This one went well.
Fuelling and hydration were spot on (banana 30mins before, gel on start line, then one at 7.5k and another at 14.5k plus a spare caffeinated one for emergencies). Sipped water throughout (utility belt very useful).
First 2k I kept it slightly under target pace, there was a slight headwind and traffic so purposefully didn’t push too hard (I knew what was coming up). Hit target pace at 3km but soon after the hills started so I backed off, changed gear and kept pumping my arms and legs with little strides to chug up the increasing climbs. I could have gone quicker up those inclines but I knew there would be a risk of blowing up early, and I was planning a quick descent.. Yeah the hill was a bugger, but just at the point where it started feeling really tough and I got slower and slower, I could see the top so carried on pumping. Then it was done, just like that – not too bad in the end.
Lovely quick sweeping descents, I overtook a few people here. The steep one down to the prom was cool, people were taking it gingerly and I just plowed down like a madman (had confidence in my grip as the shoes are so new, and they were really nicely cushioned at the heel so I felt confident bounding down the steep sections).
Once I got onto the lower prom with the wind slightly behind me, I was able to blast along quite comfortably at ~4:06m/km for 3k, I was aware of my pace but it didn’t feel like I was pushing too hard so maintained it. At the halfway point I was on target for a sub-90min finish and this felt great, gave me a nice boost of confidence which kept me on it.
Pace dropped off a little at the chicane but I was back into the sub 4:10s for 3k after that. Lost some pace around the marina and harbour, there were too many pedestrians lingering about and sharp turns to keep the flow going so I was having to slow and accelerate more that was comfortable, this felt a bit tough. Bumped into a brainless teenager who seemed destined to get in my way (I apologised, of course).
At 17k my watch suffered a brain fart and started continuously scrolling through my race screens, this was really distracting and annoying as I was keeping a close eye on everything in these latter stages to make sure I was on target. Then my sunglasses fell out of my top and skidded down the road behind me so I had to stop and collect them, I may have shouted an expletive or four.
Back at the right pace for the 18k but in the 19th km the wind really showed up around the harbour and onto the front. I kept the pace below 4:15 though and tucked in behind Bodger and Badger for a bit, but kept finding more pace to overtook them a few times. The 20th km was hard, a tough slog but kept pushing. km 21 was fine, turning back out of the wind gave me a nice push and I lost the tail and overtook someone – I could see the finish line so pushed to sub 4min/km, final 250m was at 3:27 as I gave Badger a sprint finish and felt smug.
I was 2 seconds slower than your set target, I do hope you’re not too angry about this… haha.
I worked hard and things went well, I’m pretty sure in better conditions I could have gone 30 – 60seconds quicker. No niggles or issues, felt pretty fit throughout and wasn’t pushing close to 100%. Shoes were great.
HM time was 1:29:11
Race time: 1:29:47
