ICAN Mallorca

Race Report

I had been looking forward to this race for quite some time and after actually being able to do a half decent run at Bala was quite optimistic of doing a decent race even though I had done very few running mile over the previous 6 weeks due to the Achilles injury.

The plan for the race was to have a good swim (Swim Like F**K and hope I get out near the front), then during the bike I was planning on cruising the first part if I found myself in a good pack and then push the last 20 miles and try and put some time into the others. If I wasn’t in a good pack then I would have no choice but to work hard all the way round if I was to get a decent result from the race.

The run was just going to be about survival, lack of run mileage meant it was always going to be hard but I hoped to hold a fairly decent pace all the way round (6m15 minutes per mile pace).

Nutrition wise I was hoping to consume around 90-100 grammes of carbohydrates an hour which works out to be about 1.2 -1.3 grammes of carbs per kilo of bodyweight or roughly 410 kcalories. I took clif products with me as I new these were easy to digest from previous races and feel like they give me lots of energy especially when I get on the run which is where the races are won or lost. I try and alternate between 1 bar and 1 gel every half an hour as well as energy drink and the occasional clif shot. I like eating solids on the bike more as I find that they are more wholesome and when you get on the run gels are the only practical option.

Any way I better get back on to the race before I put you to sleep. The race started off really fast on the swim and I found myself on some good feet however when we went round the first buoy 1/3rd of the way round the course I lost them and drifted backwards into another pack where I stayed until the end of the swim. I came out of tranisition and was told I was in 15th place which was lower then where I had hoped to be but I didn’t worry I just put my head down and smashed it. I ended up catching some chopper who though he would sit on my wheel. To be fair he was doing it legally but I didn’t want to be towing anyone round so after a while I signalled for him to come through and when he came past I said 10 minutes and basically me and him took turn doing 10 minute each until t2 where we were in 7th and 8th place. Onto the run and I felt o.k for about 1 mile and then the heat which was just ridiculously hot started getting to me. Not to worry I tought theres supposed to be aid stations every 2k where I can get some water. However the first 2 aid stations didn’t have any water which was just ridiculous, they tried to give me an orange segment which I don’t know what the f**k that was going to do when I was melting. I was forced to stop at some Spanish persons house on route and said aqua, aqua, she ran in and came out with a bottle of water and off I went again. The next aid stations had water which was o.k and nothing much else happened until I got to the turn and I was absolutely dyeing for the toilet and unfortunately it wasn’t a piss. I tried to run but just couldn’t, I looked for somewhere to go but the run route runs parallel to the beach in palma and was packed. I though god I’m either going to have to s**t myself, walk or run across two 3 lane roads go for a dump and carry on running. I picked option 3 lost one position but at least I could carry on.

I ended up coming home in 10th place I lost a few places on the run and managed to catch some people up who were having an even tougher time then me.

Looking back at the race I don’t think really hot conditons are for me give me rain and wind any day of the week. Also on the bike I took it more on the conservative side as I wasn’t sure how hard I could push the bike and didn’t want to try a new strategy in a big race, I did fritton Viking triathlon the week after this as an experiment to see how hard I can push the bike and how I will feel doing two halfs on consecutive weeks. Oh and Eneko Llanos won the race who is racing in Kona this weekend.

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