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.

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

Training had been ticking over nicely the last couple of months and at the beginning of June I few to Bordeaux for a  training camp with coach Ben Bright and good buddies Nick Saunders and Mari Rabie. After spending two weeks tackling some of the Tour monsters in the Pyrenees with a good portion of swimming and running thrown in for good measure I was looking forward to getting on the start line of a race.

I’ve not raced in Scotland since the Stirling duathlon in October 2009 so it was nice to get back to my roots and catch up with old familiar faces. The sun shone and the wind stayed away making for perfect racing conditions (so I had no excuses!)

For me it was just good fun to be back racing and doing what I love and seeing the junior aquathlon race after I finished reminded me what this sport is really all about. A really good day out and ideal warm up for next weekend.

Next up is Liverpool 5150 where I’m stepping out of my comfort zone and having a go at a whole OLYMPIC distance event. Yikes! Onwards and upwards..

Thanks for the continued support folks, it means a lot.

1st place at Ironman UK 2010 - I'm an Ironman winner!

 Once we worked out my season plans earlier in the year after I decided that I would really focus on three UK events, with Bolton being the final hit out after the Kent TriGrandPrix and UK Ironman 70.3 - I made it 3 from 3 on Sunday and that is something that brings a lot of satisfaction indeed.

 So … to the race. I was glad that race w/e finally rolled around and we could get in the car on Friday morning. I had pretty much reached my limit in terms of the training/tapering/thinking here in Stirling and simply wanted to get on with it all. I’m always better once I get into race mode, with things to do and focus on.

Ali and I arrived on Friday afternoon, we found the swim venue and T1, I got registered and then we collected Mum and Abbie (little sister) from the train station. We negotiated Bolton traffic in the pouring rain, got lost, asked directions from locals(?) who didn’t speak English too well before finally finding the sanctuary that is Pizza Express!

Saturday consisted of racking the bike early in the morning, which is not something I usually do, but given the logistics of the venues, it made sense to get it out of the way early. We then got a quick swim in the lake, which is something I like to do more and more now pre race, just to get a feel for the water (and how murky: rather! and cold it is: not too bad). Blue 70 came down to take some pictures too, which was good fun and nice to catch up. A quick jog, sneaky stolen breaky from the race hotel!, an interview with the Channel 4 crew and a recce of the bike course loop and dropping off my gear bag in T2 took up the rest of the day really … leaving, yup you guessed it, time for dinner at Pizza Express!

I swear that I didn’t sleep very much the night before the race, but I think thats always the way when you have to get up at 2.45am! I did my best to force more Special K, Crunchy nut and coffee down than I might normally manage, was glad to see Blair and Kerry, who arrived late the night before and we left at just after 4am to swing by and pick up Gordo and fan no.1 Matty on the way to race start. Some cold sweats started to kick in if I am honest … “did I really not sleep a wink last night?, did I bring spare tires/tubes/pump” etc etc … all last minute worries that seem to flood my mind for a minute or two, but then fade away thankfully as quickly as they appeared.

All that being said race start loomed, but I felt really relaxed getting my wetsuit on. I hung out with everyone over in a quite spot we found away from the crowds and other athletes, and that helped me a lot. I got in to the water with just a few minutes to spare as we started about 200m from the edge and I didn’t want to be treading water for too long and risk getting cold out there.  The horn went (I don’t remember hearing a national anthem a la Wimbleball) and my swim went fine; I pretty much led from the get go, which I like to do, although I realise I am giving my competitors an all too easy draft behind for 40 odd minutes … other than a slightly tight hip flexor during the last 10minutes I quite enjoyed the swim and got out feeling pretty good and not as tired as I expected.

T1 flew by and I remember deciding to leave my arm warmers in the gear bag (I soon wondered if that was a bad idea on the bike) … but Stephen was charging out fast and I wanted catch him. We headed out on the bike together, Axel joined us after 10K or so and I suddenly didn’t feel too great. The legs were doing nothing special and it looked as if there was a lot of rain about to fall! (Wishing I had taken the arm warmers at this starge) After probably an hour of riding I had begun to feel a litte more confident in my riding (I had also warmed up and the rain wasnt falling), so I made one big concerted effort to get out in front solo. I didn’t want to get sucked into riding at the tempo set by the other guys, leading to a running race, so thankfully I got a good gap really quickly. The second half of the bike loop (which we completed 3 times) was twisty and essentially one lane after another. Perfect for getting ‘out of sight, out of mind’ … this I did and built up a 7 minute advantage going into the run. Nutrition was something I was struggling with at times – just the constant nagging in the back of my mind to keep eating, keep drinking, keep eating, especially after feeling a bit too hungry aroung halfway!

midway through the marathon

I would say I was really looking forward to getting the run, mostly as I was sick to the back teeth of being on the bike (and I love my Trek Speed Concept!). T2 was nice as I was able to see mum and abbie cheering and get some good useful reminders from Ali and Gordo as I headed off for my ‘long Wednesday run’ – this was how I was going to rationalise it in order to get through the race. It worked. For an hour I ran well, enjoying the pace my watch was giving me and feeling happy I was in good shape. Blair popped up periodically on his bike along the course giving me confirmation that the gap wasn’t really changing and reminding me that they were hurting just the same. Other than struggling during the headwind section from 25 to 32ks, I kept going pretty consistently. Sure I had lows but I did my best to ’suck it up’ and as the finish started to approach the sensation that I was going to win finally hit home – I wasn’t going to be caught and I was going to be an Ironman Champion! The final mile or so was a strange mix of emotions - happy, teary, exhausted all at once. It’s a strange beast the Ironman I can safely confirm that.

