Ended up being the tough day I was expecting last week

This was my first repeat race so was hoping to go faster than last year. Ended up doing that but only by about 20 minutes. Guess it was a tough day cause the elites were 24 minutes slower than last year. Overall I moved forward about 100 places from last year so I guess thats the most relevant way of measuring the improvement. Got to be happy with that.
After feeling good last week on the back of limited preparation I was hoping that a few hours light training during the week would result in another good day. It didn't end up being a good day but I guess it didn't turn out that bad.
The evening rain was pretty heavy at times but I don't think there was ever an option of cancelling the event. The roads were dry on the way to the start and it wasn't that cold so I was starting to feel more optimistic.
Started with Gazza in the first group after the elites and didn't see him again until the finish. Stayed with the backend of the first group until the first water stop. It was pretty greasy on a lot of the fire trails and some singletrack and I ended up slipping into a big rut just after the first water station. Was having a look at the end of the rut and next thing I knew the front wheel caught on something and I went OTB. Took it a bit easier for a while and the middle part of the race was pretty uneventful.
Got to the 70km mark and cramped so stopped for a while to stretch and take a salt tablet. Drank a bit more for a while and didn't have any more cramps. Struggled towards the end of the race and wasn't able to push hard at all. What a difference a week makes, last week my max and average HR were both 10 higher than this race. I guess that gives me something to work on.