Team Polar

It was great day for a half Ironman race. The winds were gentle, not humid and not too hot.  Definately different than prior years when the wet bulb temperature has been sky high. For a change I arrived at the race site early and had time for a gentle warm up run before taking the plunge.

The swim was normal for a mass start. As always there was a few bumps along the way - nothing major. My swim times are a bit slow this year showing what happens if you only swim once a week. No surprises here.

The bike course design in Pewterborough suits me very well and thus I have always had solid results in my prior 6 times at the event. I had planned on holding back on the bike tthis year to have some extra "umph "for the run - by pushing less than normal output (watts) for a half Ironman race. Well, the race dynamics and the copmpetitive juices got flowing albeit countered by my race plan to hold back somewhat, but on balance the end result was I held my "normal" watts and heart rate for the distance....... The result was a 2:33:05 bike split with an average speed of 35.3 km/hr.

The run course has changed from the prior years. It now has two loops of Ashburnham Park (one at the start and one at the end) where you run on grass. Not so good. Heading onto the run, I was closely watching my heart rate with a plan to hold 4:35 pace/km with a heart rate average of high zone 4/low zone 5. This was working for the first 4km. Faitgue took over and dragged me down for the next 10km before I got over it. It was hot, not super hot. By the time I reached the last 3 km loop, my target run spilt time was a distant memory but overall I knew my time was going to be favorable. The run was 1:41:36.

I finished at 4:54:43 and placed 3/39 in the men 50-54. It was a good pre Newfdoundland 70.3 race warm up.

The bike legs are strong and I plan on running better next time out.

Bye for now,

Tom