Its been 4 years since my last in Kamaishi, Japan and in recent weeks it has been valuable just trying to put my wetsuit on. Of course the obvious jokes would appear here, but really, the wetsuit has dried out and shrunk in the past 4 years to the point that its impossible to put on. The solution, as the name implies, is to wet the suit. Several days soaking in the bath, and its back to what it was - slightly too short on the legs and very tight, but enough to keep me floating and warm in most waters.
The water temperature of lake Zurich was 17 degrees, and I feared I would have a similar reaction to my experience with the 13 degree waters of Loch Tay, but this extra 4 degrees proved to be enough to be comfortable. A small harbour beside the real starting point of the swim could be used to "warm up" in , or more correctly could be "acclimatize to".
For me, out and back is a great swim formula as it means I can swim out wide, away from the masses and just concentrate on not drowning. Alas, the waters were far from the "crystal clear" description on the official website, looking into the murky depths there were no fish or turtles swimming above a sandy floor as I became used to in Japan.
Anyway, survived the swim, onto the bike and this was a nice course two laps with lake sections, hills and cowbells. I was borrowing some Zipp 404 wheels from ChezVelo for the race, they felt light and responsive, and must have helped but its not possible to say how much without a controlled loop to time against.
The course is great, some steep climbs up then the descents are long and gentle, not technical at all. I did about as well as I could on this leg.
Into the run, and just 1km in I found I was developing abdominal pains which would not go away until I finished the distance and stopped running. I tried resting, water, iso, food etc but the act of running was clearly the aggravation here. Still a decent time, but on the whole I could have taken off many minutes on the run if it were not for this pain. But then, what do you expect after a long swim and long bike ride? Maybe thats just my limit.
A slower overall time than my Aberfeldy Middle distance result, but then theres twice as much climbing involved in this course, but also somehow my swim was much faster back then.
Swim: 00:44:14
Bike: 02:39:32
Run: 01:46:03
Finish: 05:19:18
Div Rank: 138
Gender Rank: 767
Overall Rank: 916
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