king friends with 'Dan', an athlete from the USA and having good camping weather. Dan in Transition pre race
Friday was registration and Saturday was bike racking. Other than that lazying, drinking coffee and short training sessions (or reconnaissance -checking out 90 corners on the bike course). Legs felt good and rested and mind was eager to race.
Race day - relatively social start at 9:00am. Pros sent off at 8:30am (pro men) and 8:35am (pro women). Age group men 8:55am. Swim was total carnage. Even though it was only age group women sent off together, it felt worse than IM Florida mass start. Was kicked in
the head and chest a couple of times. I did my fair share of Cat fighting to jostle for position! We than were catching the slower Age group men pretty quickly - Now having burly men to swim through and get kicked and semi-drowned by! The swim wasn't pleasant. Out of the first loop - apparently 1.3km in 27 mins. Dreadful swim or very long 1.3km. More Carnage and choppy waves on the next loop and then more again on the way into the harbour. Never felt comfortable on the swim. Finally emerged all wrinkly from the swim in 1:28. I was aiming for 1:10. Reports coming out are it was between 4.5 - 5km. Pro women out in 1:10 ish - either very slow or long. Out of the water in 15th place in my age group. I was always going to be down out of the 4km swim, being a relatively week swimmer. But the swim being even longer meant i had even more ground to make up.
the head and chest a couple of times. I did my fair share of Cat fighting to jostle for position! We than were catching the slower Age group men pretty quickly - Now having burly men to swim through and get kicked and semi-drowned by! The swim wasn't pleasant. Out of the first loop - apparently 1.3km in 27 mins. Dreadful swim or very long 1.3km. More Carnage and choppy waves on the next loop and then more again on the way into the harbour. Never felt comfortable on the swim. Finally emerged all wrinkly from the swim in 1:28. I was aiming for 1:10. Reports coming out are it was between 4.5 - 5km. Pro women out in 1:10 ish - either very slow or long. Out of the water in 15th place in my age group. I was always going to be down out of the 4km swim, being a relatively week swimmer. But the swim being even longer meant i had even more ground to make up.Out on the bike, my legs didn't feel like pedalling for the first 50km. Really enjoyed the bike, even though flat and windy. Constantly remind
ed of the wind by the wind turbines everywhere. Biked 3:28. 2nd faster bike in women's 25- 29 age group. Moved up to 4th place in my age group.
ed of the wind by the wind turbines everywhere. Biked 3:28. 2nd faster bike in women's 25- 29 age group. Moved up to 4th place in my age group.Out on to the run, started off running 7:30 min/miles as planned. But it was getting hot. Race day 29 degrees with minimal cloud cover - pretty much the single day of summer weather I'd seen this year. Water and cold
sponges over my head at every opportunity. Managed to hold run together. Was slowly catching 2nd and 3rd place as they were slowing, but had lost 5 plus minutes to those girls in the swim. Finished 30km run in 2:23. Overall time 7:26:45. 4th place.
sponges over my head at every opportunity. Managed to hold run together. Was slowly catching 2nd and 3rd place as they were slowing, but had lost 5 plus minutes to those girls in the swim. Finished 30km run in 2:23. Overall time 7:26:45. 4th place. Even with long swim, beat 2006 time by almost 40 minutes. Happy with race performance overall, after initial disappointment of missing out on podium place by 3 minutes. Especially since finished in front of girls who had beat me at 2006 and 2007 Europeans. Also just to big nyself up a bit more was the 1st British age group female finisher. 2nd british female finisher - only 1h10 behind Chrissy wellington!
Dan finishing - actual time 9:22:23 11th in men's 60 - 65 age group - A true legend in my eyes.
Simon with Chrissy -
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