Here are the stats:
Overall position: 7th (I think).
3rd in the swim (25 minutes (as predicted). Did a nice warm up, no one else did though, and then comfortably held off a big bunch behind me. Two guys shot off the front and I held with them for about 100m then let them go. If I'd stayed with them my race would probably have disintegrated later.
I saw a guy in a yellow cap swimming all over the place, to my right and left. Turned out to be Mauritz. If he'd swum straighter he would have probably come out ahead of me. As it turned out he was just behind me, but got out of the transition before I did. I had a torrid time getting my clcying jersey on over my wet, fat stomach. My tri-suit is one of the things I had to leave behind in South Korea.
My transition is usually a place where I gain time and I think I lost at least 40 seconds here.
Cycle 1:05 (average 33.9km/h).
Mauritz started ahead and I never really caught him. Another guy with 2 trispokes passed me on the first climb but I passed him after about 25km. Two other guys caught me, Jean and a 20 year old guy from Gauteng. We changed places for a while, and I eventually lost touch with Jean, but reeled in the 20-something dude on a long downhill. We came in the transition together, and I told him, "You won't be seeing me on the run."
The trispoke guy passed me after the 1km on the run and I ran on my own, seeing no-one, for about 30 minutes. I really thought I'd gone the wrong way. The 3rd lap was fun because a whole group had come up behind me, and I asked one guy handing out water at 8km: "How far are they behind me?" The answer was: "100 metres."
Then I did some fartleks, just speeded up, and got around corners and try to demoralise my pursuers. I'd run a very comfortable pace, about 6 minutes per km, so I had a lot in the engine still. So at a turnaround I saw Adri was about 100m behind me still, and I only had 750m left, and then I just turned it on. It was good to only lose 1 place on the run. I'm glad I made a decent lead in the swim and bike.
So the run went surprisingly well, very little pain, about 1:01, give or take 1 or 2 minutes.
Total time 2:31
Average heart rate 159, maximum at the end, staying ahead of Adri Vermaas, 171
I checked on www.ironmansouthafrica.com and they have extended the entry deadline for the Ironman to February 28. That's great news for me.
The altitude was a huge factor in the race, as my muscles felt capable of more. Nevertheless, especially on the run, I'm now more aware to what extent the Ironman is going to be A Long Long Day.
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