The past two weekends could not have been any more different. Once again I turned up to race the Jordans Bedford Olympic on the bank holiday weekend. This was followed by the ITU World 03 championships.
Early on Sunday the 24th August I drove up to Bedford hoping the weather would start to improve, and that after the first taper week of the year, a fast time would be on. After queuing for registration under an umbrella the rain finally stopped for the start of a race. Florian Leder set the early pace for the swim with a 20mins 47secs while I was a little too relaxed with a 26min swim, never finding a good rhythm. The wind had not dropped on the bike and with the roads still wet I rode some interesting lines round the course. I held back on the bike as I was looking to have a solid run. Although comfortable with the effort my intestines had other ideas! I set the 3rd fastest bike split of the day just 25sec behind Mark Livesey and his 1hr 02mins 20secs. I had good pace for the first lap of the three lap run course. Unfortunately I had to take a diversion to the loos. I managed to recover a little for the second lap but had another pit stop and just jogged the last lap. Steve Harrison eventual winner in 2hrs 26secs, had the fastest run split of the day with 35mins 23secs.
This year’s worlds were held in sunny Almere, Holland. Yet another early start, I begrudgingly set my alarm for 04:00 on Friday 29th to catch my 06:15 flight to Amsterdam. The journey was running smoothly until the 45min coach transfer took 90min. The team became a little concerned when the driver started to back track. He eventually drove to the nearest town, and pulled over to ask the direction to Centre parcs, which was the base for the weekend. Once we found the cottages we had to leave again for Almere, some 15k away, as registration closed mid afternoon.
Saturday morning I rode to Almere for the bike racking and to have a second breakfast, I recommend a Turkish No 1 if anyone races next year!
Race day came round all too quickly. The forecast was for a scorcher of a day and the weather did not disappoint. Blue sky and a strong breeze the race started at 08:55 with 1000 other men taking the plunge for a 4k swim that turn out to be closer to 4.5k. The start was busy and after 700m the first turn buoy appeared. Turning greater than 100 degrees the sun presented a sighting issue which made the next 400m more like 500m as the pack zigged and zagged to the next turn buoy where we headed back to the swim start. The second lap missed the second turn buoy and headed into the current and the sun for 2.5k. The wind had whipped up some waves and made the same a real challenge. Once, after what felt like an age, it was time to climb out of the harbour onto some steps and off to T1. Looking at my watch expecting to see 65min I was a little taken back to see 86min had passed by.
I had a smooth and easy transition and felt good on the bike for the first 500m and then turned in to a strong head wind. At this point I was not sure my plan of catching up the lost swim time was going to work so I backed off and stuck with my original pacing plan. The first lap was busy on the bike with lots of people pick off. Unfortunately some seem to think that 10m is the same as 10cm and groups had formed on the bike. The wind increased in strength as the temperature started to ramp up. I spent the first half of the second lap 60k lap trying to catch a group 400m up the road. It really shows how much of a difference drafting makes as the group pulled away from me in a head or side wind and came back with a tail wind. On a long section of side wind I gradually caught the pack and with one of the many 90 degree turns had a tail wind and blew past the pack.
A super slick T2 saw me settle into a strong early pace. I had a little cramp at 7.5k after think that I maybe on for a sub 2hour run. So ran nice and steady after stretching my left hamie a couple of times. Then I got to the 17k mark and the wheels start to fall off! I ran / shuffled to the next aid station and stopped to have a gel. The only reason I started to run again is because on the USA coaches told me to start running again. Thank you! I ran the 500m to the next aid and had some hot cross buns and a wee. I then just worked on running to the next aid 3.5k away. After this I settled into a good rhythm and just walked the aid stations eating hot cross buns as I went. Brilliant!
I managed 8th in my age group and feel relatively happy with my performance.
Thank you to all the support people in the club have given me over the past year. Bring on Ironman Austria and a sub 09:45!
David
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