My tri season is now well underway having completed the Grendon Sprint, Ultra Fit Challenge 3/4 Olympic and the Blenheim Triathlons.
A lesson learned for 2011: early May is not warm enough to be doing open water tris. The water temperature at Grendon was a painful 12o and the air temperature a brisk 9owhich meant for a very cold, numb race. In fact, this caused me a major shoe problem in T2 and added minutes to my finish time. To make matters worse I was suffering with a cold on the race day. I was quite disappointed with my 1hr 24min time but pleased that I braved the elements and competed. This race was a World Championships qualifier so it was great to see some top quality triathletes flying past me.
Next up was my first foray beyond sprint distance, the Ultra Fit 3/4 Olympic at Dorney Lake. The weather for this one was amazing, 27o and not a cloud in sight. 
Luckily I had spent some time in Australia in March in similar conditions so I felt right at home. I managed a solid swim and bike with some good transitions. My run, which is usually my strength, was not as good as usual, and maybe the 3pm heat had started to get to me. Relatively though my run was pretty good and I managed to get 4th in the 35-39 age group and be 12th individual across the line, finishing in 1:41:20.
My most recent race was the Blenheim Tri, a huge event in an amazing setting. Once again the English summer didn't disappoint and the temperature was up around the mid to high 20s. I found this to be a bit a runner's race given the straightforward swim and overcrowded bike leg that would hold back the strong cyclists (which ain't me!). Overall I got around in 1:17:04 which I was pleased with, almost managing to crack the top 100 males (out of about 3,000) and getting 31st in age group in a field of 660.
Next up......
Steel Man Olympic, Dorney Lake, July 4
Dextro ITU Olympic, Hyde Park, July 25
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