Huntly Standard - Race Preview

Here is the output from the previous two attempts:

2010

Split Name Leg Time Pos Cat Pos Gen Pos Dist Done Race Time Swim 00:31:23 45 19 37 1.5  00:31:23 T1 00:00:59 16 8 14  00:32:22 Cycle 01:24:45 51 20 41 40  01:57:07 T2 00:00:53 32 11 23 01:58:00  Run 00:51:50 30 16 27 10 02:49:50

2012

Split Name Race Time Leg Time Pos Cat Pos Gen Pos Swim 00:28:26 00:28:26 32 14 22 T1 00:29:52 00:01:25 36 14 28 Cycle 01:47:30 01:17:38 42 19 37 T2 01:48:09 00:00:39 27 12 20 Run 02:39:13 00:51:04 29 12 23

I missed 2011, probably because I wasn't able to deal with the crowd at that point, but I may not have even realised it was on. Reading back through my blogs from around then I was in no state to be racing anyway.

So in between the two years, I took off 10 minutes, spread over the swim and the bike. I expect to go almost another 10 minutes quicker this year. I doubt my swim will be much different. There is certainly no way I am making another 3 minutes. Anything about 27 or 28 minutes would be really good. Any quicker than that and I am probably tiring myself out too much. The bike is another matter I could take a big chunk of time off, the new bike should be quicker, as are the legs. Another 7 minutes off is unlikely but there could be 4 or 5. The biggest gain could be on the run. On neither previous attempt have I run particularly well. I know I can go a lot faster than 51 minutes on what is a very flat 10k course.

If I could get in under 2hrs 30 I would be really pleased. Under 2:35 and I would probably be happy enough. 

The weather could be a big factor though. Depends what it does on the day. Current forecast is light winds and cloudy but no rain.

I have been a really up and down all week. I nearly rewrote this on a couple of occasions when I felt down through the week. If I wake up on Sunday feeling down I could struggle to get to the race, and registration and briefing could be tough, never mind getting round the actual race. During the ups I have purposefully tried to add to my chances of going and racing. This has included doing a few things that are really useless for anything except racing. I put a chunk of time into cleaning and servicing my TT bike (although technically that is beneficial even if I don't race as that is the condition I want to leave the bike in over winter). I also shaved my legs. It has been a long time (9 years?) since I did that for racing. I am unconvinced as to the physical benefits but the science says it should help my swim speed, and I have almost convinced myself that it might be dryer, and consequently warmer, on the bike. On that note I have replaced my toe covers on my bike shoes.