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.
