- Obviously not snapped within the middle 6 miles! (where the shuffling occured)

My final lead in to Clearwater was productive . Once I had got over the ‘yet another niggly leg problem’ just before the Longhorn 70.3 I was able to fully dive into one last block of solid training work. I met some great news friends in Austin – Terra and her husband Zane welcomed me into their home wonderfully, and as I already mentioned, Richie and Pat were wicked training partners for that final 2 weeks stint. Cheers a bunch folks, it made such a difference. From Texas I wandered over to Florida to what is without question my second home! – Carolyn is a homestay extraodinaire, and that is about all I can say on the matter. She kept Julie and me housed and also ensured that Dann and Joel were fed and watered at every instance. It made for a great little training group for our final few session and I think we all appreciated the banter during those final days before the ’serious face’ crept in.

This year has been one long up and down as far as I my training and racing has gone, and I certainly don’t want to start moaning about lack of consistency. We all have issues in our careers, and that’s part of the deal; it’s how we cope under the circunstances that shows true character, and I am proud of how I worked things out as best I could to be on the startline. I’ll be honest, at various points over the last 3 months I was almost on the phone to British Airways to see if I could use my ticket for another trip down the line.

That being said, come race morning I knew I had got there in good condition, all things considered. All the pre race ‘faff’ was done; travel, rego, briefings, tv interviews, bike racking etc etc and all that was left was to get nervous and put the wetty on. I have very rarely exited the water outside the top 3 in a 70.3, and I have never done so at Worlds. However I have a tendancy to get pretty worried before swim start. I’ts a layover from racing ITU where the pontoon starts were generally a boxing match nightmare for me.

Nonetheless, I got my tactics right, as after a couple hundred meters I’d avoided the mass start issues, the upper cuts and jabs and found myself right at the very front of the race following the stand up paddler. I love it when a plan works out. It just makes life so much easier the closer to the front you are; sure some feet to follow and draft is probably better, and I ended up having that after half way, but it just gives you a buffer to iron out any problems come transition. – Unfortunately my buddy Richie found this out to his cost, as he grabbed the wrong gear bag, and only realised he had the wrong helmet as he approached his bike. His race was effectively over before it had really begun. I’m gutted for him as a podium was there for him. Fingers crossed he pulls it all together in Arizona this w/e.

The bike was nothing short of crazy fast. There has been plenty chat and discussion regarding the drafting out there; but it is what it is in Clearwater. The course profile is virtually flat, there is rarely any wind and there are minimal corners to slow us down. The real sticking point with it is that we only get one lane for much of the 56 miles, which means it gets congested – especially once you throw in the media vehicles and race ref bikes following us. In an ideal world the World Champs would be elsewhere, and the rumour is that after next year it will indeed move as Clearwater will be out of contract.

The real problem is the fact that the girls and guys don’t have seperate races; and in this instance it meant that we started to catch girls quickly during the first 20miles – but we didn’t pass them!  They started getting involved in our race – in effect we were getting ‘chicked’!! At one point my mate Joe Gambles rode past me to say just that to me, pulled in front of me and ANOTHER girl rode past him … I started laughing at seeing his aero helmet shake from side to side in laughter. I think the worst part of this probem is that guys got yellow card blocking penalties – Luke Bell had to take a ’stop and go’ which cost him a minute; he’s a helluva a rider and rode us back down with 10 miles remaining. In my mind the only solution is to to have separate races for men and women, just as happens in ITU events … a few minutes separation just isn’t good enough anymore.

The run boiled down to a foot race, just as everyone imagined it would. The bike preme is the only factor in the race at Clearwater that can really shake the bike up – last year it was atop the bridge at 34 miles, but due to an extra dog leg early in the race we didn’t hit the bridge till 42 miles. I had made a move to the front from 35 miles and along with Andrew Starykowicz, Terenzo Bozzone and Phil Graves we had a decent gap through to the 45mile marker. Terenzo reckoned it was the cross on his back as defending champion that sucked us back in, but I think we just weren’t ever gonna get the break. There is only so fast we can ride …. breaking away from a 47kph group of guys is a long shot!!

So no matter how ridiculous the bike splits seem, the bottom line is that 15 guys rolled in together with another 10 less than a minute later. If you didn’t have your run legs packed in transition it wasn’t a good day to be racing! I had an average first 3 miles and a less than average next 7 … I only picked it up during the final 3, and salvaged a few spots to maintain the top 20 place. You have to race to line no matter what and I am happy I did that.

