Sunday 31st May was the first A-Race for me for the season. The race took place in Hayle, Cornwall in the UK. The distances where a 1.9km swim, 90km bike ride and 21.1km Run. The race started with a tough sea swim in the Atlantic Ocean. Unfortunatley the course was not very well marked, and I finished losing a lot of time trying to find my way around in the middle of nowhere. I was quite disappointed but still felt strong so that was a positive sign for the day. I came out of the sea in around 33mins. 3mins off the pace on what i had planned. The rough sea water and the pool course marking were to blame but it wasn't the time to think about that so I headed on to transition.
A quick transition saw me out around 5th / 6th place. My aim on the bike was to hit a strong pace and not losing groud in the technical parts of the course. The bike course proved a tough one. I drove the bike course with Bill on Saturday evening and I realised immediately that it was going to be pretty tough, and if not careful one risked to blow up big time on the run. After 5km into the bike ride but disk wheel decided to block. That was not a very good sign. I came off the bike, sorted out the problem the best way I could and kept on. At the first turn around on of the bike course at Lands End, I could see that I was lying in around 9th place. At the time I was feeling good, so my strategy was to stick to that pace and see what happends. On the way back the wind was blowing like hell. I tried to keep an aerodynamic position to lose the least time possible. The more miles passed the better I was feeling and on the second lap of the bike course I started coming up the field. The last 20km were pretty hard with the hills and wind, but things were looking good and by the time I hit the second transition I was in 5th Place. I covered the bike ride in around 2hrs 37mins.
I did a quick transition, took my gels and I went out at a steady pace. My target was to keep a 6.30min/mile pace. I was informed that I was lying in 5th place, but a quick pit stop saw me down in 6th place with some time to make up. I tried to keep a constant pace without wasting too much energy. After the first lap of three I was starting to feel really strong, so I thought to myself that if I want a good result it was time to press the paddle down and go for it. My 6.30mile pace proved to be somewhat hard for the type of course surface but it was a very good gauge to control my efforts. By the second lap I was in 4th place. In the last lap I gave it my best and moved into 3rd place with 3km to go.
I finished the race in an official time of 4hrs 40mins, my stopwatch says 4hrs 37mins, don't ask me how they got that time but am still pleased with it. I am very pleased with the result as the field was pretty strong with some UK Age-group long distance representatives.
A big well done goes to my two athletes Andy Lines and William Livingstone who posted in solid strong times which argues well for their Ironman commitments in a few weeks time. They are perparing for Ironman Austria and Ironman Switzerland respectively.
I would like to thank Bill and Pam for their help and care while I was in the UK, without their help I wouldn't have been able to be there racing. Also Venom Tri Club for their support, my sponsors Starbene, Diadora, Valdora, Profile-Design, Ironman Active Wear, Powercranks & the MFA Ta' Qali Swimming Pool. I would like to say thank-you to my parents and Johanna for their constant support.
Results on:
http://www.tri247.com/article_5289_The+weekend+roundup.html?region_id=&category
Next A-Race: Ironman Austria.
Train Smart!
Dermot :)
