Vitruvian Middle Distance Tri

This was my second main target for the season and I felt in pretty good shape for it.
Woke up a couple of times in the night as I was waiting for the 4.oo a.m alarm to go off, but didn't have time to think about it when it finally went off. Up and out the door in 10 minutes.
Had a delicious breakfast in the car of a Go bar. Felt faintly nauseous afterwards.
Go to Rutland water in the dark and set off for registration. No queues so quickly through and racked bike. Felt a bit more relaxed once I was set up and had visited the toilet. Had a couple of gels and a banana before the race briefing then waited for my wave. Got in the water with 5 minutes to spare so concentrated on getting used to the water temperature and getting my heart rate down a bit. Got into a steady rythymn on the way to the first bouy and didn't get knocked around much. I'm a very average swimmer, but also a fairly slow starter in any race so I settled in mid pack. Had some new goggles which I could actually see out of for a change. I like the 2 lap swim format as it breaks things up a bit. Unfortunately as my feet are as soft as a 10 year old girl, I was hobbling around the bank like an extra from Riverdance.
Into T1 I was pleased to see an acceptable number of bikes still on the racks. I was in and out past people putting socks and calf guards on. I think they had the last laugh as my feet felt like blocks of ice after 3 or 4 miles. Got into a good tempo on the bike and steadily picked people off. Made the right decision to ride disc and 808. Rode slightly lower pressure than usual and it was much better. Think I'll stick to that all the time now as I often found them a bit harsh compared to cosmic carbons but I was being a bit dim in pumping them up so hard and then wondering why I felt battered to bits on them. Caught Mike at the end of the bike and suddenly got a panic about forgetting how many laps the run was. I shouted across to Mike but I don't think he heard me. Aero helmets plus carbon wheels don't make for a quiet ride.
Had a good quick T2 and got my shoes on without incident or cramp. Legs felt OK starting the run, but the initial euphoria soon wore off and it was a pretty lonely start to the run. It felt like a fair old drag to the turn, but I felt slightly better for collecting the first band. Had a mental boost at the start of the second run knowing the end was in sight. Had a pretty good idea that I was leading my age group so couldn't resist raising my arms crossing the line. Final time of 4.11 was 4 minutes quicker than last year. Not that far behind Thomas Hellreigal, but I suspect he wasn't trying that hard.
Felt great at the finish, but it could have been something to do with the amount of caffeine and gels I'd had. Didn't sleep well though and was pretty monged out the next day.
A good race all in all and happy that I got it all out on the course. Looking forward to a rest now.