The field was about 130, so not too many but the start chute/line thing was fairly narrow which made it more crowded than it needed to be. The plan was to take the swim very easy so I stood back a bit but it was a bit too far as it turned out. Once I was in the water I found the minimum pace I needed to stay afloat kept me running into the back of a lot of swimmers. It took me a couple of hundred meters to get some clear water. As I only breath on the left I always start on the right hand side of the course. Counter clockwise courses are perfect for me as I can keep the pack and course markers in view with each stroke. The swim was great. Low tempo, hardly any effort. I tried to draft off a few people but often found they were going too slow. Taking it easy and being in very clear water meant I could spare some effort to look around a bit. It was funny seeing how people zig zag over the course and run into each other and head way off track. This was the best swim course I’ve experienced in my limited triathlon time. What little swell there was came from right rear when we were swimming the outer leg so even that helped. I checked my time as headed towards the last buoy (31min) and picked up the pace some and finally managed 39 min. Probably could easily have gone a couple of minutes faster but I really didn’t want to spend any more effort than I had to.

nothing really. Maybe start a bit further forward in the pack.

Out of the water and into T1 – not having done a half before this was my first experience with the whole T1/T2 gear bag thing. I spent some time the night before double checking that I had everything I needed for each leg but then, after having checked the bags in had a fear that I had mixed up the bags and so I would my running shoes in my T1 bag instead of my bike gear. A quick double check settled my nerves. On reflection I probably didn’t need the T1 bag but I didn’t want to take any chances and it was good to sit down and take an extra 30sec to get everything sorted before the bike.

nothing

The aim was to average 30kpm. The roads are in pretty good shape and with a decent cloud cover it wasn’t too hot so all things considered the conditions were as good as they could have been. I kept the pace constant and didn’t get too many people passing me. All up maybe 10 people over the whole ride I past a few people as well, which is a pleasant change. I found that 30 kph was a good speed for me. It meant I had to push up to the red line but didn’t need to dig too deep. For a while the average pace dropped down to 29 kph but I knew I was close to the red line and just kept the same pressure and hoped I could make up some time on the easier sections. The support was great on the course and all the locals, especially the kids, line the roads. Hello, hello, hello! As you ride through the little villages. Lots of kids put their hands out for a high five. If you can judge it right you can give 20 kids a brush of your hand as you fly past. Judge it wrong and, whack! You lose 5 km of speed and a few kids lose their arms. They don’t seem to be put off by it though. After a few hard whacks and with 60km under my tyres I stopped doing it. Although I did slow down and give one little kid a high five just before the end of the bike – in celebration for having survived the bike in fairly good shape.
I was really conscious of avoiding dehydrating so packed my bike with electrolyte gels and some soft chewy food. The plan was 1 gel every 30 min and two chew bar things during the course of the ride and empty both bottles every 30 km. I came fairly close to that. I think I had 1 gel left by the time I got off the bike. I really struggle to eat on the bike and this was the best I could do. I had one bottle of water and another of electrolyte and replaced both of these at each water point. The routine was come in to the water point, empty and then jettison the bottle in the cage – lots of little kids calling out for the empty bottle – and then grab a water bottle, change it to my right hand and then grab an electrolyte bottle. Put the electrolyte bottle into the cage and then swap the water bottle back to my left hand so I could empty it into the aerobottle on my handlebars. Jettison the now empty water bottle towards one of the kids beside the road.
There was a bit of local traffic on the roads and at one point I was travelling beside a guy on a scooter for 20 min or so. I was very tempted to jump over into his slipstream but did the noble thing and kept my line. It seemed the first half of the ride took longer than the second half. After the first set of hills we headed on to a part of the course I hadn’t seen before and time seemed to drag. But after we hit the coast we were back on familiar ground and I could then mentally picture what was ahead of me and things got easier. Towards the end of the ride I past a few riders that had gone out too hard, one guy looked like he had taken a nasty fall and was grazed all over his shoulder – ouch.
Back into transition and I try to take my shoes off while still on the bike. It saves a lot of time but if I don’t get the shoe off straight away I tend to get a very bad cramp under my ribs which is really painful. I wasn’t fast enough and rolled into T2 with a killer cramp under my ribs. It doesn’t last long fortunately and it gone by the time I’m putting on my running shoes.
There were a quite a few guys in T2. It was pleased to see how close we all were.


nothing - maybe force some more electrolytes down but otherwise pretty happy,

I had two main aims for the race, finish under 6 hours and run the run. I started the run at 3:44 or thereabouts, which gave me 2:15 or so in which to do the run. I planned on heading out fairly slowly, maybe 6min/km pace and then pick it up as the run went on. My legs felt good and I found myself having to deliberately slow down during the first few km to keep to my race plan. After about 4-5 km I start to get some stomach cramps. I wasn’t sure whether it was the gels or what but all I could do was take small sips of water. It took the edge off my pace but my legs still felt very good and I was making good time. I had agreed with myself that once I had gone over the hill for the second time the I would have broken the run’s back it would be a piece of cake to finish from there. And that is pretty much what happened except that my hamstrings started cramping at around the 11 km mark which took the spring out of my pace. Added to this my feet and calves were starting to get tired and sore. My stomach had settled down and I was able to drink and take gels again but my legs were failing. I think it was simply a lack of mileage that was the problem. The run course has two narrow up and back sections so you get a good look at who is in front and who is behind you.
It started getting dark around 6 pm so anyone still out on the course was handed glow sticks and a headlamp. The course had lighting as well but it wasn’t very effective. This made the running on the uneven track pretty difficult and probably added to the general fatigue. I only had to do 2/3 of one loop in the dark. Some of the ironman distance people would have had to do 3 or more laps in the dark. That’s harsh.
After the second lap I was tracking just over 7 min/km pace and knew that my 6 hr goal was blown but there wasn’t much I could do about it. Any kind of movement beyond my basic run generated spasms of cramp down the back of my right leg. Even the shock of a cold sponge would make my leg cramp. A couple of times it went off and I had to walk for a minute or two until it settled down but I was generally able to keep running.

Great first effort from the Metasport gang. Small field made the whole experience very pleasent. a larger field would have its charms too but there was nothing wrong with a small crowd. I'll definitely be back again. This is destined to be a red-letter event on the regional calendar I think.