Peterborough half RR

Swim (2000m): 36:12 => 1:49/100m
Bike (86km): 2:33:17 => 33.5km/h, Av 188 watts, NP 202 watts
Run (20.6km): 1:51:06 => 5:24min/km

The swim includes about a minute of running out of the water to the timing mat going into T1, so maybe 35:something. Not overjoyed about the time, but it's not bad. I went through a 10 minute phase about 500m in where things felt really bad, but then got better. Maybe I need a longer warmup. Also toe cramps suck. I had two gels 10 minutes before the swim. I need to figure out the logistics of warmup, while waiting until just before the race starts to eat.

The bike was my favourite part of this race, but some of the terrain was discouraging, there were only a couple spots where you could get into any sort of rhythm, otherwise it was up and down. I played cat and mouse with a couple other riders who were passing me on the uphills, then I would zoom past on the downhills. I was trying to keep my power between 190-200 watts, so I would slow right down going up, but 200 watts will get me 50+km/h on a reasonable descent. Psychologically, it felt harder to maintain watts at speed than going up a hill.

Nutrition on the bike went:

0-20 minutes => sip water
20' => gel + water
40' => gel + water
1hr => 1/2 peanut butter powerbar
1:20 => gel + water
1:40 => gel + water
2 hr => 1/2 peanut buttter powerbar
2:20 => gel + water
2:30 => gel + water

That gets me about 850kcal => 340kcal/h which is  beyond what I have ever done in training, especially at that pace, so that was an error.

I was also drinking water mostly by feel, but trying to err on the side of drinking rather than not. This may have not been the best strategy (see run). I probably took in 3 bottles (went through 4, but a lot of that was poured on me to keep cool). I went into the race thinking that it was going to be really hot, but it turned out to be only 25C/78F.

The first 5k of the run seemed to go ok, I was going at an "easy" pace, right around 5min/km. I had about a cup of water, that got me out of the park and onto the long out and back portion, which is much hotter, and much more lumpy. I started to have some stomach problems, feeling full and sloshy. I slowed my pace to try and get things settled, and stopped taking anything in for the first 7km or so. It seemed to get better, so I tried a mouthful of cola, that went okay for another couple km, but then started to feel poorly again (burping, cramps). This pattern repeated a couple times more, once with a gel, once with just water in an attempt to get something in. I started walking up hills, hoping that would help. I spent a lot of that time wavering back and forth between feeling like I was going to puke, and then feeling a little better, so I'd up the pace a little, then right back to feeling sick. With 4k left, I just decided to give up on  getting any more nutrition or water in me and just get to the finish (hoping I could still go under 5 hours). Looking at my GPS files, it doesn't really look like I went any faster (though there were more hills in that last bit), but my RPE was up, I think I was just feeling the effects of battling stomach and heat at that point.

So the TL;DR is: Went 5:02 on a mediocre swim, "good" bike (except the eating part), and a miserable run -- I had hoped to go under 5 -- but the course was shorter than I expected, so it wouldn't really have been what I was hoping to do anyway.

Lessons learned: Don't get stuck in a plan if the underlying assumptions of that plan are no longer valid -- I had thought I would be out on the bike for 2:40, but the course was shorter, and the day was cooler, so I over-ate and drank for the conditions. Not sure if I could have saved the run in any way, shape or form...

[edit] I was comparing my results in terms of where I placed in my AG from when I raced this in 2010 (primarily to make myself feel better:), and though my swim was worse (adjusting for field size), my bike and run were both significantly improved. In addition, I had hoped to place top 10 in my AG this year, and despite my crappy run dropping me 8 minutes outside 10th, I out-swam and out-biked 10th place.