The mid Wales weather was very kind for the Bala Standard last Sunday (apart from a bit of a stiff breeze). The race had been threatened by the usual Lake Bala 'Blue Green Algae scare', which seemed to cause the organisers a lot of headaches in the lead up to the event. Apparently, this algae thrives when the sun shines and Wales had some sun...I know, sun in Wales, crazy isn't it! But in the final 2 or 3 days before the race, the rain and wind came and dispersed the algae enough to ensure the race was still able to be ran as a triathlon rather than a duathlon.
My race went ok, could have been better, but it was ok.
The swim was pretty standard, time wise, with no real issues and I even managed to draft of some blokes feet for half the route, which was a first for me! Although I did feel as though I was swimming slower than usual, I just relished the thought of preserving a bit of energy. The swim exit was a bit 'nasty' with loads of big stones to walk across which I later found out had bruised my poor little 'plates of meat'.
The bike was the usual Bala out and back route, with the wind in your face on the way out. I felt ok on the 'out', but coming home I sort of struggled to 'get in to it' really. I wasn't feeling the love for the bike, and it felt like a slog. I reckon I was a bit tired from going eyeballs out on my fitness test a few days before. As a result, my bike split was a bit slower than I'd hoped for and very similar to the previous year. (But I did get to level 14:11 on my fitness test!)
The run went well and was my best discipline. This has been the case on all my races this year. I ran 2 mins quicker than last years race, so I was very happy with that!
I finished 49th overall (800 odd competitors) and 6th age group, in a time of 2:06:49, about a min quicker than last year and about 30 places better.
I like this venue, it is extremely picturesque and when the sun shines it's even better!
One more triathlon to go, a sprint near Hull in a couple of weeks.
Train well.
