TGP Basque Country Report

Apologies for a very delayed race report, I have no excuse for this really, for one reason or another it just didn’t happen until now!!

Overall it is fair to say that I had an average day last Saturday.  Against such as strong field the final result of 20th is a reasonable one but I am a little frustrated that I was not able to give something a bit more special on the day!

It was a very different race for me in many ways, firstly it started at 1500 rather than the usual 0630 which left me wandering around not knowing what to do with myself all morning.  I am sure I wasted alot of nervous energy in the process which can’t have helped matters.  The long (advertised as 2.5k but in reality was 3k) point to point swim was a beach start which was also something on a novelty and ended up being a bit of a shambles with half the field getting a decent head start on the other (guess which side I was on!!) and me getting a 60 second penalty for running into a marshal.

I didn’t swim all that badly, I spent the first kilometre closing the gap between me and many of the other pros that was created by the staggered start.  At this point I had worked my way on to the back of a pack of about 20 or so.  During the second kilometre the tide really took its toll and I spent a long time sighting the same bit of coastline, I did however manage to work my way up to the front of the pack I was with.  I could see a couple of groups up ahead by this stage but unfortunately wasn’t able to make up much ground on them in the final stretch.  By the time I had served my penalty and been sent the wrong way through transition I was well off the mark starting the ride!

Again the bike didn’t go too badly but I just didn’t have the something special it was going to take to rectify the situation I found myself in.  Along the flat coastal part of the course I was able to reel in a few of the smaller ‘climbers’ only to have them catch me again on the climbs!  I did descend very well though and was pleased, even if it did mean a very close call with the safety barrier :-$, to be putting good time into even the local athletes who knew the roads well.  This trend of making ground on the descents and flats but losing it on the climbs continued throughout the bike and left me somewhat in no-man’s land with no real gauge on what was happening in the real race in the packs up ahead of me.

Getting off the bike I knew by the time I had reached the end of the very long transition that my legs were feeling pretty jaded.  I was surprised that the first lap of the run actually went to plan and despite feeling awful I was holding a decent pace and running through a few competitors.  Unfortunately this did not last, well the feeling awful did!  The last two laps of the run were not much fun at all.  I did manage to hold on to the placing I had got in the first lap but that is about all there is good to say about them!

Overall, as I opened with, an average result.  Not bad given the seriously strong field but equally nothing special and some way off what I know I am capable of.  The performance did get me down a bit for a few days but I’m pleased to report that I am over it and looking forward to the national middle distance championships and the ‘cowman’ in 10 days time where I plan on restoring my pride!  See you there!