Breaking the tape ….

Sunday was a long time in coming around for me. I didn’t really have that much of a ‘time off’ period after Clearwater. I was unhappy with how I raced there, and certainly didn’t feel that my 20th place was justification for the training I had been putting away. So we re grouped in the Shire and formed a plan; win SA 70.3. It wouldn’t be easy, but I felt I could stay in Stirling till Xmas whilst working on the swim/run combo and then top up the bike miles with a solid 2 week hit out once here in Stellenbosch.

I feel that it went to plan. – Easy to say that now after I have won isn’t it! I have had the best part of 6 weeks really solid, consistent and enjoyable training and so I started to believe that I was able to win. Also, I’m really lucky to have had such lovely support at home in Stirling from Blair, Gordo and Ali in particular, but also from so many of the Stirling Tri Club too … so often I had folk giving me reason to believe. It’s not something I am good at – a Scottish charachteristic perhaps? – but I am endeavouring to make 2010 a year where I become just that – good at believing at in myself. – Mum, dad and my best friends have been doing it years, but I seem to have struggled with the concept at times.

Race morning came, and it was a beautiful day to race. Clear skies, sunshine, loud and excitable crowds and a tough, challenging race course to get stuck into. Perfect. The swim had a decent swell to it – the Indian Ocean wasn’t calm by any stretch, and so I was happy. I am no expert in the surf, but the harder the swim is for me, its always going to harder for the weaker swimmers. I exited the water in 5th place, having missed the ‘wave’ taking us back into shore – just like that I was 25sec down to Anton Storm whom I had just been swimming alongside. I guess he grew up playing in the waves! I didn’t.

Once onto the bike I did my best to execute my race plan. – Ride away from the 3 guys I had grouped with. 10ks, 20ks and 30ks rolled by and still I was out front with the 3 of them strung out behind me. – Never once coming to front to help me push the pace and fend off the guys riding from behind. – Including home favourite James Cunnama, whom I was certianly wary of. However, as we made the turn at 45ks it became apparent why I hadn’t been able to ride the guys off my wheel … there had been a helluva a tailwind. And now there was a even more brutal headwind to negotiate. Myself and Brad Storm set to work and quickly opened up a sizable gap. By T2 we had built minutes on the couple we dropped at the turn, and I was nearly a clean 5 minutes clear of James. I reckoned it was going to be a reasonably safe bet I could control the run from the front from there on in.

Not so. As has been the case in a number of my 70.3 this past year, I just couldn’t get going during the first 6-7ks of the run. Brad, to his credit, and way outside any previous run form that I had witnessed, steadily put 30 seconds into me. By this point I had seen James running in the opposite direction, and I could see he was moving very well. None of this was in the outline I had for the run half an hour before whilst finishing my ride, and so after a well timed talking to myself, a few extra cups of coke and a gel, I started to ease into a good pace.

By 12ks I was leading the race and feeling strong again – Brad having appeared to implode badly. Good news for me at least! However James was serious eating time into me, and by the final turnaournd with 3ks left I was starting to wonder if he could close the gap. It was a daft way to think, as in reality he was still nearly 2 minutes behind me, and there is no way someone is pulling 2mins out me in 3ks when the win is at stake! I had one further talking to myself and started to enjoy the support of the crowd into the final mile. – The South Africans clearly love their sport, and they are without question very knowledgable multisport fans. It all helps to get you across the line I can confess.

A massive well done to my good friend Mari Rabie who stormed to the win with a seriously fleet footed run in her first ever 70.3 race! – And it was just ‘for fun and training’ she tells me? Watch out when she actually focuses on these things thats for sure. And lastly, but not at all least, my roomy out here for the last 2 weeks, Toby Jameson. He pulled out 6h place in a race that he really probably shouldn’t have started, let alone finished … he had been battling ‘tummy’ issues all week leading in, but he hung tough.

It was a great w/e – one I will remember for a long time. Still got the smile on my face now. Thanks so much for all the many many messages, txts and emails over the past few days. It’s been a bit overwhelming!

Edinburgh Castle - an imposing obstacle back in the day!

There was even time for some ice cream at the gates of the castle amid the seating recently built for an Oasis concert. It tasted good!

