Blenheim Tri 2013

I wasn't a happy triathlete either before or after Blenheim this year.  Rubbish week depression-wise and spending most of the evening before in floods of tears for complicated reasons was perhaps not the best race prep.  I enjoyed having my first lie in bed past 8am for weeks as we didn't have to leave until 10am but I could have happily stayed there until lunchtime.

Anyway, rather than a full race report, here's some good things and some bad things, and then a few pictures.

What was good

• I loved being in an all female wave, which was the second of three all-female waves, which meant that there were no boy racers trying to overtake on their TT bikes.  
• This also meant that I was able to hold my own to some extent.  I'll be fascinated to see where the splits come out in the overall results, but I was overtaking people for once, and did not get overtaken on any of the lumpy bits.  Well, not going up, I did going down....
• When I got off the bike, after pushing it really very hard, I wondered whether I could run at all.  I managed to go around at a steady trot, picking people off, and only being overtaken by a few people, 
• Apart from the swim, I was quicker in all of the sections than last year, even in T2 where I couldn't find my spot in transition.  And I was still over 10 minutes faster than last year, mainly due to the bike, but also due to a good three minutes on the run.
• I've recovered quickly enough to be able to do a 30 mile bike ride today.

What was bad

• My swim was dismal.  Over a minute slower than last year.  And really can't explain why, unless I possibly didn't sight that well.
• There had been a bit of a cockup with the course, which meant that there was a mandatory 10m dismount 
• It was either the above, or the fact that I couldn't find my spot in transition, that cost me the 13 seconds that took me over the 1h40 that I had my sights set on. 
• My legs hurt so much after it, excruciating.
• I was tired and grumpy for the rest of the day.

Here's a few pictures.