My first Olympic distance triathlon, and the first time I’ve ever run 10km to boot.

1500m Open Water (Freshwater Lake) Swim: 00:38:08

Equally happy and upset with my swim. Basically everything went well except my wetsuit, must get a proper swimming one (possibly sleeveless) before my next wetsuit event. Having to get out at the end of each lap and run down the bank to re-enter the water was a bit strange but not too bad. Worst bit of that was diving back in and forgetting to look down - goggles bruised the edge of my eyesocket!

Transition 1: 00:03:53

Took this at a sedate pace, didn’t rush but didn’t dawdle either. Perhaps could’ve gone a bit quicker but not unhappy with it. Found bike OK this time, although chain fell off as I went to mount which was slightly annoying.

40km Cycle: 01:28:49

Started off really badly, managed to knock my watch from cycle into Transition 2 before I’d gotten out the car park. Had to reset it quickly into just bike mode from multisport mode which wasn’t too bad to be fair, just annoying. Having done the route in training was a big help on the day, I was aiming for about the time I did it in. Didn’t push too hard on the two hills (one of which looks deceptively easy). Very happy with my time and more importantly how little effort it was comparatively.

Transition 2: 00:01:28

Quicker than T1, as normal. Got my shit on quickly, didn’t forget anything and even managed to get my watch in run mode whilst jogging to the exit of the transition area.

10km Run: 01:18:40

The bit I was dreading the most. Very very happy with my performance here though. Walked about 90 seconds of the whole thing and kept plodding away the rest of the time. Given the furthest I’d run solidly in training was about 5.5km, I was exceptionally happy to just keep plodding the whole time. Managed to not take on liquid for the third lap, which lead to some impressive cramping in my right quad, so making sure I take liquid on is a definite thing to watch out for in future. And amazingly I wasn’t even tail end charlie (not that it really matters, given I race the clock, not other people. But still.)

Total: 03:30:51

There’s a tiny part of me that’s gutted I didn’t manage it in under 3:30 hours, but what’s 51 seconds over that period of time. More importantly, I completed the bloody thing! Especially happy with the run, enjoyed the cycle even if it was trying to drown us (there was 6" deep standing water on one of the roundabouts by the end), and mostly happy with my swim.

Looking forward to returning next year and beating 3:30!