My first 2 races triathlon races of the season couldn't have been raced in any different conditions. Cupar 2weeks ago was a glorious spring day, warm with no wind. Compare that to Gala last weekend where race day conditions were cold, wet and windy. So cold that people were dropping out after the bike due being frozen.
Cupar was the ideal racing conditions, yet I didn't feel I raced to my best. After a good swim with probably my equal best ever pool swim, then it was on to the bike with the competition in sight when I left transition, I was confident I could keep with them on the rolling roads of Fife after my strong bike at the Stirling Duathlon. However I just didn't seem to happen, no matter how much I tried to push on on the bike I just seemed to loose ground, before being caught coming to the tail end of the bike by Andy Fish and Ian Logan, who I thought I was well clear of.
Going into the run I thought I was sitting in 7th places and knew I had to hammer the run to get anywhere near the podium. Leaving T2 with Ian Logan I pushed hard to try and get away from him from the start and catch Andy, which I succeeded in doing however was unable to run anyone else down and was was sure I would finish in 5th. However it turned out that David Ogg who I thought was in front of me, was actually behind me and Steve Clark had punctured on the bike, so I finished in 3rd. Pleased with the placing, but not 100% pleased with the performance, hopefully Gala would be better.
Going into Gala I wasn't optimistic about a great race as I picked up a sore throat after Cupar and only trained twice the prior week to racing. Perhaps that forced rest was the best thing for me as come race day I felt great, I had a PB in the pool and on the bike I felt like I was able to maintain I high power through the duration of the race, which was reflected in my power tap date with a higher average from Gala than I had in Cupar.
Coming off the bike I was in 1st place with Andy Fish hot on my heals coming in to T2, after both our run performances the previous week I was confident in out running Andy and the rest of the Field, however still pushed on hard for the first of 2 laps over a great cross country run course. Coming to start the second lap one of the marshalls said in was in the clear with no one in sight, so I was happy that my fast first lap had been successful in putting distance between myself and the rest of the Field. Coming down the home stretch I was feeling confident about selling my first win of the season, until I heard some footsteps behind me, who to be honest I thought was a back marker trying to sprint me, so I kicked to get to the line first. As it turned out the athlete chasing me down wasn't a back marker, he was a modern pentathlete giving triathlon a tri and doing it rather well as he had ran me down for over 1minute, a very impressive run. Saying that though I did manage to hold on for my first win off the season, and was very happy with all elements of my race, everything went well except from my second transition, my hands were that numb I struggled to get my trainers on. Hopefully the weather wont be so bad next time and my entire race will be perfect.
Thanks to East Fife tri and BSLT for organising 2 great races.
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