Swim

It was raining as we entered the swim so we were already cooled down. The water was very comfortable, no cold chilliness at all. A little bit salty, but not like the sea. We all lined up with one hand touching the floating pontoon so we were all at the same line. The horn went off a bit unexpectedly and everyone was off. 

I didnt get hit, or even touched, once, by anyone - briliant! Most of the swimmers around me got away in front of me so I was swimming on my own for most of it. I passed several people towards the end who must have been flagging.

I swam comfortably, not exerting myself too much, and my time of 24 mins is what I would expect, so all good.

T1

After exitting the swim we were given a big plastic bag and had to take our wetsuits off before we entered the building. I ended up sitting down to get my suit off, as usual. Then it was a bare foot run carrying the bag into the stadium and to my bike, which I found easily. I got my glasses and hat on, and got my shoes on (barefoot I think) and wheeled the bike out. It was quite a long jog to the outside, on wet concrete, in cycling shoes, so I took it nice and easy as I was afraid of slipping over. Finally I got to the top of the ramp and just outside could mount up.

Bike

Cold, wet and windy! 

I got my pedals clipped in quickly for once and I was off. Straight into a bit of rain. The course was fast though, a 3 mile straight, pretty much flat. The wind was all over the show though, sometimes helping, sometimes a real pain to cycle into. After a while my hands, especially my thumbs, started going numb from the cold and wet, and my big toes did too. There was plenty of puddles so feet got a good soaking, and I wasn't wearing shoe covers or gloves. Sometimes it felt like quite a struggle to keep cycling hard, and lots of people overtook me, some at quite a pace, I couldn't work out how they were going so much quicker than me.

At the turn around point on one lap I got stuck behind a slow bunch for a while but other than that it was 100% pedalling hard all the way. My average pace was good considering the weather.

Even though my hands and feet were cold I didnt feel cold anywhere else, I easn't soaked and miserable, just tired and damp. I had two gels while on the bike, and drank all the water (with a Hydro Go tablet) from my bottle between the bars.

T2

Again another long slow cautious jog into the building and I racked my bike. I sat down and put my running socks on as I didnt want to get blisters in saoking wet shoes. I put my cap on to keep the rain out of my eyes and jogged out. 

Run

I set off at a decent workrate, but it felt slow, so I was happy when the first mile was under 7 mins - that was my target then. The wind seemed stronger now, and when running into it it was very tough. There was a short section of cobbles and that was quite uncomfortable on my feet. When I set off running both big toes were numb, but slowly the right foot got sensation, but the left, with the dodgy toe, felt odd all the way round.

It was a tough run, but I saw I was well ahead of Ste, and I just plugged away. One mile was only just under 7 mins but the rest were good. I had a gel at approx 1.5 miles, and started another at maybe 4 miles but didnt finish it. I had one small cup of water at the start of the run. Despite the wind and rain I felt comfortable during the run, not cold and not hot.

I was very glad when I crossed the line, with a decent time too. Started chilling down a lot straight way.,

A good race overall.