Crossing the line was such a good feeling, I promise that. I wanted to be able to really enjoy the finish – as after all you can only win your first Ironman once! As I have said, lots of and lots of hard work has gone into this result – and I can happily say I am very proud of myself.  However I absolutely couldn’t have done it without the help of ‘my team’ - Ali, Gordo, Blair especially (you all drive me on so much more than I can explain at times) but to see mum there too was lovely (especially when I found out afterwards that she, abbie and matty almost missed the finish due to the logistics of getting there without a bike or being able to run into town centre from 5 miles out!) … having them all there at the finish to share in the experience meant so much and I am still thinking fondly of it all today.

Next stop Kona! Yeeha

I really was (and still am) a happy boy

Winning at this level is certainly not easy, and considering the quality of guys who were treading water besides me at 6.59am yesterday, I knew that achieving my target of breaking the tape at the finish chute would require some seriously graft – Just as it should do.

My preparation leading into Sunday was spot on – I was ready to race and excited to be back at what I consider as tough a race as there is out there (St Croix is verging on tougher, but only because of the heat/humidity mix). The weather gods had been kind and we were treated to almost ideal UK summer conditions – if only the temperature had read a tad more than the 4.5C that registering as we parked up!

What with both Philip and Stephen returning (who beat me last year) plus former Hawaii Ironman Winner Faris Al Sultan alongside a crew of other very capable guys, it was going to be fast from the gun. I settled into a good enough early tempo during the swim, but I didn’t have quite enough gas to hold onto the swim exit as the leader – and in my haste to reach terra firma I slipped on the exit matting …with the bloody knee to prove it!

running in the lead with Mr Moto as companion

I knew that I was in good bike form after my race in Kent last month, however that didn’t give me any help when Phil rode his bike past me as if I were standing still. The lad can ride his bike, that is for sure. I will admit to feeling a little despondant oblique sorry for myself for a fair portion of the first loop, but by a careful process of elimination I reasoned with the little chararcter sitting on my shoulder that all was not so bad – 1. nobody had caught me, and there were some good good bike riders behind and 2. if Phil was riding that hard, then surely he must pay the price for it in the latter stages of the race? It is after all a triathlon, and as I have learned the hard way – it is he who slows down the least fast who crosses the finish line first.

Once I reached T2 I was told the damage – just under 4minutes…. but as soon as I got into my stride I was confident it would be good run day - I should clarify that there have been many a bad one in the past for me, so I can detect the better ones easily!! I was able to catch and pass for the lead within the first of the 3 laps, and from there on in I was able to relax and enjoy the day ….

That is my 4th Ironman 70.3 victory and I am really proud to have achieved that. Having coach Gordo down to watch me race at this level for the first time really added to the whole w/e aswell – thanks for all the help chief. Unfortunately my wingman wasn’t able to be on hand to run around manically for me this year … Blair was racing himself on Saturday at the Highland Cross (but don’t mention the fact that he was helicopter’d out of the glen … just a heads up!!) But to couter that and cap off a great ‘Shire Team’ weekend, Ali placed 5th overall and collected a slot to race in Clearwater later in the year… mostly since she has heard so much about Carolyn’s famed homestay cooking I reckon!

(Thankyou to Laura for the photo’s)

Picture says it all... 1st place at the inaugural TGP event in Kent

On Sunday I took on a world class field at Leybourne Lakes, Kent at the TriGrandPrix and crossed the line as the winner, the reality of which is still sinking in if I am honest. – It was the goal, but to actually tick the box is always tricky. I believe as I spoke to Jose – who hosted such an ambitious and exciting new event – at the finish, I commented on it being “a good day to have a good day” … I couldn’t agree with myself more!

Riding my new Trek Sped Concept to a 3minute lead off the bike

I was relatively concerned going into the race about the travel still lurking from my flying visit to LA and back the weekend previous … jet lag can be a funny thing and I didn’t really know how the body would fire untill the get-go. I shouldn’t have worried – I felt rested and relaxed by Saturday once we had arrived and as soon as I got going on the bike there was no looking back. It was a challenging and tough bike course – just as I like them and within the opening 15 miles I had managed to create a substantial gap on the boys behind. At the dead turn around that point I got a proper look at my advantage and had a wry smile when I saw the damage to Timo Bracht in 2nd … I knew the Speed Concept was flying and throughout the remainder of the ride I continued to feel under control.

I have been working patiently on my run since returning from St Croix in early May and I knew things should be ok when I was told the differnence was around 3 minutes … I kept working hard and stayed focused on the task at hand so that the gap stayed more or less constant.

Winning is a fantastic feeling, and I excited about the season unfolding ahead of me. – The domestic season rolls on – in less than 3 weeks I have Ironman UK 70.3 and then the Ironman 6 weeks further on.

Big thanks to everyone involved in the event on Sunday – to Jose in particular for looking after us whilst down there – and good luck with the next event in the series over in Spain in 10days or so.

Thanks also to Iain at ImacImages for the photo’s above.

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!

Another funky little Abu Dhabi race video compilation from Wattie who was out there helping us Trek/K Swiss athletes out – many thanks buddy, especially for changing my flat in T1 40 minutes prior to the gun firing. I wasn’t flapping at all. Promise!?!