Since Mark's started this Francois thing, I may as well carry on in spirit.
This is the short geek version of my race report, so if you don't care about or understand any of the following (Heart Rate Zones, nutrition, pace, splits, miles per minute), hit the DELETE button and wait for the next version (the human interest version).
Twitter version: a pretty boring race really. No dramas, no fuss, no muss.
Facebook version: Everything went according to plan. Including nutrition, pacing, splits and strategy.
Short blog version: Negative split both the swim and the bike (OK, by approximately 13 seconds, but I'll take it!). Best swim of my life - I felt like I was flying (probably due to being pulled along in the second loop, but I'll take it!) and no issues with the elbow whatsoever. The bike went as well as can be expected - only ever so slightly faster than my training ride (14.06 mph). But I didn't focus on the pace at all and tried to keep my HR down. I managed very low Z3 for most for the first loop and only low-mid Z3 for the second loop (and, like the training weekend, found myself picking off loads of people pretty much all through the second loop).
As for the run, I think that I can no longer say that my brain is my weakest muscle. I ran/walked 10/1 for the entire race except the four steep hills (on the last one, I power walked up it at the exact same pace as a woman ahead of me who was running, so I think I made the smarter choice) and ran the last nearly 3 miles straight (boy, was that hard!). While I didn't feel stronger as the run went on, I also didn't feel *substantially* worse. Some generic knee pain and harder to get started on the run portions, but otherwise I felt great (in a completely exhausted and brain dead and NON-triumphant way) in that I was passing people left, right and center since nearly everyone else was strolling along on the second loop. Average 12:24 per mile (11:55 for the first loop, 12:53 for the second - mostly due to the last 5-6 miles where I was doing 13+).
Final time: 15:10:09
All in all an extraordinary experience. I'm still processing it. Like I said, a pretty boring race from an athletic perspective, but lots of amazing stories of people and emotions and sights and sounds. It feels surreal, but I'm extraordinarily satisfied with my race and experience and of course I cried like a baby when I was done. I can't believe that 18 months ago I couldn't run more than 5 minutes without excrutiating pain and in the past six months I've completed a marathon, two half Ironmans and an Ironman. How cool is that, eh?
There will be more and I'll stop the automatic e-mails after I post my race report. Lot's of cool photos from the weekend too.
As a teaser for the Human Interest Version: Eating melted toffee pops out of a man's hand, and hyperventilating 2 miles from the finish and bringing two extraordinary athletes home in 16:58 and 17:00 respectively. Piqued your interest?
By for now - off for my first post-race G&T (or three).
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