No internet access up at Loch Lomond so just getting round to posting my race report from Sunday. An eventful (and amazing) day with mixed fortunes but ultimately delighted with the end result.

The swim – My heart sank when the water temperature was announced at the race briefing. 10.9 degrees, only slighter warmer than last year. The difference being it was going to be the full 1.2 miles as opposed to the roughly 800 m it was shortened to last year. It turned out to be an unmitigated disaster and my usual inability to deal with the cold water very nearly ended my race before it had properly begun. Felt OK on the first lap, and for the vast majority of the second lap. Despite being right at the back of the field (as usual), for a significant portion of the time I was in the water I thought I would come through it unscathed. With roughly 200 metres to go I started to run into real trouble due to the cold. At this point my violent shivering was probably propelling me faster than my laboured stroke. I heard one of the marshals shout over to another safety boat that I’d been in the water for over an hour. For fear of jeopardising the rest of my race, I made the conscious decision to pull the plug. I’m assuming at this point I was mildly hypothermic as I can remember asking to be pulled from the water but can’t remember anything about getting back to the shore. Whilst in the water, I didn’t actually realise how bad I was. Once out it became apparent there was a lot of work to be done to make sure I could continue. From what I’ve been told the colour had completely drained from me and I couldn’t even speak. Not for the first time for me after an open water swim, the paramedics were summoned. They were very much of the opinion that my race was over at that point, thankfully the one person who knows me better than anyone was on hand to unselfishly put her understandable distress about the state I was in to one side and immediately set to work on getting me physically and mentally ready for the 53 mile bike ride and just shy of a half marathon that lay ahead. She always does an amazing job as a support team, and on this occasion Jacqueline absolutely excelled herself. Without her on Sunday, there would have been no bike ride or run. What a woman. Can’t thank the paramedics, marshals and Triathlon Scotland official who helped look after me enough as well. Once there was a consensus I was fit to continue, I jumped on the bike genuinely excited about the prospect of navigating one of the most challenging but beautiful courses I’ve been lucky enough to ride. At this point it was about 1 hr 49 minutes since the swim had started, I was dead last and had about 50 minutes to make up on the nearest competitor out on the bike course.

The Bike – The bike couldn’t have went any better. For the vast majority of the time I was a lonely figure out on the course due to the huge time gap when I started. I finally caught the athlete at the back of the field as I headed down past Faslane and towards the most difficult part of the course (The Glen Fruin climb) for the second time. By the time I entered T2 there were still no other athletes in sight. I checked my bike computer to see my final time before I got ready to head out on the run. 3.15.56, roughly an hour quicker than last year over the same course. Absolutely delighted.

The Run – By far my strongest discipline, and as always the one I was looking forward to the most. Thankfully one of the marshals kindly made me aware of the fact I still had my bike helmet on as I was getting ready to set off! After such a horrendous start to the race it felt great to start to catch and pass some of the other competitors. By the time I got to the end of the run, I had overtaken another 11 competitors to finish 70th out of 82 overall. My 1.32.54 gave me the 10th fastest run of the day, and was almost 2 minutes faster for that discipline than the overall winner.

My 6.44.24 was significantly outside the sub 6 hours I hoped, and around 9 minutes slower than last year but I’m taking it as a course PB as it was a full swim this year and given the circumstances delighted with the overall result. Special mention for the sizeable cheering section who came out to support me on the day. Next stop Strathclyde Park Tri in a couple of weeks where I’m assuming the water will be positively tropical compared to Loch Lomond on Sunday (I hope!)