I hadn’t however counted on having to do a duathlon …. I barely have any wish to race one of those when at home! So when at the race briefing on the Saturday afternoon, as the wind picked up, the clouds rolled (extremely) quickly in and the chop in the water increased it suddenly seemed a real possibility. I left with my ‘crossables’ crossed.

Running with eventual (and very deserved) race winner Tom Lowe midway through the half marathon

Sunday morning arrived, and the wind was still blowing pretty strong. In fact it was quite a tricky task wheeling my bike along to transition. Things didn’t look good (and they always seems a magnitude worse whilst in the dark and at 5.30am) and sure enough the audible hubbub as I entered the race site was of it being a dreaded duathlon. In fact it wasn’t even a duathlon – this would have been a better (and altogether fairer) option. The race director had opted for a bike run – essentially a 70.3 minus the swim and T1 as the way forward.

There isn’t much that you can do other than accept the decision and make the most of the cards dealt. – I couldn’t change anything and so my job was simply to focus on getting on with the task as best I could. Albeit with some considerable grump. I won’t lie, I like a swim!

We were to hit the road at 30sec intervals in a true TT format, starting in reverse order with the highest number. Now, one thing about this type of racing is that you want to be starting behind your competitors, as that way, if and when you catch them, you are virtually in front on them on the road – a big mental and competitive advantage. By extenstion, the one place you don’t want to be starting is first, as you are essentially ‘racing’ (I use the term loosely as it really isn’t a race, it’s a time trial) nobody, and haven’t a clue how the ‘race’ is unfolding 10,15 or 20mins behind you.

I had number 38, and I started first.

This meant that i was starting 19 minutes in front of athlete number one, and a good quarter of an hour before the top 10 guys who would more than likely be duking it out for the paycheques. The upside (which I was doing my best to find) was that I got to follow the lead car which made it feel a little bit like I was ‘winning’ the race. I decided before I started that I would certainly attempt to ride the full 90ks without being caught by another rider. – A memorable comment from 2005 Hawaii Ironman winner, Faris Al Sultan, was that he loved being out front of the race that day as he got to, or at least try to, “chase the helicopter”. I chased the blue and red flashing lights of the Sherrifs’ vehicle instead.

I was mindful of not going full bore from the get-go, as you can dig a horrible lactic filled hole for yourself that way. I settled into what I supposed was a good speed and something that ‘felt’ quick and yet sustainable. The reality was that I had absolutely no idea on that course, on that particular morning, in those conditions, whether or not I was actually going quick. – I was after all, not racing, i was time trailling. I much prefer racing; there are far more controllables to work with.

As the ride progressed I new that I was going well and I felt strong. I had a few quick peeks behind and saw noone, so I figured I wasn’t going to be caught at least. Also, I am now racing with a power meter fitted into my disc wheel this year so I was able to pay some attention to those figures, and also to my average speed. I started to do the maths and realised that I was on course to ride sub 2hr 5mins which is I feel, pretty quick riding  especially for me. But again, I had no idea whether or not others behind were going much quicker … perhaps they were on course for a sub 2hrs?!

All I could do was keep on pedalling. And chase those lights.

A final glance at the computer as I rode into T2 showed an average speed of 43.8kph and a total ride time of just over 2hrs 4mins and a final distance of 91k. I was pleased with the ride and hit the run hoping not for miracles but to at least feel like I was running. And not jogging like last week.

He’s a big lad is Tom!

For 7 miles I was still the first athelte on the road, untill the metronic footfall of Tome Lowe came floating past. I will admit to having a bit of a sulk and loss of concentration, as I knew he was race number 21, which meant he had potentially taken a whopping 8.5 minutes out of me.  I knew I wasn’t running fast, but I felt I had ridden well and just couldn’t quite cope with the harsh reality at that moment that ….I sucked! As it turns out there had been about 6mins difference between us at that point, which is of course still a huge margin.

I managed to hold a solid enough pace till 9 miles and then I faded badly. Two further athletes rattled past before I hit the finish chute, and I ended up the day as the 13th fastest; my worst finish in a 70.3 to date! At least it was techincally only a 69.1

It was a realy pity that we couldnt swim; many of the athletes were equally frustrated as we were in agreement that we had mostly swum in worse waters … it wouldnt have been any fun, (and of course safely must come first) but I do firmly believe that there should at least be some attempt to get the Pro wave in the water – even if that has to be for a shortened version of the swim. We are not only racing for a living and prize money, but with the new qualification system for 70.3 World Champs and Hawaii; for points. The results on Sunday were significantly altered becuase of the format that took place and I certainly hope that the WTC looks into implementing a sound procedure to follow should this situation (which is more than likely) arise again in the future.

Onwards and upwards. And back in the pool (I hadn’t swum in 5 days by the time I got home on Monday!)

