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<\/a><\/p>\nFeeling much fresher, went out on the bike the day before the event and the legs were turning over nicely, up to nineteen\/twenty miles per hour easily. (Couldn\u2019t even make eighteen up in Leeds last week.)<\/p>\n
Swim went well, albeit I was conscious that my stroke count was down and it was difficult to find anyone to draft behind.<\/p>\n Found my bike, amongst two thousand five hundred of them. No problem in transition and at the mount line and off I went. Maintained just over nineteen miles an hour for the first half. Thought the rest would be easier, long smooth roads, but they weren\u2019t, worn chipping, very rattly. Also some long flat stretches, as well as undulating roads and I started to loose the edge. This together with a head wind brought me down to an average of eighteen miles per hour and then slowly decreased to seventeen and a half. Not easy to keep the legs pushing hard when there\u2019s no respite.<\/p>\n Said to myself \u201cI prefer mountains,\u201d but I might change my mind after the World Championships in Nice.<\/p>\n Off the bike and onto the run along the sea front. I wanted to maintain ten minute miles, first one nine minutes twenty seconds – whoops, then hit the sand, only a short section to do once, but it destroyed me. I just couldn\u2019t (or was it wouldn\u2019t?) get my pace back. It has to be in my head, as my legs allowed me to speed up and then sprint at the finish to ensure I got under six thirty.<\/p>\n<\/a> <\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n