2 and I could feel my legs. I put my bike back in to the rack and bend down to put my socks and trainers on and that's when I realised I had pushed it too hard in the bike. Cramp in the front of my thighs. Great, I have ran before with cramp but usually with only a km to go and I can push through it. So I set off on the run and felt ok and then 5 miles in that when it became hard work, pushing hard on the bike was now causing me problems on the run (my favourite discipline). I tried to grin and bare it but it was hard work, every food station I got to I had to have a quick walk and drink some coke to try and help. This was a steep learning curve that I probably needed. Managed to get the run done and it was a great finish. The atmosphere was great and the crowd cheering us all in with incredible. Finished the run in 1:49 hour.
Total time took me 5:16:36.
For my first 70.3 event I was really pleased with my time and with some changes to my training plan I think I could shave a bit of time off. This was a training event in getting me ready for the full outlaw in July
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