Yesterday was the next installment in my ‘racing myself back to shape’ programme … let say I maybe underestimated the effects of racing at a mile high elevation after less than 3 weeks of acclimatisation, but lessons were learned and plenty positives taken. Onwards and upwards.

The big plus about racing at altitiude is that you get to go fast on the bike!  Higher air = thinner air, and thinner means less resistance which is good when you want to get from A to be B quicker than you might expect.

After an uncomfortable swim (wetsuits were legal despite the Boulder Resevoir remembling a warm bath) I got onto the bike and felt a lot better than 3 weeks prior at the Racine 70.3. Within 5 miles our group had reversed Andy Potts’ lead of 75secs which suggested we were toddling along rather well. By ten miles I found myself at the front and with a little gap on the rest of the guys; my Trek/K-Swiss team mate Joe Gambles pushed on too and before we knew it we were nearly a minute to the good… over 2 minutes by T2. - It felt good (but hard!) to be racing at the front of a race at this level again, and it bodes well for the next few weeks of training up here.

The run brought me back down to earth with a bump. I might as well have been running on the moon given how hard it felt to breathe; I just couldn’t pick the pace up past a jog for all but a mile or so of the 13… it was a really frustrating feeling but to be honest, given how much I have struggled with my run training since arriving in Boulder, it shouldnt have come as such a surprise.

As I said – onwards and upwards. Next weekend I will be racing at the Ironman 70.3 Steelhead in Michigan.

A big thankyou to Larry Rosa photography for all the images above.

Before I raced at Racine 70.3 last weekend I spent an exciting few days in Madison staying with our legendary Trek/K-Swiss team mechanic Mark Andrews and his family …. it was exciting on at least two fronts:

1. I was getting given my brand new Trek Speed Concept - here is a preview of the bike I did for SRAM whilst in Racine

2. I got to go hang out with Mark at work and get a tour of the Trek factory HQ at Waterloo: very very cool!!

Trek as a bike company is unique in that they still produce all of their top end frames right there on site at the company HQ and don’t have them mass built in the far east of Asia or elsewhere. They can therefore maintain the absolute highest of standards in their frame production and ensure that the quality of craftmanship and care are unquestionably second to none. Furthermore it means that there is constant development and continued improvement in the whole production process – from the initial sheets of carbon (it really was like holding a big sheet of paper!) to the application of the final coat of paint. For me, as someone who studied Engineering at University and loves learning about a process, it was a fascinating few hours.

Just to prove I was in fact there ….

The  front line of Trek racing at the moment … hopefully have a Trek/K-Swiss uniform up there soon enough?!

Where all the fast stuff gets built – Trek Race Teams Workshop … including a US Championship RadioShack frame on the far right and other frames in various states of completion.

And last but by no means least – my new Speed Concept. – SRAM – who equip our bikes with groupsets – came and visited me prior to racing at the Racine 70.3 and did a quick interview talking about the bike and the rest of my season ahead.

Read about it here.

Nice to back up on one of those podium things again!

This past week has been a series of ‘firsts in a while’ – racing back to back weekends including both transatlantic travel and and a longer distance event (in fact that is a ‘first in a while’ all on it’s own) and indeed getting used to travelling again seemed like a first at times. All good fun though and part of the journey ahead – this journey of finding race fitness once more.

Talking of journeys, I had a fun trip over to Racine from Madison on Friday afternoon courtesy of the K Swiss expo truck. – It travels from race to race across the country and was en route to Racine via the Trek factory – happy coincidence I thought! Once here in Racine I was being homestayed by the wonderful Behrends family… I am now a (re)fan of all things cartoon thanks to Zach and Lilah (age 5 and 7!)

Apparently summer arrived in the MidWest just in time for us this morning – word on the street was that it’s been hovering around the kind of temperatures the Shire would be proud of until recently. Today it was 32C. And humid. Of course it was. - I usually like racing in the heat … just with some time to get a tan beforehand though.

Being back and racing in the US felt good though. – The events are just so much bigger with more excitement and atmosphere – transition had over 2500 bikes in it, the whole town was in lock down and there were 90ks of closed roads to get out on. It wouldnt happen in the UK!

After the poor(er) swim of last week in Zurich I was aiming to get out as hard as I could and try to set a good tempo. After a live rendition of the Star Spangled Banner from the race director over the tannoy (he was good!) it was time to hit the waters of Lake of Michigan – it is big, one of the Great Lakes no less (and not in any way to be confused with the Atlantic Ocean – I wouldn’t ever be that dumb, oh no, not me …)

We exited the water as a group of 5 – eventual race winner Paul Ambrose did a magic act that involved putting 7 minutes into myself, Steve Hacket and Craig Alexander by T2 which was impressive riding. I didn’t feel fantastic out on the bike today, in fact I rode with power for the first time and was contemplating giving the computer a serious throw as it confirmed I was doing a perfect job of heamoraging watts as the ride lengthened… work to be done.

my new Speed Concept with little Lilah from my homestay on board

The run was always going to be tough. By now it was warming up nicely and I was looking for shade in desperation at every street corner; there didn’t seem to be any readily available. I headed out of T2 in 3rd place and held onto that position till just shy of the 10 mile marker. It wasn’t pretty running but it’s a start and thats the main thing. I hung on to the finish to take 4th place in what was a competitive field.

