Great Race!

What a blast at the Peterborough Half Iron.

This was the first of two races this season that I had decided I would not train through… I spent about one week in taper mode and worked hard to convince myself that taking a bit of rest was a solid move.

Learning that the ride had been reduced to 85k on race morning was a bit of a bummer… I really wanted to be able to size up my splits with last year’s results, believing that I could smash them.  When I heard that the bike course was shortened, I decided I would need to beat last year’s time by at least 7.5 minutes.

As it turned out though, I would end up riding one minute slower for this year’s 85 kilometre bike course, than I did for last year’s 90.

Feeling pretty comfortable at the swim start, I seeded myself near the inside and just behind the fast guys.  The first loop was pretty busy and I was thankful to be able to see what was going on through my new Sable Water Optics.  Turning at the buoy’s made me feel like I was in front of a stage at a rock concert. Par for the course I guess.  I kept my outside arm slightly bent, protecting my face and stroking only with my left, and I think this saved me a fair bit of damage.

Out of the water after loop one and we’re just over 14 minutes.  That is a good 1000 for me!  The second loop was spread out much more nicely and I cruised through it comfortably in 15 minutes even.

Out of the water in 29:10 and into T1 at 30:02.

I was happy to be off to a good start as I mounted the bike and was heading south out of Peterborough.  I’ll limit myself to say that my happiness was slightly reduced by some pretty good climbs and a fairly strong headwind on the way to the turn.

With a bit of help from the wind on the way back though, I managed to draw a negative split and wound up with 2:31 and change for the ride.

Running out of T2, my plan was to try a 4:15/km pace and see if I could hang on.  At 3km, I was right on pace, but this didn’t last.  The 4:15’s quickly became 4:25’s, and then 4:35’s.  I even clocked a few at 4:45 before putting everything I had into a final 4 minute kilometre.  The run would end up being 1:35 and change… a few minutes slower than hoped for.

The final result was 4:39:24.  11 minutes up on last year’s race.  I’ll take it.