Once again congratulations to Julie; she worked so hard for this one, and after consecutive 4th place finishes she was as deserving a winner as there could’ve been. So often girls have held her wheel and ran her down, but not this time. -Just imagine the damage if she had a hilly course to race on!

Photo credit to Lenny Glick. – Thankyou.

L – R: Brian Fleischmann, Luke Bell, Greg Bennet, Ritchie Cunningham and myself.

I was looking forward to moving another step towards full fitness, and had hoped to get myself a top 10 or better, which would’ve been a respectable placing given the field quality. My leg hasn’t bothered me since before Wildflower, it’s fine now, BUT, typically I have started to have some soreness in my foot of the same leg this week. I told myself if it was at all painful during the run I would pull the pin and stop, as I am simply not willing to dig another hole. So that’s what happened – the foot twinged and I dropped out after the first of 3 run loops whilst in that top ten I was hoping for.

Not a happy bunny.

The view out the rear window as we left...

My race didn’t really go fantastically at any point during the day either to tell the truth. The swim was very much non wetsuit in a warm lake, and I have come to realise that I do rather depend on my wetsuit in order to swim fast. Otherwise I am just a middle packer it seems - I lost the feet of the lead guys mid way through and ended up 8th or something, but was quite happy as I knew Luke Bell was running out with me, and after the long run into transition I could see that it was less than a minute to the leaders, as they were running out as we ran in (it was a LONG run)… Luke is a strong rider and I reckoned we could bridge the gap quick enough.

Yeah, well, Luke did, I didn’t.  By ten miles I was 4th and in a no-mans-land but could see at the turn around a huge group forming behind. I just wasn’t ever getting ‘on top’ of my gears today and I knew that the group would catch me sooner of later.

They did at about 30 miles.

It was hot today. Hot and humid. The run course was nice though – a mixture of hard packed grass and road; I liked it, pity I only did the one loop. Never mind, I just hope that I haven’t developed anything sinister inside of my foot …. I have had sore spots on my feet before, so I hope this goes away just the same. I’ll be back in Stirling on Wednesday morning, so I hope to be in physiofocus that afternoon! Best get on the ‘dog and bone’ tomorrow morning to get an appointment.

I’m really pleased for Toby though – he hung tough and got round (despite having the odd thought about stopping too!) in order to pick up a slot for Clearwater in November, which was his whole aim for his month in America. Well done to everyone else on our new and expanding team who raced this w/e. Good work guys.

Not quite sure what I am smiling about, dnf and all....

My race got off to a great start in the water till, oooo, lets say 100m, when I got the good ‘ol dunkin in the water and the goggles ripped knocked off. It’s a long time since that has happened, but it – as ‘they’ say – is racing, and you must deal with it. It happened again midway and I really became unsure of where I was in the state of play. As we neared the jetty I realised I was probably in a good enough spot and sure enough as I ran up I heard the announcer explain that Olly Freeman was mere seconds in front. Safe.

Onto the bike in 3rd and I just found a really solid pace early doors. This always helps set the tone I find. Quite quickly I could see the two leaders in front and by 10 miles I had passed them, but had also in turn been passed myself by Björn Andersson doing something of a rocket-impression. Off he went. I soon ended up riding on my own for a few miles, until at 25 I was caught by the group of very capable bike riders that had formed behind.

This is something I am still having to work at in my racing – an ability to really dig deep when on my own and capitalise on any gains I may have made in the swim. – I can ride a very quick pace when I am able to pace off of another rider (I said pace not draft) but on my own I struggle to really push that extra gear necessary. It will come in time.

We rode up and over the hills which dominate the second half of the race, and I was determined to really work them as hard as possible. I love that sort of terrain and I had forgotten how good a course this really is. – A really solid, honest bike course, where drafting really won’t be much of an issue I doubt. At 45 miles the Swiss athlete Ronnie (for I cannot spell or pronounce his surname) who was 4th at Hawaii last year zoomed on by and I made an effort to tag along. This effort expired around the 50 mile marker and I was then sucked back into the group of 6 as we entered T2.

I started the run, simply so that I didn’t have to stop in T2 and look like the village idiot who didn’t undertstand what he needed to do. – Run like the rest of them! So I got myself down to just past the first mile marker and walked off the course, which, as I said, sucked.

