Arrived at Chez Assassin around 7:45am, some new faces and some old faces to say hello to. Swimming had been put back to 10.00 due to a leisure centre admin cock up so took the time to try and stay warm as it was freezing outside, standard Macc weather for the DIY. Had a good chat with Colourin aka shivering whippet about Lanza and plans for the day. Colourin decided to can the swim due to weather conditions and not risk getting ill 3 weeks out from race day. Advice I probably should have taken…
The Swim
Target – 32-34 mins
Race time – 1min
I had planned to really give the swim a go, I never swim 1900metres as a TT usually just hit it on the way through to 3/4k so it would be new for me, but I am in good shape with my swimming so wanted to do it justice. I’ll cut short the explanation but basically 10 in a lane wasn’t going to work for me and despite a ‘discussion’ with one of the members of staff about using another lane and whether I was classed as a member of the public I decided to get out after a massive 50 metres as it wasn’t going to work for me.
The Bike
Target – 3 hours
Race time – 2:57:xx
After my angry exchange with the leisure centre staff I was pretty fired up for the rest of the day. Quick change in T1 putting all of my layers on in a bid to dry off and warm up at the same time and I was off. It was very windy but on the first section up pex hill road it felt more like a cross wind, previous years this has been into wind and a nightmare but it was ok and managed to crank up the speed. First lap done and only the middle section was into headwind which was not too bad. My target was to stick to 18mph if possible, first couple of laps passed and I was hitting 19.5mph average, with the weather and course I felt this was really good so basically hung on for as long as I could.
The bike drags, 12 laps is hard, my idea to just get it over with as fast as I could seemed to work mentally for me. I didn’t feel it was too much of a drain until about lap 8 but as everyone was on the route by then it made it more interesting. I saw everyone on the bike route apart from Unchartered waters who must have been travelling a similar pace on the other side of the course to me. As usual the bike feed station was brilliant, Special thanks to Jordy who as usual was brilliantly enthusiastic with his cheering!! and it must be noted that on lap 10(I think) a rendition of Gangnam style (singing and dancing) had me in hysterics…top pirating folks!! Special mention to Serens hubby who ran the bike route quite a few times and was out the whole time I was an more, looking strong every time, great work. Final lap done and headed to T2, desperate for a pee that I had needed since lap 3 but was too concerned about losing time I held it in… Pleased with my time, ahead of target and legs felt good coming off the bike.
The Run
Target – 2 hours
Race time – 1:49:xx
Had a mahoosive wee as soon as I arrived in T2(toilet of course) then changed, put my waterproof on as was now raining as well as the ice wind. I couldn’t believe how good my legs felt, headed off telling myself to settle into 9 minute miles and hold on. First mile 8:25, standard first fast mile in a tri for me. But I felt good, decided to see if I could hold around this pace for the first lap and go from there. Completed first uneventful lap in 8:32 mm average, decided on zero sugar option to test how my stomach coped so went for crisps in at the feed station and cracked on.
Laps 2 and 3 also uneventful, I settled into a pace I felt was steady and got into a bit of a zone, both feed stations were brilliant as usual, Q in particular was his usual, shouting abuse/encouragement as I ran past. I was expecting a fade and it didn’t come at all, managed to hold on, I overtook Little Phyllis on my last lap shortly after being overtaken by Serens hubby who was still running… Kept him in sight for the remainder of the lap and picked up the pace a bit.
I did have moments of having to dig in, I had an ear worm all day of ‘hold back the river’ or whatever it’s called, and just kept reciting the chorus over and over on the run whilst thinking of how focussed Sebastian Kienle looked when he won Kona… I know I’m not Kienle and I know Macc isn’t Kona, but it worked and I finished strong up that hell of a hill known as Chez Assassin’s road. Really pleased with the run, felt good all the way and pace only slightly faded to 8:40mm average. I wasn’t dead on my feet at the end, maybe I didn’t go hard enough or maybe it’s the swim that usually knackers me
All in all a great day out.
Blue Peter Ironman 