Tomorrow I will be back in Edinburgh, but only to get the plane to Zurich via Heathrow. I am off to St Moritz for train for a month or so. I have been before, but only for the afternoon and a wander about. It was misty and rainy that day, so we could only walk about the town trying to escape the wetness. – I don’t remember too much other than there being a load of designer shops and menus in Russian!!

Fingers crossed there won’t be similar weather this time around – I have visions of clear blue skies and snow capped moutains. Only time will tell, but I will keep the site updated as best I can with some training snippets.

We went mountain biking at the w/e at the excellent Glentress down past Peebles. We have had Mari staying this week – returning the favour in some small way for all the weeks I have stayed with her and her family in Stellenbosch, and we saw this cool VW camper. – There is a Life Is Good shop in Stelly, so it seemed worth a picture and making this link.

It’s been a finishing off with one block and starting up with another different one these few days. – Racing has been wrapped up for the time being, and consistent training is gradually beginning again.

Saturday was day of ‘everything catching up with me’ – everything being the 4 races in the past month and the 10+hrs of racing over the previous two weekend. Nonetheless, we did have an eventful morning, in an unconventional sort of way. – We chased ducks all round the garden. Somehow, a flock of ducklings had ended up in the back garden – and they must have trekked the (for a duck at least) mammoth journey down from the university loch (at least a Km) where they presumably came from.

Long stroy short – the duckling were easy enough to gather up – cardboard box and a little plastic tray with some water kept them happy enough. The mother duck?? Now that was a test in skills of capture. Sadly we lacked such skills. Nearly 2 hours later – after having clambered over most of the neighbours garden walls trying to catch the damn thing – I had to give up and admit defeat. I upturned the cardboard box and left the duckies to waddle around happily after their mum. They were adorably cute however!

they couldn't all fit in the 'bath' though

Yesterday I got back into some normal aerobic training after a week of bits and pieces. – 5k swim, 50k bike and 12k run around the North Third which was absolutely stunning. – It was in fact the first time I have ever stopped to cool off and dunk my head in the water during a run, and I have had countless runs up there over the years.

The weather really has been superb here in Stirling over the past wee while. Despite this, I will be leaving for the next month to go train in St Moritz, Switzerland. Altitude is something I haven’t really done in a long time – in fact the last time I was higher up was in early 2005 when I spent 3 months living in Glen Innes, Australia. (The given-the-name-not-too-surprisingly Scottish Capital of Oz; so I was very much at home!). We only lived at 1200m then though, and couldn’t ride much higher than 1400m … so it wasn’t really ‘true’ altitude. Despite this, when I ‘came down’ I had some of my best results to that point. St Moritz is a much more useful elevation – the village itself being at around 1600m with the oppertunity to ride very high indeed – the Stelvio pass in nearby Italy reaches to 2750m.

With 4 weeks training up in the mountains it will be interesting to see what effect it may have on my results when I resume racing again in August. I will be training with Tim Don but there will be a few other guys and girls making use of the lack of oxygen. I am looking forward to it.

Caught in the act ….. that there on my lap is a pie. A chicken pie. I think if nothing else, South Africa has an affinity with Scotland in its love for the Pie. The things is I would never usually eat a pie at home.  Funny really that when I ride the 4 Passes route – all 128 hilly K’s of it – I feel that eating a pie is justifiable. I blame Will Clarke to be honest. For he started the trend this time last year!

I forgot to bring my camera along for the ride, so I have stolen the pics that Dan Hugo snapped. The ride was completed alongside Dan, Mari – my housemate, Johhny Kritzinger – who’s house I lodged in for a month during my stay in S’bosch last year, and we also had Christoph Sauser along for the first hour. However he turned round when the hills began at Sir Lowry’s Pass (the 1st Pass of the ride) – these multiple World Champions huh!? I should note that he rode it solo the day before in 4 hours and 10 minutes … which could well be record time. Myself and Will Clake may attempt a two-up to challenge that time in Feb when he pitches up…….

Some views that Dan took of the ride below:

And finally – the last descent dropping us back into Stellenbosch; Hellshoogte – representing the ‘4th Pass’: