This did not go as well as I would have liked. I tried to draft Steinn but he was trying to draft Ólafur and that was a pace I could not keep, so after 100m I was alone. I never really found a good rhythm and was not able to glide as much as I would have liked.

I knew Ólafur was going to lap me at some point the only question was when ! I was hoping he would not lap me more then once, that way I should be with 3 minutes of him and I should be able to pull that back on the bike. I got to 775m before he passed me and was able to draft him for the 25m to the wall where I lost him on the flip turn, he got a meter of the wall and I did not try to pull it back, I was right on the limit already and there still was a long way to go. Ólafur did not lap me again but he did come pretty close, on the last laps I also lost a lot of ground on Steinn who was out of the pool over a minute ahead. Over last 500m or so I was already thinking about T1 and the bike and was mentally ready for it.

Finally the swim was over and I could get out of the pool, I ran quite fast to my bike and was a bit surprised when I realized that Steinn was nowhere in sight.

T1 was almost as fast as it could possible be, I only lost maybe 5 seconds as I had some problems getting my helmet strap closed.

Jumped on the bike and was off.

Nothing
I was racing just in a tri-suit. It was a bit cold in the beginning but then it was ok, it was like 11C/52F :)

Time is with both T1 and T2 included (probabaly around 1 minute not more)

Started hard but controlled. It was quite hard the first 5k or so before the legs where ready to bike. Going up KV I could see Steinn had gotten a good lead, and Ólafur was far far ahead. I managed to pull Steinn just before the top where I was also able to get an Idea of Ólafur’s lead….it was big…… When I turned at the top I could not even see him. I was now starting to question if I would be able to catch him and I then would have to run him down, not something I was looking forward. Due to a little headwind going down KV it was not as “easy” as I was expecting. At the turn around at the pool I estimated he had about 1:45 still a huge lead :(

Then at the turn some idiot came out from the pool in a big SUV and went down the road just in front of me. This would not have been so bad except for the fact that he was going about 25km/h. I got really mad and he moved a bit to the left there was a gab of about 1 meter and I powered through it, I was almost at 50km/h when I got to the next round about and actually had to slow to make sure I would make it. I was still in an “angry” mode when I got onto KV and was powering up at over 40km/h and suddenly I was able to see Ólafur up ahead. He still had a good lead but I could see that I had gotten a lot closer to him. I knew I was not going to catch him before T2 but he would defiantly be within striking distance.

Going of KV I got the last chance to get a time split, it was down to about 45-50s.

Coming in to T2 I almost landed in trouble as I did not get my foot out of the shoe until the 3rd attempt. I just managed to get both shoes of before jumping of the bike.





Nothing

As I ran in with the bike I could see Ólafur was just leaving transition, for a second I felt good as he was in visible range. Then as always I got some cramps putting my shoes on and it took 3 attempts before I could run out of T2

Nothing

It was hard on the legs getting into running mode and the bit of leg cramps did not help. What did help was that I could see Ólafur up ahead and I was closing in on him fast :)

Then at turn 2, where we should go to the right and the right after to the left, he went straight ! I was confused and was wondering if I had gotten it wrong. But as I got passed the house I could see the cone at the left turn. There where 2 hjolamenn there and we managed to get Ólafur’s attention and got him turned around. So within seconds I went from being behind to having a small lead. For a couple of seconds I thought about waiting for him, as this was not really how I wanted to (maybe) win this. Then I thought I would be a lot better of if he had to use some extra strength catching me, so I kept on running. I look back a couple of times but I did not see him again until the turn around. Here my lead had gotten up to about 1 minute and I felt sure I would be able to keep him behind me. Just 7,5k to go. Now the big question was where Steinn was. In knew he would be running hard and a lot faster then me, so there was no relaxing. When I did meat him I had about a 5 minute lead :) Now I could concentrate on keeping my turn over rate up and trying to run as “relaxed” as possible so I would not have to stop because of cramps like I did last year in the HIM. But it all worked out and I was able to cruise to victory :) The only probably at the end was that there was no finish line !!!

So I was not really sure where to go and just went for the drinking station which turned out to be the right choice :)

Total time 2:04:16

I would have liked to run a bit faster but I have been lacking a bit of speed coming of the bike lately I think I just need to run some more.

I think this would have been a lot closer had Ólafur not gone wrong. I am sure I would have caught him, but would I have been able to run away from him ?

I am sure he would have fought with everything he had to keep up with me and I am sure it is only a question of time before a Tri is going to come down to a sprint finish. (Hopefully there will be a finish line ready when that happens)

Nothing really get in better running shape !

Nothing
Sat down and started drinking and eating.