I did a short rollering session in the morning before driving through and registering. After setting up my transitions I still had 3 hours until my heat. This is the first time all year that I wasn't drawn in the fastest heat. Initially I was a bit disappointed with that, but after the swim I was glad not to have been in the faster heat.
I decided to walk to Asda and get some more breakfast while I waited. In hindsight this was 5,000 steps I should have avoided putting in my already tired legs. I was still back over an hour before my race though so I had a short nap on the poolside during one of the earlier heats.
There were 5 people in my swim lane and I was off third. It turned out that the two in front had gills and the two behind were unable to stay on my pace. So I quickly got into a big space to myself. Unfortunately it only took 13 laps for the fish to get right round, pass the two slower swimmers and then onto my feet. Because the two of them were so close I let them both through together, but this meant that the slower 2 were towed back on to my feet. I couldn't stay with the faster pair for even a length to get any benefit. Then it was all back to the beginning as the two fish got away and I dropped the other two, until lap 23 where it all happened again. And again on 33. Each time it wasn't just costing me time but it was also pulling the two slower swimmers up to me as well.
The fast two then split slightly as the fastest guy pushed and caught me at 38 and then the girl caught me at 40 so I had two stops in quick succession. This time I also let one of the slower guys through as well since he was close on the girl but had a gap between him and the slowest swimmer. He was going slightly slower than I had been (about 1 sec a length) but the draft effect I was getting meant I was saving huge amounts of energy and I was willing to trade off the time.
I am now going to add some extra excuses. Huntly is a funny shaped pool, which someone with only half an idea of fluid dynamics has tried to damp out the wave patterns by curving some of the floor sections. Also there are handrails along the side and one end which make for even more chop and mean that tumble turns have to be clean to avoid smacking your heels on the bar. Being in an outside lane meant i had to deal with all of these as well as the overtaking.
All 60 laps of swim data is at the bottom for anyone interested in the numbers. Nice easy maths for a 60 length swim means that seconds per length converts straight to minutes per 1,500m. Most of the overtaking looks pretty obvious as those lengths are 3-6 seconds slower than the adjacent lengths as I wait for people to pass. It looks from the data like there were 6 of those.
The final swim time is 27 mins 8 secs. Not what I really wanted, but not a bad time by any means.
I was through T1 fairly clean. I decided on the socks for the longer distance and because my bike shoes are slightly too big without them. I went for a flying mount and again that was very clean and caught me about 30 yards on the guy in front. On to the bike and I felt pretty good to start with. The sun was out and I dried off pretty quickly.
The guy in front held his gap through the twists of town and I started to close on him on the climb up the A96. I caught him just as we turned on to the long straight section and I got into my TT position and settled down for the 10 miles to the turn. Through this long straight section I averaged 25 mph. I picked off a couple of others as I was really enjoying the speed along this section. I knew the hills were coming after the turn and I knew at some point I was going to run out of legs, so I figured I might as well attack early and move myself up the leaderboards of some Strava segments until I ran out of gas. Once I was empty I could then just end my season a bit early, pedal round and jog the run.
Through the climbing section a younger guy came past me looking really fresh. I tried to stay with him but he just kept easing away. Just as he went out of sight he caught another rider and I had another body to follow. I couldn't close the gap but I was managing to keep him just about in sight through the twisting climb section. I tried to take a gel just before the last sharp climb. Struggled to reach it, struggled to open it, got half of it, then had to bite the packet so I could use both hands to make the T-junction and get onto the last climb. I could see the body ahead of me close enough now that I recognised him.
Over the top and a left-hand junction and then there is another really fast section. I was able to shift up through the gears and very quickly closed the gap and went past him but as soon as I was past I realised it was going to be a struggle to pull away as my legs were really empty now. From there to the finish is about 8 miles which seems mostly flat but is actually a very long and gentle climb. In a lot of places it is gentle enough to time trial on it but every so often a slightly stiffer climb made me sit up for a break. My legs were suffering no and my neck and shoulders were really starting to ache as well but I was working quite well and making good time. The watch suggested I was on a really good time despite being fairly empty since the top of the hill. The last twisty section through the town was hard work but I managed to take the last couple of corners and slip out of my shoes without sacrificing too much time.
Final ride time 1 hour 7 mins 50 secs. 3 minutes under my previous fastest time for this route.
T2 was just about perfect, despite the athlete next to me parking her bike on top of my trainers. I dismounted at pace, hooked the bike, left shoe on, helmet and glasses off, right shoe on, out. 26 seconds, second fastest time of anyone on the day.
Out onto the run my shoulders were quite tight so my posture wasn't great. I was told midweek that the run course had been changed back to the pre-2009 version which I have never raced on before. This meant that the run is not really comparable to previous years. It also meant that I didn't know the course.
The first 400m is still the old course and goes slightly downhill so I managed to relax a little. I did consider my earlier plan of just working till it was this sore and then coasting or even stopping. I had a look at the watch and realised I was still on quite a good time even with an average run so I carried on. On to the new section of the course and an uphill section that I wasn't expecting. That really sapped my legs but I was passing people, mostly from previous heats. Then there was a nice downhill mile which goes back out onto the bike course and known roads, and the final mile of the loop was on the usual course. I came round to the end of the first lap in 23 minutes, just under the two hour mark. I realised at this point that anything under 28 minutes for the next lap would be my fastest standard race ever so I tried to keep working round the last lap.
As I passed transition to start lap 2 the overall leader came in at the end of his bike. He had a fairly lax transition but still managed to catch me by the time we got to the climb. He flew past looking comfortable, on his way to running 5 minutes faster than anyone else's run time. I was still picking off runners from earlier heats but I was definitely slowing. My running style was really seizing up now and my stride length was noticably shortening. I could see another runner from an earlier heat just ahead of me for the last mile and I was gaining slowly but couldn't quite catch her up.
Final run time 47 mins 23 secs.
Total time 2 hours 24 mins 11 seconds.
I wrote in my preview that anything under 2:25 I would be really happy. So I am really happy. Even if I allow for the run course being slightly shorter and quicker I still would have been quicker. I was definitely tired from too long a season though.
Full results are here.
Swim Lap data
