Here's the Ironman Japan swim recap, including how T1 went.
The swim's always been difficult for me, but I put in a lot of volume over the last few months - big sessions, more open water than usual - and it paid off.
In my strategy video, the target was 10% under CSS, around 1:45/100m, which put me somewhere between 1:05 and 1:08 for the swim.
The first loop
The first loop - 1900m - went well. I came out in 34 minutes, which if both loops matched would've put me bang on 1:08. It felt smooth, I got into groups early, stayed near the front, and managed to hold feet for most of it. Calm sea, shallow entry and exit. Genuinely a good loop.
The second loop
The second loop was chaos. There were no big groups left to hold onto, but plenty of people just starting their first loop - so I was dodging and overtaking constantly, burning energy I didn't want to spend. Slower lap because of it.
Final time: 1:10. Not far off the target, and overall I'm happy with it - one of my better swims at full distance.
T1
Into T1 - also chaos. It was busy, with three separate stations to move through: wash, kit, bike prep. I rushed it, stressed myself out, and actually left my helmet at one station and had to go back for it.
In hindsight, trying to save a minute wasn't worth it - I had nine more hours to make that up over the bike and run anyway. T1 took 6:30.
Onto the bike...
