First up, what a fantastic venue for a race. It is a course that is well designed and is made for spectators. You get to pass your support numerous times, I'd say at least 10 times for me and that gave me a huge buzz each time, although, I didn't show it on the run ;(.

I did not expect to go fast given limited taper, but, it still does not prepare me mentally when I do not go fast, it still sucks. For me, I was not overly happy with the race result, but, such is life, that is all I had to give on the day. Results summary as follows:

Total 4:42:16
Swim 32:41
Bike 2:30:20
Run 1:39:14

Swim - Hello Mr Sea Urchin, you &*#$! Must have been the only one that the divers did not remove the previous day, BANG, I stepped on the phuker 3 minutes before the gun, oh well, suck it up, take a pill of HTFU and get over it. Overall, swim went rather well, some major bifo took place, I felt I needed to KO a few competitors who just kept on encroaching on my personal space. I coped it as well, lost the swim cap as a result in the first 1km, but, goggles stayed on. NOTE: Put the cap over the goggles, if the cap goes, the goggles don't, thanks for the tip Captain. I felt like I cruised to a 32:41 swim, slow, need to push harder in future, I seemed to mentally switch off again.

T1 - Interesting running with Mr Sea Urchin in the left foot, rather sore but knew it would not be a problem on the bike. It was rather uneventful in T1.

Bike - attack, attack, attack! I went somewhat crazy on the first lap with the aim of riding sub 2:20 but it is hard when riding a new course to pinpoint a time, lesson learnt! On the bike start, I held off taking on board any nutrition or water for the 1st 20mins (new strategy I've employed) and it did work rather well based on some theory I've recently read. As is evident from the lap splits below, the tank was rapidly emptying the longer the ride went on, I had zilch top end speed and found the ride rather difficult. Where was the high octane petrol that I had at Shepp back in November?

 Lap1:46:35
Lap2:49:23
Lap3:51:06

Off the bike inc. transition in 2:30:20, yikes!

T2 - No issues, shoes and socks on, T2 hat pack consisting of hat, sunscreen sachet and nutrition all wrapped with rubber bands in a pack. I undo as I am running after leaving T2 and apply sunscreen hat etc whilst on the run course, saves time! Thanks for the tip Captain, the transition master!

Run - Whilst not fast, in the end, it was a sub 1:40, I have an excuse, although, I don't like to use it, but, by this stage, the left foot was numb. Basically, I ran as hard as I could on the day, HR clearly in the red for the entire run so the legs went as fast as they could, unfortunately, that isn't so fast but I did feel it was a speed I could maintain (perhaps slightly slower) for a marathon. Fast twitch fibers left this building long long long ago.

Nutrition - Spot on, worked well throughout, 100g CHO per hour. My carb load was new for this race, I only carb loaded for 36 hours (Friday afternoon). Also, I did not have any solid foods from 1pm on the Saturday, effectively, all liquid based nutrition (High 5) including race day breakfast. NO GI issues, gold! I will follow this strategy at Port Macq in April for the Kona qualifier.

Summary - Overall, a solid hit out, not fast, but, a good primer for the Kona onslaught that awaits me on Sunday April 6, 2008 at Port Macq, After all, Kona is my carrot and I'm going to devour it in less than 6 weeks, game on!

Over and out,

Komo