Start the day at 5:00 a.m. with a light breakfast coffee milk, with toast and jam, on the way there, in the car had an apple and a banana one hour before the race.
Arrived at Peterborough around 7:00 am; two hours before the race, which provide me with more than enough time to set up transition, registration, body marking, washroom, washroom again and all of the usual. I even had the chance to see the transition of few of the half ironman participants, considering my last T1 was 2:45 minutes; I was really interested to see how they managed to get out of the wetsuit and go in the bike in less than a minute. OK, enough to see, it was time for me to do my swimming warm up.
I like to swim for at least 10 minutes before the race in order to get use to the water, the breathing, the goggle.
Swim (750m):
Based on past experience, where I thought that is was fast enough to be in the front pack, and ended up almost drown, between elbows and heels while trying to reposition my goggles I learned, the hard way, that is better to be to the side of the pack; even though, this will add meters to my swim.
Therefore, I start there swimming strong and confident without any elbow around. I finished in 14:07 minutes.
T1:
Going in to the transition I apply the just observed “technique” performed by the elites and managed to be on the bike in 1:13 minutes. This was one of my biggest accomplishments.
Bike (20Km):
I felt strong all the way in the bike, the route presents minor hills, nothing compares to Milton. I pass competitors all the time about 6 or 7. I finished 6th in my age category with an average speed of 35.6 km/h with my lovely Quintana Roo Kilo bike.
For hydration while biking I used Gatorade over diluted in water. In past races I used Gu gel, Gu gel diluted in the water, and unfortunately, everything is funnels down to the same results, no cramps but side pain during the run. Any suggestion on how deal with this issue would be appreciated.
T2:
This transition went smooth with no mayor inconveniences. Time 0:54 seconds, still here extra seconds could be shaved down.
Run (5Km):
Here comes my weakness. Also, since I am not getting the proper hydration system/product, it is a matter of inner fear of when the f. side pain is going to start.
And again this time start half way through the run.
I finished the running portion of the race in 23:00 with 4 or 5 competitors passing me by.
Overall, despite the fact of my ongoing side pain during the run, I set up my P.B. for this type of event finishing with 1:12:52 and 11/40 in my age group.