I’m happy with how it went today. Other suffered even more and it has been a long time since I got to the finish of a long course race, so I have to be (and most definately am) pleased.

Work to be done, as always, and that is going to be done in Boulder, Colorado. – I fly out of Milwaukee tomorrow lunchtime to go see for myself what this multi sports and outdoors mecca is all about.

There is a beach – it must be the seaside, right?

Full results are here

Exiting the water with work to do …. 

The new 5150 series is a great new addition to the race calendar; these are not all new races as such, just that they have been taken under then Ironman umbrella and perhaps gained a little bit more profile and higher quality fields as a consequence. Zurich for example has always had a Saturday event as a prelude to the main event of the weekend; Ironman Switzerland on the Sunday. Ordinarily our race would’ve been a Swiss Cup event, although Ritchie had in fact raced here way back in 2005 when we (the Scottish squad) were training in Gerardmer, France (and I – as Ritchie pointed out with rather good memory skills – was racing at the Euro U23 Champs in Bulgaria… not such fond memories!)

Anyway, the bottom line was that Saturday would let me see with a bit more detail where I was in terms of real race shape and probably more importantly, it was a chance to ‘just go through’ the whole process of a race once more. – The packing, the travel, the logistics, the finding of somewhere to eat the night before in a strange place (did someone mentione the Golden Arches?!), the race day prep – morning jog, breaky, getting to the venue, warm-up, nerves on the beach before the cannon goes.. etc etc.

The race itself was of course a good solid hit out, but I came away with mistakes to learn from. – The swim was a run in off a little beach area, directly into a tight left hand turn bouy after maybe 150m or less. Essentially the swim start was important to get a good position going round that first bouy, and I was – after too much long distance racing (where the swim isn’t as competitive to be honest) - complacent. I figured I could start a little more to the right to avoid ‘the fight’ and simply swim onto the front group after a 100m or so. Negative. I looked up to sight after 30m or so and was already significantly adrift. Ritchie was hanging on just behind.

I exited the water about 1 minute down on the leaders, but set to work alongside Ironman World Champion Chris McCormack. We pushed a good pace round the 3 lap course, which contained the famous ‘Heartbreak Hill’ from the Ironman Course and had virtually pegged all but the race leader back by T2. Ritchie, after a very strong ride in what was only his 2nd event using a TT bike, was still lingering.

Given where I am with my training the 10k run is always going to be a considerable step out of my comfort zone, and so I set about finding a pace that I could sustain without digging too big a hole. I am racing again next weekend in my first 70.3 event in over a year, so I wanted to limit the damage to the limbs as much as possible. I watched with a smile as Ritchie stormed by after less than a K and told himto get after them. He is running extremely well right now and it was no surprise to see him comfortably in the lead at the final turn point around the 7K mark. He won with ease!

All in I am happy with the 10th place finish; I worked hard and (re)learned some valuable lessons. It was a whirlwind trip but good fun and well worth it.  – As a wise Irishman says “it is what it is” and I am looking forward to the next challenge on the agenda; Ironman 70.3 Racine on Sunday in Wisconsin.

Ritchie shares his race-winning (non alcoholic!) beer with Chris’ Macca’ McCormack while I catch up with Paul Amey.

Race results are here

3rd placers - me with fellow Scot Lesley Paterson

I only decided to race at the last minute … I was going to be watching Julie Dibens race anyway, since we were both travelling out to Kona together on the Monday. In the end I opted to start, and I am glad that I did …

It is always good to catch up with Lesley and hear a Scottish accent when away from home – I didn’t know she was going to be racing so it was a nice surprise to see her in the morning transition darkness!

It was a fun morning at the beach (although a cold and misty one – temps hovering around 14C all morning!!) and my swim/bike/run although nothing to write home about was a reasonable effort given the long haul flight only 36hours before.

I came out of the water in 2nd just behind Matty Reed and couldnt quite hold his pace out of transition; he slowly pulled away during the 40ks and I was passed midway through the run to end up on the final podium spot. I certainly didnt have any real speed, which is to be expected given the current prep for Kona and so I can’t complain ….

W caught up with fellow K Swiss/Trek team mate Chris Lieto for dinner before he raced the ‘Classic’ event on the Sunday – the 3 of us are all racing in Kona in just under a months time. In fact we got up early on Sunday to ride over and catch the end of his race before carrying on for a long ride to fill up our morning.

