STRONG RACE AT BIG COW HALF IRONMAN

After my recovery from pneumonia I wanted to get back to business quickly to get on form for Ironman Uk in September. I knew that this would not be an easy task as 3 months out of action for an endurance athletes cannot be over come very easily, no matter what level you are. In the process of planning my training programme I figured out that I needed to do a Half Ironman prior to the longer event to sharpen up and see what my form is like. I didn't have any major targets although I did wish to do a fast time. Thanks to my friend William Livingstone and his partner Pam I could afford to go to the UK and do the BIG COW which is a Half Ironman distance triathlon at Milton Keynes.

I woke up and realised that it would be a wet race. The air was cool, and although I usually prefer cold weather, coming from boiling temperatures here in Malta it was a bit of a big drop in 4 days. The first major issue for me was what to wear to keep warm. It is different from an athlete used to warm weather to answer such a question. After some suggestions from Bill I decided that I needed a good cycling top and arm warmers... in other words a lot of time wasted in transition.

I started the swim in a very good position. I managed to find clear water and once I arrived to the first bouy after 300m I was with the second group of swimmers. I felt good all the way and registered a time of 28mins 30sec. I ran fast into transition area and I spent 2mins trying to put enough clothes to see me through the bike in one piece. On the bike I found quickly my rythm and started to catch those athletes who passed me at T1. Things were going according to plan until the rain started. I don't like cycling in the rain for two reasons, the first is I hate getting wet and cold, and the second reason is that the roads get dangerous especially a place you don't know that much.

It rained for about 1hr 30mins and I was feeling so cold that my legs felt without energy although I still managed to keep a good pace. I covered both big laps on the bike in 1hr 01mins and then we had a 20km loop where the rain had stopped and I started to feel much better. By the end of the bike I was around 9th position. Out on the run my legs felt stiff. It was both a mixture on tiredness and cold. I was over taken by a couple of athletes but my rythm was good. All 4 laps were very similar in pace. In the last lap I suffered from a stomach problem which slowed me down. At the end I did 4hrs 37mins and finished 12th overall. Not a bad effort but I knew that I could do better.

Certainly this will help me to build up my preparatioin for Ironman Uk. In the last week I took things easily to recover and now I am back into my Ironman block. I would like to take this opportunity to thank both Bill and Pam for helping me out during my stay in the UK.

Hope you are all ok

Dermot