Ugh!
This is going to be quick… I have no idea what happened today. Let’s just say nothing really felt right all day. I had a terrible, terrible swim getting boxed in early on (because unlike most of the front group I didn’t drift beyond the start line) and losing a lot of time in the first lap to this. Whilst things improved in the second lap, it wasn’t enough.
I didn’t feel good on the bike until the third lap and having started further back than usual that didn’t help. Though I did hit my target here it just didn’t feel like a good bike I was uncomfortable, my legs were stiff and my back sore.
Then on the run I started out at a good pace and whilst I never had stomach issues or an energy low. Kilometre by kilometre my legs ached more and more and my pace started to slow. I haven’t raced with that much pain that I can recall.
Positives? My gel strategy seems to work, I possibly still need more and may have started the day low on calories. However a fuel belt on the run seems to work well. I learnt that it’s the coke at aid stations that particularly unsettles my stomach. I also learnt it’s easy to pee on the run. I was also going to claim it was the first race without any chaffing, but the shower I just had has changed my mind. Probably if I peed on myself less it wouldn’t be so bad. My bad day was still sub-10 – 9:53:31 according to the athlete tracker.
Negatives? Well that brought me in 111th overall and 21st in age which pretty much guarantees no kona slot. So I really need to hit my goals and be spot on in Lanza. Also I have no idea what was wrong with me today, I felt sore and lethargic to be honest and motivation wasn’t running that high. I can’t say why… I hope I can put this race down to a bad day and look to other recent results as better indicators of actual form.
Time to crash out and hope there’s a crappy movie on TV… Tomorrow I’ll start to think this over more.
