swim went ok - goal of 2 min per 100m met - made sure wetsuit was on properly - used plastic bags to put on - worked well. Swim was quite rough, in a Nascar kinda way - lots of bumping etc. swam crawl non stop - i think i kicked more than usual for a wetsuit swim, which seemed to work, but i was getting tired at the end

Get other goggles, they leaked when put on over the cap, put them on under they were ok but should try different pair

i started on the inside about 2/3 back, maybe start on far side, less traffic, although i was able to swim pretty straight.

Very long transistion - but i was very slow, put on jacket and gloves due to the heavy rain, wanted the warmth and protection. stuggled with jacket and other stuff, had no space in transistion, had things in bags due to rain.

Had shoes already in pedals, which was good for this long transition, but when i crossed the start line, i got sandwiched between to riders and could not move until they did,took a bit. Once on bike, again due to wet and cold, it took a very long time to get properly into the shoes.

use armwarmers rather than jacket, put on once riding, i thought too much in transition- took way too long. cold and rain a factor

Very heavy rain made for some cautious riding for the first lap, Going downhill at 60kmh on rough wet roads was challenging. Nutrition strategy was thrown out the window, as it was so wet i did not feel like drinking much - finished one bottle of powerade =250cal, one gel and 6 cliff shot blocks = 300cal one hald banana =50 cal and one bottle of water. 600 calories taken in, did not feel like bonking or thirsty, in fact had to stop and pee twice on run.

First lap was ok. goal was to stay above 30kmh ave, and managed that for first lap, secong lap was a bit slower, last 20 km took pretty easy, could have gone faster but wanted to save for run. Took cliff blocks 5km from finish

Trained more! - last few weeks work interfeared too much.

i stayed down in the tri bars more than i have in the past, but should make an effort to do even more. As for Nutrition, keep an open bag of shot blocks, and sport beans in bento box, too hard to open and take out while still in package, Chocolate gel tasted bad, stick with vanilla. Perhaps expereiment with carbo pro?

Coming into transition was good, got out of shoes early and was able to dismount well. had hard time racking bike, no space left, had to move other bikes. Taking off wet gloves and jacket were not easy,

CHanged shirt but left on bike shorts - change tent too far away. put on socks, and shoes, grabbed belt and hat and went. Again it seemed quite slow, should have been much faster.

probably due to the wet, my bike shorts caused a rash around the chamis stitches on the outside. So for any longer race either change shots or look into proper tri shorts.

should have taken off gloves a few KMs out to save some transition time.

Started out good, legs a bit sore, but felt good considering. Training was not that great during the previous 6 weeks, getting injured, then doing MOMAR adventure race and recovery from that, then too much work, so i had a goal of 6 minute KMs, which would have put me under my 6 hr goal time. First few KMs, i was ahead, but had to stop in outhouse, but was able to stay on pace, including walking through aid stations.
The Km markers were a bit misplaced, as i hit the 3km marker at 22min and thought my pace was way off, but hit the 4km marker at 24 minutes so i was still right on pace. hit the first turn in 30 mins, on pace, but coming back it got harder to start running after taking a walk break. once running i was fine for a km or so, but once i stopped running and walked, it was very painful to start again. Pain was on the outside of my knee, (IT band perhaps?) usually when i would try to start running again, it would take about 100m before the pain would go away, but sometimes i would have to stop trying to run and walk somemore. With last 3km, i knew i had to keep running and not stop as it was getting hard to get going again, so i went non stop for the last few KM.

rough split times 1/4 was 30min 2/4 was 34min, 3/4 was 32 and last 1/4 was 39 min roughly.

I Need to do more bricks and long runs - and stretch more. I actually felt pretty good coming off the bike, but just better overall fitness would definately help.

perhaps HTFU and stop running less, so i would not have to endure the pain of getting back up to running speed.

After the race, i did not feel too hungry or thirsty, i had some food and drinks, but i just wanted to relax the sore legs. Stood in the lake for 10 minutes, first time doing that, it felt great - much recomemended!!!


Overall fitness could have been better due to too much work, etc.
The heavy rain, and feeling cold caused me to change my race plan.

Going into the race, i wanted to go sub 6 hrs, so i was disappointed with 6:10, but when i looked at my longterm goals as listed on this website, i had entered in 6:30 so i guess i have beaten my expectaions from when i signed up, so hopefully that will continue for my ironman goals. but i do need to focus more on my training, and get in the distance.