Short race report from Jules Fairley

For once it was the first time I have raced when I felt totally relaxed throughout the race;
 

The weather conditions were perfect for racing...the flow of the Thames was a lot lower than in previous years so I didn't have to fight the current this year!! started at 6:50am and swam directly towards the bank along with the other 100 guys in the 43-44 wave.
For once I really enjoyed the swim and concentrated on my stroke and maybe should have sighted more as I went off course a couple of times!
I realised I hadn't put enough effort in on the swim (time 26:35) as I was able to sprint the 100 metres or so to transistion and also exit transistion at the same pace (T1 1:17)

I really enjoy the bike route at Windsor and regulalry use it in my training, the bike went well with the new aerojacket, adjusted saddle and new tyres and I averaged 25mph (bike course was just under 41k) and on the day had the 2nd fastest bike split in a time of 1:00:44.

 I maintained the same momentum for T2 as in T1 (1:02) and then set off on the run. I felt really relaxed on the run and concentrated on keeping good form and a quick cadence. On the 1st lap I threw the 3 gels I was carrying to a team mate, who had done the sprint earlier, as they were beginning to bug me!! grabbed one of the gels on the 2nd lap which gave me a boost to maintain the same speed for the third lap.

Plenty of support and encouragement on the way round, I sprinted the last 300 as one of my team mates told me I could beat my rival in the club!!
All in all a great day and a big thanks to Mike Trees of Triathlon Consultants Limited for all his advice and giving me the perfect taper....Cheers Mike I owe you a beer or two.