All I managed before i went to Lisbon to compete in the Half Ironman was a steady 35mile ride which confirmed I was weak due to my little bug friends from the Ancholme.
We flew in to Lisbon on Wednesday with me still on Antibiotics….Winning race prep for sure! But as its said “I was on the razors edge”!!
Lisbon was red hot and i wasn’t particularly looking forward to Saturdays race day, still feeling pretty poor.
Thursday and Friday were spent on a training swim, ride and run checking that all my kit and myself were functioning!!
Saturday Morning came and I took a steady stroll down to transition to rack my bike and layout my kit. Reminding myself that the race was a training race in preparation for Ironman I went down to the Swim start to get my season under way as it duly started to hoof it down.
This is where the fight started, I say fight i have been in less brutal fights than that swim! It took a few good kicks and 800m to get in to a decent rhythm but once i had some space i eased through the swim which had been extended to 2.1km in 40.12 goal time of 37min but i didn’t expect the brawl at the start so happy with that.
A long 500m run to my bike and I was out of transition in 4.35 probably a bit long but it was a long run from the swim to get my bike so i was still smiling at this point.
On the bike and the plan was to keep to my nutritional goal and spin through keeping it as easy as possible, I was impressed at how well i felt on the ride even though it absolutely hammered it down with rain but then hey skins waterproof!
Stopped off for a pee stop after much debating with myself and then off the bike in 2hrs42 with a goal time 2hrs48 and feeling fresh i was enjoying myself.
In to and out of T2 in 2.24 as i didn’t have lock laces and my fingers didnt work at this point (lesson learned!!) Picking up the run i felt great.
The first 2 of the 4 laps went by easily, 6.40min miling and going well, the 3rd lap came and just kept on going, It felt like i was running with lead in my legs.
A quiet word with myself after seeing the Garmin on 7.40min/miling and i pushed it back down to under 6.50min/miling to run an 89min half marathon 91minute goal time so all in all a finishing time of 4hrs58min27sec.
Happy Days im in the Sub 5hrs Club on my 1st race and i loved it. Next stop Beaver HIM in 4weeks!!
All the best Lewis