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Course

Clockwise box swim in clear water of Lake Winnipesaukee (the largest lake in the US within a single municipality!). Tricky bike course with a climb right out of transition and a more significant one about 25 minutes in. Total gunnage after that: so very important not to blow up in the first 10 miles (see 2008!). 2 loop undulating run with a fair amount of shade. Very good course, well organized race, great local support.

Preamble

Oh dear: stupidly played touch rugby following a 10 mile run a week post Rhode Island. Core / Hip flexors were not the same after that and I found it difficult to train. Running seemed to be OK, my swimming disaster magically repaired itself, but biking was impossible. Every other time I went out I blew up. The upper power register was completely gone: as soon as I hit 350W it was game over. I agonised in the weeks / days up to the race - should I do it or not. I wasn't sure if I could actually complete the bike course given the high probability of a blow up in the first 30 minutes. At the very death, I decided to give it a go: after all, the swim would at least be enjoyable. Bike strategy was to ride on HR, keeping it well below 150bpm for the first 30 minutes. If I felt good at the turn, I would try to push it on the way back. Power would be largely ignored, though the ceiling was firmly set at 330W. The weather was 50/50. It was overcast, but quite humid. Hopefully it would start to rain mid-morning.

Swim

I felt really strong in water warming up before the start. Right from the gun I got into a decent rhythm and with the overcast conditions, sighting was easy down the back-straight. All of a sudden it was over and there I was: in front of the wetsuit strippers with my wetsuit fully on. I'm not really sure what happened, but in the melee, I sat back on the ground and whacked my tailbone - crack! I remember thinking - that's gonna hurt!

Bike

It was the strangest first 30 minutes of any race, getting overtaken by all sorts as I kept my HR to 140 and the power to some stupidly low level. Having survived the climb, I gave it a bit more gas and my legs seemed to respond. In a complete reversal of 2008, I started moving through the field in the latter half of the bike, and my Power/HR levels were almost back to normal. My time was well ahead of expectation: the only downside was that I lost one of my fuel bottles in the process and had to cram down a load of Gus.

Run

I was feeling good about the run - that was until I started running. The run course is not that hard, unless of course, it is as humid as anything. It was just impossible to get going and my splits showed it: 50min for the first lap, 55min for the second. The end could not come fast enough - neither could the hose pipe over the finish line.

Overall

Given the injury, I guess it went quite well. My bike was much better than expected - though I was disappointed not to go below 1:40 on the run - something that my training had been suggesting.

Pictures

Coming in ahead of schedule

Into transition

The only part of the run that I felt good - right out of the start

Possibly the only person I overtook

Hating life, and about to hate it even more

Attempting to cool down at the end

Stats

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