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Victory at Ironman 70.3 Mallorca
I’m writing this from somewhere just above Cloud Nine, having won my first Ironman 70.3 title in Mallorca this weekend. Very pleased! Going into the race, I knew I was in good shape – I’ve been swimming well, my cycling remains strong and I’ve been working hard to improve my running. This, combined with two good results already this season (at TriStar Nevis and Abu Dhabi) were all good confidence boosters. Triathlon can be such a lottery, though, that going into a race in good form sometimes doesn’t mean that much…
On race morning I was struggling to get myself suitably “revved up”, but once in the water that soon changed. I’ve been working really well with Dan Bullock at Swim for Tri and had plenty of technique pointers to think about. The 1900m flew by and I was soon stripping off my wetsuit and making my way through T1 (in 2nd place at this stage).
Mallorca is famed for its cycling and the bike course here had certainly got people talking. We’d driven the course a few days before the race and, in hindsight, I think it was actually harder driving it than riding it! The combination of the 15km climb up to Lluc, the hairpin descents off it and the 40km TT style ride back into T2 meant it was definitely a cyclist’s triathlon. My plan was to ride to power up the main climb then see what was left in my legs on the final TT home and fortunately there were a few drops of juice left in the engine to wind things up a little ;-)
I’d taken the lead at about the 60km mark on the bike course, so had no clue what was happening behind me after that. I knew there were some nifty runners behind me, so I was only too aware that the run was going to involve some serious work – both mentally and physically. There have been so many occasions in the past when I have come into T2 in the lead or in a strong position and have faded/lacked confidence in my running/not achieved the result I’m capable of.
This was one of the reasons why I began working with the Running School in London at the start of this year. Mike Antoniades and his team have been putting me through it since January. At first, we worked on technique and strength and now it’s technique, speed work, strength and a whole lot more. In the past few weeks, some of this has really started to “click”, so much so that at my last session I was delighted to hear Mike say “I think you’re going to surprise yourself in Mallorca”.
As I ran out of T2 in Saturday’s race, I wasn’t dreading the 13.1miles which lay ahead. For the first time ever, I was feeling confident, relaxed and ready to get stuck into them. All the usual things Mike shouts at me (sorry Mike, I mean “says to me”) while on the treadmill at the Running School, I could hear on a loop buzzing through my brain.
The fact there were so many Brits racing also meant there was a huge contingent of British supporters who were terrific at giving me splits, cheers and high fives each lap. The energy I took from the crowd was awesome, so a huge thank you to everyone who was supporting on Saturday. It makes a massive difference! On the 4th and final lap I knew the girls in second and third place were closing the gap and I knew if I didn’t dive into the hurt locker and shift things up a gear that I could lose a race which was so very nearly mine. As I made my way into the last kilometre and towards the finish chute I could see I was clear and would take the win. RESULT! It’s all a bit of a blur now: loud music, people screaming, high fives, commentators gabbling in Spanish – BOOM! That’s the tape, I’ve just broken it! And I’ve won! Happy days. My first Ironman 70.3 title!
Now it’s time for some recovery before Switzerland 70.3 on June 5th then UK 70.3 on June 19th. I’ll be back on the blog again soon and will no doubt be Tweeting too…
Happy training and racing
EK
Tears, and lots of them, at the sight of you holding up that finish line tape. Those now famous words that you and Oz exchanged atop the bridge on Key Biscayne last year come to mind: Look where triathlon has taken you this time!