Season's End in Shepparton

I'm stretching things a bit blogging two weeks after an event, but amid some pretty tardy (and some unintentionally omitted) entries this year it's just a good thing I'm getting it done. Shepparton was my last event for 2013, and while it came and went quite quickly in the moment, it feels like this season has stretched over an eternity and it took 50 phases of the moon for Shep to arrive.

It must be said that I've never raced this late into a season. To be racing from April to November is a big ask from a young body, but I wanted to make it happen for a number of reasons. Thinking I would have been racing from March onwards if I didn't have a stress fracture that month seems a little daunting, but with a well planned season incorporating intermittent rest & builds, it's entirely possible to race for that long a stretch, most international Southern Hemisphere athletes do it perennially. One thing I wanted to do this year was race more in front of an Australian crowd, and the end of year string of events gave me this opportunity. I had a weird & unexpected late season peak in Port Macquarie in October which kicked off the string of Australian events. After my win in Port it was quite obvious to myself that the body and mind were sliding out of shape & out of focus. Port was everything I wanted to do in a race this year, the feeling mid-race was impeccable. It was a huge relief to feel that way, so once it came and went the other races on the calendar (Noosa & Shep) seemed perfunctory. But with a daily metaphorical kick in the ball bag, I was able to keep things in a reasonable shape to compete at a respectable level in both races. I kept telling myself that I wanted one more win. While I can say things felt perfunctory after Port, the desire to win was/is always there, it's just training and getting out the door became that much harder. I wanted to win again for myself and my sponsors, all of which have shown unwavering support for me this year. But without a doubt I needed to stop and refresh, something that only an end of season break can service.

Shepparton & the Course

Shepparton is one of those races that everyone talks about. It's dubbed as 'the people's race', and come race day the moniker becomes intensely palpable. It's one of the most professional races I've done, with a really really cool vibe amongst a beautiful but harsh outback Australian setting.

The swim was dangerously fun but frustrating at the same time. It was a cool 17c/62f water temp, with a natural water composition as thick and colorful as a race morning movement down the colon. It's a 1.5 lap affair that sees the pros and some fast AGer's double up on slow athletes on the overlap, keeping things very interesting. Also, a long stretch of the swim is into retina burning sunlight. Like I said, dangerously fun...

While this bike course not my most favored spin, it's certainly more interesting than it looks. Reminding me somewhat of the Buffalo Springs course in the US, it's desolation and miles of tree lined arches are enchanting and inspiring. Rough chip seal makes it an honest course in the absence of any hills, and keeps the gooch yearning for those rare strips of asphalt.

The run course is the stand out of the three legs. Looping around the lake, the course follows a bitumen creek path through quintessential Australian eucalypt trees darting out of the ground like fields of asparagus. This is a hot steaming run, and like asparagus, its grinding length and heat will corrupt your urine (mine was brown after the race?).

The Race

Like I said earlier, my form was on the slide. Seldom is there a 70.3 on offer where there isn't at least a few 70.3 champions, or Continental/World Champions in the field. In this field I had the likes of Terenzo, James Hodge and Clayton Fettell to fend off, all with their own credentials but Terenzo standing out as the current 70.3 BOSS. Winning was always going to be a big ask, I'm running the worst I have in years but I still had the belief that if things went well I could pull it off. With Clayton in the race, it would seem like it was a perfect shot to get a good gap on Terenzo in the swim, and ride the hell outta' there to get a good buffer for the run. Though as the saying goes, nothing is ever as it seems. Always be ready to rely on no one but yourself to be where you want to be. This was one of those races where you could have had every belief that the race would unfold a certain way, only to have it dropped out the bottom like hemorrhoids.

I coughed up a lung at the start of the swim. Clayton went out hard, and I had to go with him. We gapped everyone instantly except for Hodge, who hung on for only another 5 minutes or so. Some sighting issues from Clayton mixed with course confusion from the lead paddler had us lose a lot of time, but we still exited with a minute on Terenzo. This was time we needed and hoped to build on.

