Well i'm in the thick of it now, both in peak race season and feeling that my form has finally started to come together.
I just came back from my 2nd lot of racing 2 races in 1 week.
1st stop was Rhode Island 70.3, i have raced here twice before and each time the course has been different to the previous year. 1've placed 3rd here 2 times from 2 starts so i was looking to try and get that 3rd place monkey off my back.
The swim start was good with David Kahn the eventual winner taking off like a rocket ship. He was lucky enough to get the lead kayak and seemed to be away for the day.
I was in no man's land, being out of reach from David and too far in-front of the others to help me guide my way. The sun was rising directly in the swim course, so i had real troubles navigating my way through the course, i lost too much time to David which was the difference in the end from myself wining and placing 2nd.
I rode well, but the only time i made some real distance up on the winner was the run leg, just a little too late in the end. But still had a great day and was happy to place 2nd after 2 3rd place finishers. (Hopefully one better next time :)
Racine 70.3 was the next stop on the race calendar, again just a week apart. The tricky thing about racing back to back is that you really don't know how your going to go till the actual race is under way.
What can i say, i had a great day. I swam with the leaders (Fraser, Steve Hacket and Rhodsey) and made my move straight away on the bike. I was pushing the pace really not knowing all day how much of a gap i got from everyone else. I was also thinking about Crowie, with a former world champ in the field and arguably the best runner in the sport i didn't want to have a running war with him that day.
Wasn't till about 3-4 miles on the run turn around that i new what type of lead i had.
I thought i had a race winning margin, but it was still early days with some great athletes in the field. I just tried to keep composed and hold together a solid run and eventually it paid off.
I'm so happy to get a win in Racine, especially how much history it has as one of the oldest Half ironman's on the circuit going around.
