James Gilfillan was going to win, I said it for weeks before. Having run and biked with James a fair bit over the last few weeks I knew he was up for this one. He was going to win, just a simple question of by how much. I did think 10 minutes. I knew once out of the swim if he had a 4 minute lead then that would be game over. He dominated it, every leg, by over a 13 minute margin. Awesome performance!!
As I crossed the line back in 12th place having suffered with cramp for the last 3 miles of a long run leg, 13.45 miles on my Garmin, James was there with the customary 'what time do you call this, I've been here half an hour!!' Yep, thanks for that James! Was really pleased for him, he's had a fantastic season and is just getting stronger and faster.
So, the day started at 4am as usual for these things and all sorted very easy and off to Ellingham Water. Got sorted in transition and was very relaxed, focussed and looking forward to getting out there and giving it some. Water was lovely, air temperature was warm, not a breath of wind and off we went at 7am. I set about trying to find feet but couldn't, so I just knuckled down to solid swim pace, nothing frantic but certainly a hard effort. 2 l;asp of Ellingham water and a slippery slipway out of the water, and it seemed like I'd been swimming along time. In fact, it was a very long time, 36 minutes to be precise. Now I'm no Michael Phelps or Harry Wiltshire! but I swam 29' 12" at Antwerp 70.3 I have been swimming 1' 30" pace for 100s consistently well for a few weeks now and was in good swim form. As it turns out all swim times were 'slow'. Long course, as everyone will tell you. Just mention now that on the results, Transition 1 is added in with the swim time and T2 in with the run. So I got to T1 feeling good, had a good swim(despite time) and took far too long getting suit in the designated bag and then shoes on, helmet and getting bike. Not my normal swift changeover.
Anyway, to the bike. Now I did set off like a loon at Antwerp and did hold it together(apart from when I crashed) but here I thought I'd just ride within myself for the first few miles and feel my way into it. Anwyay, turns out that riding within myself actually was still damned quick! I felt in great shape on the bike, big ringed the climbs, pushed on over the top and felt smooth on the flat bits. Didn't really notice the headwind on the sections going North, and before I knew it I was getting info from some spectators and marshalls(thank you guys) that there were only 7 riders ahead of me. Oooh, that's pretty good going. I caught Nick Buis with about 5 miles to go and then as I got to T2 I saw Will Newbery just going in. One big problem I forgot to mention, I lost a bottle on the bike, don't know where, must have been going over the numerous cattle grids. But I was worried a bit as one aero drinks bottle is not enough juice for a big lad like me.
I hopped off bike, jogged into T2 and got run bag and sat next to Will, who I think was surprised to see me. We were at down next to each other as I emptied my run bag, took off cycling shoes and helmet and tried to stuff them in the bag. Now Richard and Jo Iles have put on a fantastic race, perfect. But Guys, please get some bigger bags. Trying to get aero helmet and shoes into one of them when your brain is not at it's most youthful ain't easy!! So while I was faffing Will got away and I shortly followed.
So to the run. I know this course, having doen the Heartbreak Half back in February with a stinking cold(should not have run) and it's tough. Very tough. But I felt awesome! I was in fantastic shape. I looked at my heartrate, big mistake! I saw 160 and thought, ok this feels very comfortable, I'll hold it here for a while. And that was it I managed to hold it for the rest of the race, no wonder I ran so slow!!! Felt great thought. Nickl Buis went past me after quarter of a mile, and I saw Will up ahead, about 200 yards infront, and that was my second mistake, should have gone with him when I felt good and not play chicken. But Ididn't know what would happen later with the hills and not having enough liquied on board and there being only water on the drinks stations. Sorry, Infinit guys, I'm not liking the drinks! Up to mile 9 my hold on a top 10 position was looking good, but then the cramp kicked in. And the rwest of the run was spent trying to fend it off. With 1 hour 10 of the run done I had done 9.25 miles and thought, ok, if I can up it a bit I can squeeze under 1:40, and I would have taken that. But cramp was no good and still some long hills to do, Sandy Gallop, Heartbreak Hill and the last hill up to the road for the mile run in to the finish. Cramp would not let me push on and I was resigned to just holding on. But I had a smile on my face for the rest of it and I throughly enjoyed it all. Loads of support to the finish. In the end I stuck it out for a 12th place finish with a time of 5 hours and 1 minute. Not that far off where I wanted to be and I was really pleased with how the race went.
Great day, great race, fantastic course, great marshalls. Shall be back next year to swim, bike and run faster! But definitely run faster! With stronger bottle cages!
