Korean Capitulation

It is now proven that if athletes start a race in 42 degree heat, at least 1/3rd of the starters will wither, idle and drop painfully; just check out the results from Sunday's race in Incheon (which was obviously also a bit long too). Incheon served perhaps the most brutalist conditions in existence, just ask those who collapsed or DNF'd. Nevertheless, the strong survive and I was happy to walk away with a win in my last race of the season.

The swim was weird for me and I didn't feel normal. I didn't have much motivation to train after Tiszy 2 weeks ago, and only swam once in the 2 weeks leading into this race. I still managed to start well though, despite half the field going off seconds before the gun (see old mates foot in the bottom right corner :0 ). I clawed my way through the dogfight and led through the first lap. The hot water was really getting to me so I dropped back so I didn't burn myself to quickly.

We had a good group of about 12 guys out onto the bike, and we worked really well to put about 5 minutes into the chasers. Gaps like that don't happen every day, so we were all pretty psyched to get out there and belt each other on the run. I think I was a bit too excited, and set an ambitious pace considering the heat. I ran by myself for about 1km before Sam Betten caught me, passed me, and kept going. I was caught by 2 other guys, found my rhythm again and began to run with some feeling. There were little rolling hills each lap so it was really tough to keep driving the legs at a good cadence. Anyway I knew I was racing for 2nd place by the time I hit the last lap, and was dancing with the Czech guy that sat on me the whole way. After about the 4th attack I broke free, and battled to the line ahead. I finished, broke the tape, collapsed fought another battle for the next hour not lose consciousness. I was informed that I won just after I power hurled on a Kazakhs shoe, after Betten had consequently collapsed at around the 9km mark. I had no idea Betten dropped out, and it didn't even click when I broke the tape that I had won. I dip my hat to to Betten though, I almost met the same fate! While I was on the ground, I could hear more people around me collapsing as they were finishing, and one girl even went into a fit. 3rd place was even absent from the podium presentation as he was admitted to hospital.

I've decided that I'm taking some well deserved weeks away from the sport, and will be rediscovering the things I have forgotten about since my last break in September '09. It was great to finish the season off with a win, and I'm already anticipating getting my legs back on for Noosa in late October. I'll still be getting around though, with a trip to New Zealand this weekend, India in October for Commonwealth Games (to watch my sis), and many other things in between. It's going to be an exciting few months for me, hopefully some of which I can share with you on this blog. In the meantime, here's some bonus shots of some Koreans having fun on the weekend :)

Thanks for reading, and the support.

 

Oh and too the guy who stole my race flats and sunglasses that were lying next to me while I was on the ground after the race.... you know what will happen when I catch you wearing them!