Night before ate steak, chips and beans. In bed by 10:30 (much later than planned), up at 4:40 inthe morning. Had usual porridge, grapes, yogurt brekky and set off just after 5am. Had a banana just before 6 and arrived just past 6, car park was almost empty. Registered (2nd person in I think), got changed (wore HH freeze leggings beneath 2xu compression suit, hh freeze top over that, and LG black windproof cycle jacket over that. Set bike up where I thought I'd easily spot it, put cycle shoes, helmet, 2 gels and some thicket cycle goves beside back wheel and that was it. No rush, no panic, nice and easy. Did a couple of very short easy jogs up and down the car park to 'warm up'

Weather was 3 degrees, very windy. I decided to wear thin black gloves and sealskinz windproof skull cap for the run. Wore red kinvara 2's, usual white running socks. Standing around for the race breifing was pretty chilly but nothing too bad, it was the cold wind that was bad. After the breifing walked over to the start line. I left some room at the front assuming fastards would push in (as they do at the park run) but it was really very relaxed, with most people seemingly hanging back from the start line.

The wind was behing at the start so the first mile was quick, and pretty easy. As we rounded the bay the wind picked up a bit, but after the turn around it was OK again for a while... then the last mile was straight back into the wind, and pretty tough! Had hoped to be sub 20 for the first 5km, and the results suggest I was but my watch said no... 

Into T1 I ran to where I knew my bike was but by now there were hundreds of bikes there (there had been 5 when I set up) so I couldn't immediately find it (I didnt go past it, just had to slow down and look properly). I sat down to take my shoes off (greepers worked well for that, just pulled the tab) and get cycle shoes on, decided to keep the gloves on that I'd ran in, shoved one of the gels into my jacket pocket and jogged the back to the mount point. Got on the bike and pushed off, but couldnt get clipped in for a few seconds, had to look down, flick the pedal over, flick it again, and again before finally getting it the right way up and getting clipped in. The wind was behind (road was parrallel to run path) for 2 miles, and I was flying, overtook several people, then we turned left and into a steady hill. Over took 1 or 2 more, and maybe 2 overtook me, but then that was it for the next 10 miles really. 

Then we turned off the main road and straight into a very steep hill. Luckily got into bottom gear, had to stand on the pedals out of the saddle to keep moving. I'd been at the back of a pack of 4 riders for miles (not drafting tho) but 3 of them clawed way on the sharp climb, while I managed to stay with 1. Me and he then traded places several times over the next 6-7 miles, never drafting, just must have been having different spurts of energy. On one of the steady climbs near the end he passed me and then I lost him. We were in amongst the shorted distance riders by now and overtaking lots of them.

There were lots of cars by this point and as they were slowing down to wait to pass the slower short distance riders I had to slow down a bit to prevent having to overtake the cars. The final 1-2 miles back down a long steady hill ewre on a road that had the top layer taken off for resurfacing, and in the breifing we'd been yold not to overtake on that section. On the hr graph you can clearly see where I laid off, and must have lost some time (but then so should everyone else).

At the end of the ride I saw the dismount point, and a lady was clearly indicating where to dismount by, but I was that knackered (the last mile back in was against the wind of course) that I nearly went past, and then I freed by right foot and for some reason swang my right leg over the back while still clipped in on the left, so that could have been a distaster but luckily I unclipped on the left side OK and jogged back to my helmet. Racked the bike OK, again sat down and got my cycle shoes off fine, pulled on my running shoes but pulled one of the lace things wrong on one shoe and so faffed to fix that (didnt really do it up tight enough so could feel it loose then for the whole run). My feet were a little numb from the cycle but not terrible, and were fine within minutes of the run. I ran around the transition area but at a quite gentle pace (should have gone much quicker) and out onto the run course (turing my number round on the race belt thanks to some marshals suggesting it was wrong). Was pretty tired now, so just ran along but without 100% comviction. There was someone ahead in yellow who was very slowly getting away, while we both overtook several slower runners presumably on the short course. By the turn around point I wasnt losing on the yellow guy any more, and with maybe a mile to go I passed him, but someone had also passed me.

The finish couldnt come soon enough, I wasnt running well, and the last mile was a real struggle into a strong wind. I crossed the line, got my medal and had to have a long rest. I had no idea where I'd come, but based on starting near the front, and few people overtaking me I assumed I must be well inside top 50. I went to the car, put on my warm jacket, collected the bike and just calmed down, before driving home.

 I had a gel about 15 minutes before the race start, then had one within the 2nd mile on the bike, and another at perhaps mile 12 (after the steep hill climb I think). I had the last one in the first mile of the run. I'd taken about 7 lots of 2 sips of water from the bottle during the bike, and had drank maybe 300ml. I didnt run out of energy, wasnt hungry. Temp wise I was really pretty comfortable, never cold, but never too hot. Considering the conditions I thinkl I was dressed perfectly.

I can definately improve my transistions; I could have gone harder on the bike. The last run was very hard, need to work on the final run after the bike, to try to get that down nearer 20 mins.