I put socks on in transition and Clayton got a 15 second gap on me which took four or five minutes to bridge. I did it comfortably, but it still gassed me a little. Once I caught up, I sat on a for a few minutes before he started to slow a little. I thought maybe he was subtly telling me to roll through so I did, fearing Terenzo would ride up. I got to work and set a really good pace out front. I worked for fifteen minutes before I looked behind signalling for Clayton to take his turn. I slowed down a lot and waited for a pass. Another minute later I looked around and he was gone. I immediately refocused my effort contemplating a long solo ride, but it didn't bother me as I was feeling great.

40km down the road the power was still good, but the heart rate started dropping slightly. By the 45km turnaround I was pretty eager to see the gap on Terenzo and Hodge, and to my dismay it was roughly 90 seconds or so. I had put a lot of energy into that first lap and gained little. I knew the second lap was going to be a lot harder and mentally I crumbled in disbelief. I knew Terenzo was running like a champ, but he was also riding like a stud. Over the second lap my power really dropped and my heart rate followed. There was just nothing I could do about it, and I was getting out of the saddle every five minutes towards the end lacking comfort. Surprisingly I had only lost about 15 seconds on the second lap, I had every expectation that Terenzo would catch me considering how bad things got. If I was expecting to perform at a really high level I would be disappointed with my ride and my blowout, but considering the lack of conditioning my body had left and how late in the year it was I remain happy. Please see the file from my Quarq here.

The majority of the run was ugly. I have been running terribly since Wiesbaden, & after seeing Terenzo's display in Mandurah I knew that the win was out of scope with my narrow lead off the bike. I still had hopes for second, but I knew Hodge would catch me soon after Terenzo did. Once Hodge caught me, I was in a dogfight for about 5km before he dispatched me as easily as he caught me. I just had no hustle and no feeling. The weirdest thing happened at about 16km however, and with a flick of a switch the body turned on and I quickly caught up in an instant. Foot traffic on the course was now thick so it was quite easy to sneak up on James, but I waited for a good moment to pass with authority & slapped hands with Terenzo going back the other way, delighted that he hadn't totally embarrassed us with his foot speed. I enjoyed the last few km's running into the line having consolidated second place, but with a steep yearning for the pain to cease and the off season to start.

So this blog concludes my race reports for the foreseeable future, until I don the TYR suit sometime in March or April next year. I will still chime in on the Noosa Tri at some point, but it will be different from a race report. Thanks always for reading & those who had words of support for me before and after Shepparton, I love reading the comments and g-ups, I'm eternally thankful for all support!

More blogs coming soon, I swear. Cheers

A Win in Port!

True to form, here is a late rendition from my recent 70.3 win in Port Macquarie on the East Coast of Australia. Please read on!

The Course

It doesn't look like much, but the swim is a beaut. It's 1.9km in clear tidal waters, weaving through yachts and past mangrove swamps. If you've got time to spare, you can even spot a torrent of fish, turtles & crabs going about their business.

Port's bike leg is king beef. I never favour an out and back course, but this one is an exception. A two lap course, the first and last fifteen minutes of each lap is spent grinding up and down the undulating coastal terrain with spectacular views of the beaches, headlands and some forest. While the road is a brutally rough chipseal, I feel like this favors the stronger cyclists and makes for a more even race. Even those sitting in a pack have to really fight to maintain speed on this surface.

This run course is the only blemish to the race. It becomes interesting for a total of 10 minutes each lap (2 laps total) when they loop us up the breakwall and back over some hills. For the rest of the course we're thrown into the gallows on a slightly underwhelming out/back section. The course here two years ago was mint (follows the start of the bike course over the hills and along the coast), bring it back I say!


