I swam the first 150 meters in freestyle, so I did not do too bad, and was in the middle of the crowd. Then I decided to drop back and change to breast stroke because I was affraid not to be able to sustain freestyle, exaust myself and not make the cut-off. I was also discouraged by the early abandon of one of the pro's at the race.

I did not dispute the swim because I cconsider myself a bad swimmer. According to friends watching the race I passed plenty of other swimmers on the second loop and there were over 30 behind me (the field was around 150 swimmers). I will go freestyle next time, and I will dispute the race rather than just let anyone who was close to me go by unchallenged.

It was easily a 300 meter run to the transition. I found my stuff messed up so it took me a moment finding the socks. Almost went for the backup in the bag. Lost a precious minute or minute and a half doing that and drying up. No need to wash feet. The run to transition over the onterlocks cleaned the sand pretty well.

Not waste time drying myself up. Face yes not the rest, even with the Body-Dry towel (very efficient).

Quickly recovered from the weak swim and got into rythm pretty fast. At the first climb after the first km overtook plenty of people. I must have passed over 30 people during the bike course. I was only overtaken by two competitors doing the team relay, but again, the top of the pack was way ahead of me.

I think I could have pushed the speed up slightly, especially when going down. The wind was there but mostly cross wind. Only got head wind while coming down the last three kilometers. I did not know what to expect so I held myself. After all HR was not an issue. I would later find out that I had left the running legs in the water (as I was affraid of), so I could have easily stepped up the pace on the bike without affecting that also.

Transition went well. Actually I could have dismounted later but jumped out at the off-bike at the sign and still had an extra 30 meters to do it. Could speed up putting the shoes on, but was great anyway. I have elastic ties.

Jump of the bike at the last moment. Probably would save me a few seconds only anyway.

I quickly felt that the legs may not have the strength required to run at the speed I got myself used, even after bike/run bricks. I could keep the pace high, but no way could I increase the stride. My HR stayed below my objective. Heat might have also played into this. I was ok after the first 300 meters, but I was feeling bloated form excess drinking on the bike and suddenly was affraid I could breakdown, so I kept the pace as if I was jogging, the HR even came to 153~156 as in z2 runs. Felt very fresh the last 2.5 or 3 km but since I accepted an invitation to ride along a couple of girls, I did not leave them until I was about a kilometer from the finish line. I finished very strong, and overtook people on the last 500 or 600 meters who just did not have much left in them.

I was so cool at the end of the race, I knew I did not give it all I had. Won't happen next time. No matter how broke I become I can always end even if I have to walk. I missed my target by almost four minutes...

Jogged lightly for another 10 minutes and walked for a further 5. Stretched plenty and kept moving around for a good while.


Lack of experience first of all. I know now I can push the envelope quite a bit further. To shave 10~15 minutes of my time should be within reach, not even considering the swim. I reccon I can be under 1:15 by the end of the season. We will see. Breast stroke is a definite NO. I have to fix that ASAP.


The venue was probably the best one could think of. It took place at the Jebel Ali Golf Resort and Spa, just outside Dubai, UAE. This is one of the most prestigious and luxurious hotels in Dubai. The organization was top class with plenty of volunteers and a very professional job at all levels. At the end of the race competitors could shower at the luxurious Club and change into fresh clothes for the brunch and presentation. I loved to see one of the local bike shops setting up a full mobile workshop to assist anyone with free service before the race. There were representatives from the local Tri club, the ITU, the 15th Asian Games - Doha 2006, the UAE government (Sheik Makhtoum Hasher Maktoum Al Maktoum). Only one negative point: the company that was supposed to provide championchips timing system withdrew and timing was only manual for the finals. I got my splits from the Polar HRM. That will be a no issue next time we were promised.