Note
Hever Sprint Triathlon - Tri debut. 85.09. 345th from 1,143 finishers. 9th from 57 in age class, 8.10 behind 3rd. Allowing for cramp and the long distances to/within transition time. The time was the best I had thought possible. Except the run unexpectedly made up for the bike (2 mins plus down) swim (30s down) and 3 mins on transitions.
893th swim (median 11.59, top third 11.10)
808th T1 (med 3.46, top third 3.15)
132nd bike (med 50.58, top 5% 41.20)
875th T2 (med 2.03, top third 1.50)
358th run (med 22.16, top 10% 18.27)
Swimming 13:50 [3] 0.4 km (34:35 / km)
Usual just-in-time, jogged down to the start arriving just as the briefing started of the 1st and fastest wave!!
One of the last into the water, was in only 30s when the start was called so was 3m behind the crowd, by 50m the gap was 20m. Then around a dozen stopped, beaten up, having swallowed too much water or with chest cramp from the cold. 50 - 200m was 50:50 crawl. From 200m to 400m I realised no one was passing me (probably 10th from last) and found crawl far less work breathing wise and was 80:20 by the end.
Legs seemed low in water, probably barely kicking.
Transition 4:32 [0]
Transition 1 - Spent 30s drying off with towel and drying feet - worth it a lot of people never warmed up on the ride I was fine from the start. Started putting on top before getting cycle bib on so that was pulled off and was partly inside out second time around. Still no idea why it took 4.32, clearly brain dead. Will wear two swimming caps next time - oh and spend less time in the water!
Cycling 43:24 [5] 20.8 km (2:05 / km)
shoes: Giant Defy 1
Overtook around 30, one guy caught me from the later wave but I stayed him with on the flat. Disappointed with time, was hoping for 40 or 41 (if the hills were tougher than expected - they certainly were). Never got in a rhythm, but had people to aim at most of the way and picked up most time on the hills, but I suspect against others in the low 40s I was losing time on the hills. Only spent around a third of the time on aerobars.
Transition 2:33 [0]
2.33 - Got cramp (solid bulging calves) in both calves at the start of transition so walked the 70m to the rack. By the time I had my shoes on and took a quick drink the cramp had gone, quick ballet calf stretch and the best bit began!
Running 20:50 [5] 4.0 km (5:13 / km)
Ran the whole way with no discomfort!!! By 2k I was smiling, I had passed three people, instead of the stream of people passing me I had expected. The sun was out, lake on the left running without the slightest tightness, I'd made up for the swim (1st k) and bike ride (2nd k). The last 1.5k was a long forgotten battle with oxygen debt - and very welcome too!!!
Note
Already working out how to trim 8mins off time.
1.The cycle after a cold swim was tougher than expected. Improved CV will lower time and better knowledge of course. Doing more tris should help.
2. Need lots of time in open water to build confidence.
3. Need to be a lot slicker in T1 even when brain dead.
4. Do a few races starting in May, nothing like the real thing to improve in all areas.