This was the second time I took part in the olympic distance triathlon in Izegem, Belgium. I grew up in this little town and I'm a member of the local triathlon club, so this is a home race for me. I know a lot of people there and thus had a lot of fans along the road.
The 1.5k swim went very well. After a chaotic start I quickly found my rythm. Without too much effort I came out of the water in 15th position. But it was a long run to T1 and in transition I lost some places.
On the bike I quickly found a good group to ride with. I could easily follow and do my part of the work. In the last of 3 laps, we were in a big group of about 30 athletes. Suddenly, the speed dropped. I even had to brake during a climb on a bridge :rolleyes: But further they accelarated again. Suddenly there fell a gap before me after a turn and i couldn't reach the wheel before me anymore. So I had to do the last kilometers on my own. Luckily it was on a slight descent and wind in the back. I had a good transition and found quickly a good running pace. We had 3 laps of almost 4k, so a total of 10.8k to go. The first lap went very well. I passed some athletes from the group I had to let go. I must have slowed down during the second lap, but a couple of guys overtook me again. I increased the pace again in the third lap, but halfway I had to slow down again due to cramps in my upper legs. I ran my own pace to the finish and finished in place 103 of 219 finishers (66 in agegroup 24-40).

Swimming time (including T1) : 0:22:41
Bike time : 1:03:13 (40k)
Run time: 0:51:01 (10.8k)

Total time: 2:16:55

I was 20 minutes faster than last year, so I'm very excited with this result!