For some wheelsets, that might be very convenient.
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Well done 
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Centurion Race Report
Race distances
Swim 2km / Bike 82km / Run 16km
So nearly a HIM just with a shorter run (the hardest part of a normal HIM)
After seeing some of the flying HIM races from last week, I’ll be clear that I am never going to be troubling those times. My personal goals, were to enjoy the swim, get into stroke and not panic. Time between 40 and 45 mins. I’ve been doing well on the bike recently so thought 2.40 might be about right. For the run, the only target I had was to complete with no walking. Total time goal of 5 hours felt reasonable
Pre-race
So they say to not use new equipment on race day. Well, I tried on my new wetsuit on Saturday night, that’s the right way to do it? Right? Well, it fit better than my old one so it was going to get used. Read the rules, saw the aid station was self-service so decided to take all nutrition with me to avoid stopping, dug out my bento box, got another bottle cage bolted it all together, happy with that.
A friend Mike picked up me, he’s doing the 100 mile version (a HIM with a much longer bike and 15 mile run - yuk). Got to the race just after 6, got setup and was nice to see so many club mates there. I think we had 20/140 entries.
Swim
Headed down to the water, time trial start so you just self seeded, queued up crossed the timing mat and went for it. No warmup or getting used to the temps. I’ve had a few panic attacks in OW races before which take up to 10 mins to pass. This time, I found my stroke after about 10 head up pulls and just got on with in. Target 1 met. 2 laps of the lake, getting passed by the uber swimmers on their second. Out of the water in 44 mins, I’d clocked it as 42 but I think the timing mat was a short run up a hill.
Bike
Quick transition and onto the bike, mandatory foot down point to get out onto roads and away. The first bit felt good, fast and nice roads. Then the hills start and they pretty much don’t end until you’re heading into T2 again. A 1 min ish stop at some temporary lights which I caught just as they went red 
The course is described as undulating, Garmin has it at total 800m elevation. Some really strong head/cross winds made the front a bit twitchy at times but overall I was riding well. Got overtaken by maybe 1 or 2 riders in total and did more overtaking. The best, sheltered bit of road had recently had new chip seal down, so that was sketchy too. Back into T2 with a 2.47 so 7 mins slower than target but then I’m blaming the course.
Run
Grabbed a gel in T2 on with Alphaflys and off we go. Nice hill up out of T2, legs wobbly like normal but HR was ok, felt slow but watched said 5m/km so, head said just keep going. It was 50% grass/trail and 50% tarmac and 2x8km loops. Three of the front runners came past me running well but again overall I did more passing that being passed. Hit “The Hill” to finish the first lap and my legs were feeling better and better, couple of GI issues to get past but onto the second and I was holding onto my pace nicely. Back into the park with no issues, caught a couple of guys slowing up and one who had some painful looking cramps. The dog leg on grass, spotted my family had turned up to cheer me on, so increased the speed. Well, you have to look good for the support. The hill for the final time, shut up legs we’re very nearly done. “Sprint” finish on the downhill to the line and we’re done for 1.23 run split.
Total time 4.59:16 and for me, I’m really happy with that. The last longer race I did was Hever Castle in 2018 when it took me nearly 6:45 to finish with a lot! of walking. The way the run was going, another 5k would have been easy…ish.
24 Likes
Nicely executed & always great to finish strongly.
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Well done, sounds like a well managed and well executed race with the result to show for it 
How do you find the alpha fly’s on grass?
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They were fine on all terrain tbh. I’m not sure how they’d have been if it was wet.
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Good work @Jgav , sounds like you had a really strong, consistent day. Always nice to know you’ve run well off the back, rather than death marching in!
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Great read!
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Enjoyed that. Well done, sounds like you had yourself a day!
Did you fit any speed laces to your alphas or did you lace up in T2?
Cheers. It felt hard at the time but on reflection, I don’t think I’ve had a race that consistent across all disciplines. My clubmate in my AG did his normal swim, crossed the timing mat in 29 mins (15 mins faster than me) and beat me by just over 14 mins. We’re totally evenly paced across B/R but he was a quality swimmer as a teen (sub 17min 1500m) and I just can’t catch him up.
I didn’t use speed laces, just took the extra 15 seconds in T2. I thought about fitting them the night before but CBA because I was tired by that point.
3 Likes
Weymouth Middle Distance Race Report (1900m / 89 km / 21.7 km)
tl~dr Was a bit more of an adventure than a race in the end. Good value day out. DNF run.
Big, grey sea running. Got smashed around a lot on the way out, couldn’t see anything much sighting, no-one close enough to follow, and only getting a decent breath now and again, so ended up doing some chunks of breaststroke so I could see and breath. Parallel to the shore was much easier but my wetsuit zip broke - needed a new one, anyway: bonus!. Coming back in was again hard to sight and breath. I have always thought I was fine sea swimming but obviously need to get out in these sort of conditions to get the hang of it and maybe just need to be stronger to be able to cope with less air. Only 9 people were under 35:00 so don’t feel too bad about a mid-pack 43:49 although that’s 10 mins slower than I’d expect.
Bike course was great. A lot of good bits of road. Happy I stuck with TT bike and deep wheels. Stinging facefuls of rain for a time and wet roads all the way. Must have been grim marshalling. My rear light ejected twice but has survived. Took it very steady on corners and had a few twitchy spots but wind only really bad on the coast coming down the last hill. That was frightening, though - bike all over the place until I managed to scrub a lot of speed. Under 3 hours, so not fast but that’s okay for me.
T2 was only time I’ve ever taken socks off for the run - they were dripping.
Managed two run laps - about 10 km - before I started to feel last week’s injury. Could have walked it in alright but would have taken ages and had family stuff to get back for so DNF but that was always likely. Hopeful that I managed that much running after only 3 days rehab.
At the moment, I think middle distance is a bit far to improve much with the number of hours training I can manage but maybe worth doing one a year for the experience.
As always, Bustinskin events really well-organised but pleasantly low key. Might do their Weymouth Classic oly in September BustinSkin .
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Rather you than me in that sea swim, sounds rough.
Tough day, well done. Bike course doesn’t sound great, but I’ll take your word for it! 
They ran a great event when I did it and it sounds like similar conditions.
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Found some photos. As always, bigger than it looked once it’s at eye level but probably just need some more practice.
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Yeah that surf looks chunky - great job 
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Brill!
Good report too.
Well done
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Good work. Lovely bit of chop there. You swam well by the looks of it. Shame about the run, but at least you’ve not crippled yourself for the next 2 months by being stubborn. 
Those safety boats in the backgrond look huge.
(Well done )
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Surf’s up Dude.
Deservedly some war stories to tell after that.