The race

I finished the swim in 40 minutes—nothing surprising there.

Heading into the bike leg, I had high hopes of hitting my target time of 2h30 for the 90k ride, but I came up slightly short at 2h36. Interestingly, I wasn’t much faster despite the vastly improved weather compared to last year’s dreadful conditions. I had a solid hydration strategy in place, aiming for an electrolyte sip every 10 minutes, but I only managed to drink about 800ml—still an area for improvement. As for nutrition, I adjusted my gel intake plan to every 30 minutes instead of my usual 45, but I missed the second one by looking at the distance rather than the clock on my Garmin 130. Lesson learned: one gel every 30k isn’t enough for me.

The run started strong, holding a 4:20/km pace, but I struggled to maintain it. My pace was all over the place, and I finished the run in 1h37. Four minutes over last year. Was it the new shoes (I broke the rule #1)? Was it because the weather conditions were hotter than the previous year? Or was there still some fatigue from Challenge Roth? Seeing my coach and sticking to my gel plan of one every 5k boosted me. My aid station strategy, as usual, was unpredictable, taking a mix of water, electrolytes, Pepsi, and even jelly beans at the last one! I popped three jelly beans into my mouth, which was a bit much.

On the final stretch, I was mostly alone, which made for some great photos—though I’m not sure how they’ll turn out since I was slightly disappointed with my overall time. I finished in 5h06m22s. There’s room for improvement, but it was a solid day on that stunning course!