I would argue it’s a bit tough to have a Pro racing the event though! I’d seen Sam Wade’s name on the start sheet and thought he was fast. His athlete fb page indicates he is a Pro, and this was his final blowout before his first pro race of the season. He won in 1:41.
Overall, fairly happy with my race. Tired on the final 500m of the swim I think, and began to feel a bit more ragged. I stopped catching people in the train that I had been reeling in.
I actually struggled a bit on the bike. Not sure if it was the cold, but power was really hard to put out initially. It was freezing. As I warmed up I started to go faster and faster, and got power up to about 0.87 IF. Was aiming for more though. First time I’ve done a race shorter than 70.3 in years though, so really not used to pushing at that effort level. Legs were burning - aerobically I felt fine.
That effort seemed to deaden the legs on the run, especially after the way I’ve been going in training recently. I also couldnt get my helmet off in T2. My fingers were so cold, I couldnt undo the clip and it took about 6 or 7 attempts to finally get it off. I don’t think I’ve ever had a slower T2 than T1! Quads and calves felt so heavy on the run. Feet were like blocks of ice. I was hoping to run in the high 3:40’s per km. Managed 3:54 ave, so not disastrous, but I definitely lost the mental battle with myself. On the final 2.5k out, which was a tailwind, I only just was breaking 4:00s, and then when I turned back into the wind I upped it to 3:50’s, simply because I knew the end was coming. So definitely had more in me.
I’ve also never had a bike split ranking as my best discipline before, so not sure if that’s good, or it’s just further evidence I didn’t have a great run.
Olympic is definitely a tough distance. It’s certainly not short, but trying to get up substantially closer to threshold for that duration is hard. Just a little bit less intensity over middle distance is significantly less taxing!
All bits were fairly short. I had the swim at 1325ish, the bike at c37.5k, and the run c9.4k.
I think the swim is legit given the shortness of the course (lots swam in the 16s, and that guy came second), but yeah, that run time is ridiculous! Must have only done one loop
Similar swim times. He was a couple of mins slower than you on the bike, but then put in one of the best runs of the day. Yet he still finished behind you. Apparently he felt like a bit of a picnic in T1!!
Oh yeah. 5:24 in transition. Crazy. The water was really cold (no ability to acclimatise was not ideal - just before getting in the water I knelt down off the pontoon and dunked head in just to try and suppress the cold water shock to some extent), so maybe he really struggled. I just accepted the discomfort and went sockless, gloveless, shoes on bike, etc. I did use the Huub Norseman trisuit I picked up cheap the other year … I think that saved me as it’s designed to be a bit windstopper-ish on the front.
I had an Olympic at the start of the week. TT start again, they gave us a few minutes in the river first before starting. It was approximately 15°C so quite warm anyway. Course is upstream for about 500m - then downstream for 750m, then about 250 back upstream. You can feel the current on the final section! I went in 30th and managed to swim draft into 3rd by the end. I’d rubbed some bodyglide onto my arms before getting into my website, really helped in T1, no drama at all. Fastest person was 20s in T1 (mine was 1:04)! No idea how that’s possible, he must have been wearing his bike helmet in the swim
Onto the bike, right hand turn so foot down and I had to wait for a few cars! Course has about 230m elevation so nothing major. Compared to pan flat Southport the other week; I had lower HR (149 vs 152), higher NP (264 vs 247), and a faster time by a minute! PB on the course for me as well! Check out my shocking position on the bike (something to work on):
Yeah, I’m the one head and shoulders above the other guy
Decent T2, I added a load of bodyglide to the 4%s as it rubbed my heel at Southport. Did the job well. Run is on an old train line so pretty flat (51m) trail. HR again lower than Souhtport (152 vs 157) makes me think I could have pushed it more. I was a bit dissapointed with my run, 40.45. I was targetting at least sub 40, especially after runnning sub 18 the week before
Comparing my results with everyone else, I was 5th on bike, and 11th on run. My bike has improved a lot in the last couple of years so well chuffed with that result. Not sure whether I need to work on brick sessions to help with my running or maybe I’m not pushing it or just knackered!? I have another Olympic on Sunday, so I’ve got a few days to tweak my strategy!
I’m guessing that was Wetherby? What was your bike split?
It’s a nice race and I was thinking of doing it but couldn’t face that cold river!
The run wasn’t bad, if it’s the same as 2 years ago there’s at least 1K on grass and those steps slow you down, as well as it being trail and not tarmac. Probably low 39 on a flat tarmac course.
There was sea fog first thing, heading out into the water felt ominously like a scene from Pirates of the Carribbean. Water didn’t feel particularly Carribbean at 13C but after about a minute felt acclimatised. Touted as 1500m, swam 22m40. Had a good swim, it was a rolling time trial start and we had to self seed by eyeing up opposition, with the fastest swimmers first. Obv noone wanted to set themselves up as #1 so there was a fair bit of banter, false modesty and amatuer psychology on the start line. I entered the water about 10th and exited about 4th.
T1- Muppet alert - I had only gone and put my number strap on UNDER my Tri suit. Proving that no matter how long you have been in the sport (this is my 29th year) you can still be a MUPPET. So I had to do a sleeve delivery of said number belt and put it on again properly.
Bike. I’m a bit disappointed with the numbers. 222W average power, 251W normalised power, 31kmh. The course is fairly technical though with a steep climb and later a neutralised downhill zone so maybe that has something to do with it. But I never felt great.
Then onto the run, I felt really good. Like unusually good. Not sure why, maybe the underwhelming bike set it up. Run touted as 10km but again it must be shorter, my time was 34m40. Garmin had it at 9.1km but I’m not sure I trust the Garmin either, it has started doing strange things. It was pancake flat which I LOVED and a 4 lap course, managed to hold a steady pace throughout and pick it up towards the end. Nike 4% of course, which I reckon are worth a couple of minutes as seem to be able to turn over the legs so much faster with them.
Think I finished 2nd overall, but have not seen the official results yet & there was no prize award thing due to covid rules. So maybe I finished 25th LOL.
Really, really enjoyable. A great little race with flawless organisation, and the perfect way to round off 2 weeks of holiday. Back to the grindstone tomorrow ah well.
Er not knowingly. Racking my brain- might have crossed the central white circle on a mini roundabout, poor bike handling while down on the bars, fair cop if it’s that. Otherwise really no idea
and fastest run 25 
they must have cut the corner!
ah well.
