1.9km Swim 90km Bike 21km Run - Temperature 22oF pouring with rain!
Swim 29:19 - T1 04:41 - Bike 02:16:46 - T2 04:03– Run 01:28:27 Total Time 4:23:16
2nd 55 - 59 Age Group, 24th overall
I came back to Liuzhou for the last of my 2019 qualification races having raced there, won and secured my Kona slot in 2018. I moved up an age group this year and so if last year’s result was anything to go by then I could be 15 minutes slower and still cross the line in first. I had looked at the start list and my principal rival, Massimo, had already won his slot in Shanghai on October 2018 so I figured he wouldn’t be bringing his A game. I would still be racing for the win and wanted to better my bike spit at Colombo to prove to myself that the investment I had made in my bike fitness and aerodynamics was paying back. It would be my first race on the new P5, armed with a good deal of the aero bling I had spent hours researching and acquiring.
I slept well and felt pretty relaxed as we made our way to the start line. A combination of detailed lists and recent race practise takes a lot of the pre-race stress away. We were down at the swim start about forty five minutes before the start and it was hammering it down with rain to the point that I half expected them to call off the swim and maybe reduce the bike to a single lap, I suspect in the USA they would have done so. After a slight delay the rolling start commenced and I placed myself in the 25– 30 corale, looking for a low contact swim, and so it proved to be.
I pulled myself out of the water onto the ladders and up onto the pontoon, up the 82 step staircase before the 500m run to transition. I ran at a decent clip through T1 and grabbed the bike but then needed to slow right down as the ground was very slippery to the mount line. I hopped onto the bike and after a brief wrestle, my feet were in the shoes and the power was down. It was still hammering down and my visor soon fogged up with the high humidity so I opted to remove it and wave goodbye to 5 watts. I was excited to be on the bike and to see what I could do and the main problem I had, was keeping a lid on that excitement and the numbers. Each 10km ticked by in increments of 15 minutes or less and my concern was whether I would be able to run off these numbers but oddly it felt manageable, perhaps how a hard bike split should I thought to myself. I knew I would need to run well off the bike so the voice in my head told me to reign things in and ride within myself. The second lap was a minute or two slower and that felt easier, the margins are very fine. Before the race I told myself best case was 2:20 in these slippery conditions and 2:25 would be ok but I just kept motoring headlong towards two something teen. I was ecstatic to have bettered my PB bike split at Colombo by 7 minutes. Now I needed to go to work on the run and see if that bike time impacted my running.
I sat briefly in T2 and shouted at the cheaters in there that I had seen drafting, but they didn’t seem that interested in my protestations and explicatives, so I just got on with my race. I saw Mary at the 2km mark and she told me I was 3 minutes behind first place, I couldn’t believe it, I had just ridden the bike split of my life and I was still behind. I knew I had to run a solid sub 90 minute half marathon to ensure the win as that was pretty much always 5 minutes quicker than anyone else in the age group. I saw Mary again at the half way mark and the guy in front was only running 6 seconds a km slower than me so unless he folded I wasn’t going to catch him, but I couldn’t control that, I could only control my 100% effort. Turns out he is a former Pro athlete and world champion!
He didn’t fold and I crossed the line having given it everything. A top class swim, a record breaking bike leg and winning run time, but I hadn’t won. I had set a personal best at the distance by over 10 minutes at the age of 55, finished in the top 20 age groupers overall, improved my record bike time from last year by 10% but it still fell short by 47 seconds. I was thrilled with the performance but would have loved to get the Kona slot. The winner was a former French professional athlete and in a different league to me, it was his to lose.
I still have an exciting year of racing ahead of me and I am certain I can continue to improve and win.
