3 steps back at a painful half fling

Having improved by nearly an hour over the last 4 half flings that I've done, I was billing this as my main race for the year and knew a lot more about how to train, how to eat and how to race than when I first started a few years back. Sub 3 has been a long term goal for a while.

Preparation didn't go to plan though (I haven't adapted to training whilst having a young baby to look after and have also had a few injury niggles which meant I only did 1 ride of longer than 2 hours in the lead up to the race).

I raced the Mont 2 weeks prior and came away from that with nerve related hamstring problems which also didn't help!!

As I was spending a few extra days in Bundanoon with the family, I promised myself to just take part and enjoy the whole experience. As usual the atmosphere in town was great. My wife did the dash on Saturday (her first race back after little Max was born) and was 5th girl back - a great start to the weekend!

On Sunday I was feeling pretty good and set off mid pack in the 3-4 hour category (which turned out to be pretty accurate!). The changes to the 1st stage I felt made it a lot harder and whilst I wasn't going flat out, my heart rate was unsustainable and as the minutes ticked by I knew this was going to be a long and painful morning!!

At the oval my wife was waiting to swap my bottle and this worked perfectly. Much quicker than in previous years and I was able to get straight back out. That's when things started slowing down!!! I just knew from about 40 kms in that I had nothing left already. The last 1.5 hours was as hard work in a race as I've ever known. Looking back on strava I was taking minutes longer on brokeback mountain, the KOM and even your call (1 minute 15 sec slower!!). I was on the verge of cramping but managed to keep going. As each time marker passed by (3 hours, then 3.08 from last year, 3.14 from the previous, 3.30...) I was a little more annoyed. Had to keep telling myself to enjoy the experience and remember what it felt like so I wouldn't let it happen next time.

On reflection the course was a lot harder than last year. Combined with hotter weather and reduced training I am not as disappointed with my time as I was initially.

Kudos to all those who did the full. Amazing. I'll be back for sure.