Race Review ITU Aquathlon

I had a decent swim. The clock suggests that it was slow, but actually I think it was long (more evidence for this comes with the Cross Triathlon result. 

I wasn't in the lead pack but I was still in with plenty of my age and we caught a chunk of the younger group that had a 5 minute start on us. I was managing to draft well with the guys around me and I also came out of the water around swimmers who would normally be long gone as I arrived in transition. 

Official swim time was 20:02, but I have it on garmin as 1,257m and plenty of people had longer than that. I was out in 32nd place in my age- group (237th overall).

I then had an absolutely storming run. I think 19:09 is my fastest ever 5k in a multi-event race. I basically spent the whole race going past people. And took a whole load of first time victories over other GB athletes. 

I posted the 14th fastest run time, hauling myself up to 23rd overall and 6th GB. That seems initially like a drop from last years 12th place, but the field has more than doubled in size from 20 to 47 (finishers, 51 picked up their race packs), and there were plenty of fast additions. Previous Euro and World Silver medallists were finishing in the high teens and there is a whole year of younger guys moved up.

I finished 23rd, out of 47. 6th out of 16 GB.

That is way inside my percentage targets, and I think the first time I have ever finished in the front half of an International field. 

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Here are my targets:

0. Don't get injured. 

    I have two other races. I am more interested in finishing all three than doing well at one. 

1. Race well. 

    Not very specific, but basically I just want to come away without having a sulk about how I swam or ran.

2. Finish with my average percentage at this level. 

    I finished at 60% and 79% in my previous two ITU Aquathlons, so an average of 69.5%. That would have me finish in 35th place. 

3. Finish with my best percentage at this level.     

    60% would be 30th place out of the 51.

4. Finish in my average place at this level. 

    Maybe the field is broadly equivalent quality to previous races but just more slow athletes to bulk it out. My average place is 18th, that seem like a very big ask, especially since it is skewed by the small field and my 12th place finish in Samorin last year. 

I would have needed to find almost 3 more minutes (2:49) and it would probably have all had to come on the swim as the guys around that mark all ran broadly similar to me. 

5. Finish in my best place at this level. 

    This will be tough given the bigger field. But maybe all of the extra people are slower, and none of the quality has come back at all, in which case I would be looking to finish 12th. 

The field was crazy and I would have had to find 4:29 more to get up there. Although again these guys ran about the same as I did. 

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