All in all it was worth it for sure, and I am bouyed by my swim/bike effort. There are no dollars to show for the racing, but I will get my head down and continue to hit the rehab work hard. 

Jog along son. Jog along.

Trusty old diary, laptop, Garmin and GENR8 grape flavour

I raced 2 weekends ago in Miami, and had been jogging along that week, but very limited. The race didn’t ‘flare’ the leg up, but I also didn’t fel like I was progressing so I stopped having any time on my feet last week, and actively searched for a good physio to start some treatment when I got here. I have been having ‘ART’ – Active Release Techniques, which is basically another way of saying ‘deep tissue massage’ in American-speak…. and seem to be responding well to it after a couple of sessions (yet to receive a bill though…yikes!).

So, otherwise, I have ridden the bike a fair bit. 17 hours or 485k. Approx 300 miles in old money? And I have swum a fair bit too – 33k in yards, which I think is just shy of 30k in meters. Mostly on my own, BUT not all. Aha – I joined in with a squad. The North County Masters in fact. They swim in Enchinitas down at the coast in the YMCA (I had never been in a YMCA building before). There are a few triathletes drop in – Michelie Jones was there one of my swims before heading off to race at IM Oz, and Luke Bell was in the other day ready to race in Oceanside next w/e too. And then I did a sesh with Olly Freeman, and the past 2 days I have had Will Clarke to train with. Both of those guys are making their 70.3 debut at the w/e.

So it’s been a good week’s work. Fingers crossed the leg holds up, I get a few more run miles under my belt, and I’ll race at the weekend, just like planned.

Kona is all bustling and ready for action; the biggest triathlon of the year is nearly upon us, and there are 1800 Ironman athletes assembled on the volcanic Island to get the race underway on Saturday morning.

I have gradually, year by year got more ‘into’ the Ironman vibe – and this year especially, after racing in the States a few times. It’s just simply the biggest triathlon out there and one I now appreciate the size of. I think it’s almost a good thing I didn’t manage to get to the finish at Sherbourne last month – as if I had been offered a slot for Kona I think it would have been hard to turn down – simply because it’s Kona!

Anyway; anything can happen on the day, it’s the nature of the beast as they say, but I like to speculate as much as the next punter. Who’s gonna win? Who’s gonna come from ‘nowhere’ a la Chrissie Wellington last year, and what might go wrong, similar to Normann Stadler last year.

For the men: winner, i’m going with Chris ‘Macca’ McCormack, although i think Craig ‘Crowie’ Alexander will push him hard, just like last year. I’m excited to see how Andy Potts shakes it up – I can’t imagine him doing anything other than stretch the swim; it’s how he races, plus if Beji Sanson starts (he was 3rd at Brazil) there is a very formidable swim duo right there. I’d expect a couple minutes at least. But who knows; currents and the swell all factor in at Kona; plus it’s a non wetty swim.

If he doesn’t blow his doors wide open on the bike, Normann Stadler will be in the hunt, but I’m only saying top 5, along with Eneko Llanos – he’s been close to Macca twice this year, so again, I think he will be in the hunt. So that’s my top 5. No doubt be all wrong, so I won’t be looking to place any bets!

Other notables I wouldn’t be surprised to see mixing it up and finishing top 10 are American Chris Lieto, German Faris Al Sultan, Aussie Luke Bell and after a few poor years, and possibly his last ‘real’ hit out - Kiwi Cameron Brown.

For a wildcard shot, I’m going with Brit Paul ‘Amos’ Amey. He’s just won World Short Course Duathlon, so he is clearly in shape. Other than Macca and Crowie, he is actually one of the few guys there to have really hit the top tier of short course racing; so I wouldn’t be surprised to see him giving it some. Possibly top 5-8 shot, but probable off the radar shot. Good luck also to the other GB guys racing pro.

For the girls; winner – Chrissie Wellington. Failing a mechanical or other problem, it’s a no-brainer for me. I’d love to see Leanda Cave get up there in the mix. She made 8th last year, and it went largely unnoticed due to the amazing result from Chrissie. Bella Camerford could go top 10, I hope she does, it would cap a tremendous year for the Aberdonian.

Kate Major, Jo Lawn, Belinda Granger plus that girl who broke the World Record no doubt will be somewhere in the top 10. In case you hadn’t noticed, I’m not much clued up on the girls side of racing…