71

If someone had told me at the start of the 2011 season that I’d have a hat trick of 70.3 titles by the end of September I’d have probably told them to keep taking their medication. A lot can happen in the space of a season – and a lot HAS happened in the space of this season!

Taking the win at 70.3 Augusta on Sunday was fantastic. Like Wimbleball in June, it was a race won on the run course which says a lot about the consistent run training I’ve banked and the great work I’ve been doing with The Running School since January.

After the frustration and disappointment of the 70.3 Worlds two weeks ago in Vegas (where I finished 8th but a four minute bike penalty cost me dear), I was “up” for racing hard again in Augusta come Sunday. Racing two 70.3s in as many weeks can be a little testing but I’d followed a similar training pattern which had served me well between Switzerland and UK 70.3s earlier this year (which were also a fortnight apart). Going into the race I felt quite tired, but knew that most of the girls racing would probably feel the same (well, that’s what I kept telling myself anyway!).

The Augusta race course seemed like a bit of a cheat’s triathlon on paper: a 1.2 mile down river swim, a flat/downhill 56 mile ride and a 13.1 mile run around central Augusta’s pancake flat streets. Easy, right? Wrong! Although the swim and bike were good fun, the run course made you work for it. Locals sat on their porches (just like in the movies) shouting “Good job y’all!” as the heat and humidity cranked up and slowly drained you of all energy. I’d come out of the water in second, moved into first through T1 and stayed there until the latter miles of the bike when American Heather Jackson, who finished 4th at Vegas, came storming through. I was told I was about a minute and a half behind Heather on the first mile of the run so I just concentrated on trying to run smoothly and conservatively and keep focused. The crowd support was great and I took a lot of energy from it, moving into the lead at the five mile mark and never looking back. After winning 70.3 Mallorca and 70.3 UK earlier this season, it was great to get a win in the US and I’m still smiling about it – especially as we’re now “on vacation”, cruising between LA and San Francisco in a convertible Mustang before flying over to Kona to watch the Ironman World Championships. Pinch me someone! Life is good!

Huge thanks to all of my sponsors and everyone who has helped me reach this point of the season in such fine form. You know who you are ;-D

I’m sure I’ll be back on the Wiggle blog again soon, but in the meantime I’m sure I’ll be feeding my Twitter addiction…

See y’all soon

EK