The Speed Concept - Officially launched this w/e

Obviously it is a lot of travel in the space of the 5 days till I get home to the Shire, but I have countered that with a really solid block of training during these past 2 weeks since I got home from St Croix, and so I am not worried about the reduction of training – hey, I am getting to travel without a bike and ‘carry on’ only. High five!

The oppertunity to see the final two stages of the Tour of California is going to be fantastic. And our team mate Chris Lieto is actually getting to ride the very same TT course on Saturday, to see where his time would put him on the overall standings … given he won’t have ridden the previous 7 stages I will be interested to see how close he gets to the business end of the field!

It is going to great to catch up with the other guys on the team, especially now that our seasons’ racing is weel under way … lots to chat about around the dinner table no doubt.

I will be home before I know it though – and then next w/e I will be racing here in the UK at the TriGrandPrix event in Kent, which I am certainly looking forward to tackling. A good field has been assembled I hear. And on the racing front, there is the fist ever ITU European Cup in Scotland happening this w/e at Strathclyde Park, which incorporates the British Elite Champs. It is great to have this level of racing in Scotland finally, so it is a pity I cannot be there to watch. – Furthermore the Scottish Sprint Champs will take place earlier in the morning over half the distance … so I will miss cheering lots of folk on, however, I will just have to made do with cheering for Lance+Co instead!

I can safely say that was the hardest racing experience I have had for some considerable time, if not ever! What a course – choppy (but beautiful) sea swim, hilly and technical bike capped off with a brutally hot and energy sapping run route. I believe I told myself time after time during the second 10k of the run that I would not be returning to race here anytime soon!

Working the rollers out on the bike with Richie and Crowie behind

It is no surprise to me that the heat and humidity has been seriously hard to acclimate to in a short few days. I was worried how those conditions would affect my ability to race, especially against such accomplised athletes. I therefore approached this race with a little more caution than I perhaps generally tend to. I didn’t want to fall apart on the last 20k of the bike, knowing how exhausting the run was going to be. I believe I found a reasonable half way house out there yesterday – I am pleased with my top 5 result, but know there is much to go away and work on. As always.

leading out the swim

The swim went great. I hit the front early on - where I like to be if I can get there. I traded places with Tim O Donnell and mnaged to hit the exit ramp first – first 2 feet down wins the wim prime we were told, so that was a satisfying start.

Very quickly the pace was on during the bike. A young french guy pushed off the front with Terenzo Bozonne and Tim slowly slipping away too. I found myself in a strong quartet including Craig Alexander, Richie Cunningham and Fred Van Lierde, and I think we all made the mistake of believing between us we would reel them all back in. Not so. By mile 30 Craig had taken a potentially horrific, but thankfully nopt serious crash into a pothole (it sounded awful) which ruled him out of the race and the 3 of us simply could not close the gap. We battled the winds, ever increasing heat and rollers of the last 20miles and succumbed to a 1.40 deficit into T2.

heading out at the start of the run

I believe everyone suffered on the run course. I didn’t get into a great stride during lap one, but came better as the 2nd lap progressed and moved into the top 5 around 15k. It wasn’t pretty, and it wasn’t much fun, but I got to the finish chute in one piece, and thankful of that. Thoughts of racing again here next year are far from my mind right now, but as I have said so far in the blog, it is one of those iconic races I am glad to be able to tick off my list.

I have had a real nightmare with my travel home – a cancelled flight off the island last night has left me stuck here an extra day which has resulted in me missing my return flight to Edinburgh this evening from Tampa. I will now hang out in St Pete with my ever accomodating homestay Carolyn (thanks so much!) till the next flight home on Wednesday. What a journey!

Huge congrats to Catriona – she stormed it out there and certainly turned a lot of heads in the process. Man, she came 10th overall!

So here goes a new adventure – The Carribean. Never been there and I am feeling pretty lucky about getting to go. I’ll be sure to take pics and let you know how it’s going, but for now it’s back to the airport!

So I am virtually packed up ready to go tomorrow morning – it has been a wee while since I embarked upon a trip, so I am looking forward to arriving in Tampa tomorrow evening to get ready for St Croix next Sunday. - Fairly lengthy travel, but thats ok – better than no travel at all, which was how it looked last week!

I had a good w/e bedded in here in The Shire – yesterday Ali raced in the Lisboa Triathlon and came 2nd! I’m really chuffed for her, it was my first ever International Half Ironman, and so it seems nice that it was her’s also. It would have been great to go with her to support, but given I was supposed to be in Florida this w/e, it wasn’t really possible. Then this morning I had a last longer run for a while with Gordo before settling in to watch the London Marathon. Good times.

First thing in the morning Blair will be dropping me off for the red eye to London Gatwick to start my journey. I’ll keep you posted when I arrive Stateside ….