The Narrative

Port is a special place for me, I did my first 70.3 here two years ago. While the 5th place finish was a decent result, it was a terrible race & I went into it with even worse fitness. Though somewhere in my mind cogs, there was a part of me that came out totally happy and content. I did my first 70.3 in Port at a time when I didn't know where my place in the sport lay. I had just thrown my allegiance to ITU racing, and olympic distance non-drafting was good, but still doing little to hold my attention. It was after this race I knew that 70.3 would become my short to long-term pathway, and that made me totally content. To continue on with the story, Clayton Fettell totally dominated the race that year. He flattened the field like tamped coffee in a triple-shot espresso basket, & I was perpetually jealous. With the good Port vibes & memory of Clayton's performance still vivid, it was only a matter of time before I returned to have a crack at the title, and this year it fitted into the schedule nicely.

Without Clayton on the startline, my goal was to race solo the whole way. I knew I had great bike fitness coming off the back of the Vegas, but up to this point I had still never been able to race a 70.3 event solo, with either my mind or body holding me back from the performance I have been desperate to produce. I said it in the post-race interview, & to repeat myself, I think there has been hints of this performance in Port in my racing all year, and a wire-to-wire 70.3 win was going to happen sooner or later. Just hold it together FFS, okay? Well it all worked out, and just like that I came away with the win I have been dreaming of.

The swim was a normal affair; swim firm, enough to break up the field but not enough to damage myself. I caused separation from all but Joey Lampe, who's cheekily taken a swim bonus from me already this year, so I had to stay vigilant coming into the beach to make sure he didn't snatch this one from me either. Like Joey was probably thinking in Boulder Peak, every dollar counts when you're a young pro! No stress Joey, I still love you.

I wanted to show dominance on the bike straight away, and I got a small gap on Joey but he still had me in sights until the first turnaround at 22km. I felt great, and just rode to power & tried to not let the rough roads bother me, just maintaining nice strong circles with my feet. Joey soon dropped off after this and I was on my own. The power was good and I was confident. At the half way point, I think I had 2-3minutes on the next athlete through, top lad Tom Davison who's been showing authority on the bike all year. I was in my element, loving every second of the effort.

Lap two went by fast, mixing it up with the age groupers on their first lap, riding down the centerline to avoid collisions but taking advantage of a cheeky little slipstream when the opportunity was there. My Felt IA was the goods, I couldn't ask for a better collaboration between power, comfort & speed from a pushbike, and I was getting off on how many people were potentially admiring it as I rode past. Okay cool ya jets, it is a sweet rig though. I can't wait to see how many of these will take to the roads next season. My Quarq power file from the ride can be viewed here.

I think I came off the bike with five minutes on Tom Davison & Casey Munro, and about 7 minutes on the best runners in the field. I just did what I needed to do, and I held my lead by almost 4 minutes at the finish. I was really happy to see my buddy Sam Appleton claim his first 70.3 podium in 2nd place with a swift 1.15 run, and also great to see Joey Lampe hold onto third after a string of late season troubles (hatecrew for life).

It feels great to finally get my 2nd 70.3 win up on the board, and I look forward to attempting more titles in the future. Thanks so much to those who sent a message my way after the race, it always makes a a good result feel that much greater. Cheers!

                          

 All photos thanks to....

Port Macquarie News

Delly Carr

Grant Piper

Felt IA, An Australian First!

Last week I bought my IA into River City Cycles to give them an Australian 'first look'. The Felt Australia staff were present too, with this also being their first hands-on look at the new pushy (still not many around!). If you're heading to the Noosa tri in a few weeks, make sure to stop by the Felt expo stand to have a look at the bike for yourself. The photos and text are courtesy of Troy who works at the store...

This truly is a superbike - the level of sophistication and integration is phenomenal.

Building on the firm foundation of the successful Bayonet series, the new Dagger front end incorporates a shielded brake behind the cowl and internal routing for cables.

What the wind sees

The SMP Chrono is a shorter saddle, this may help on UCI compliant bikes to get the hips a bit further forward

Gloss accents along with matte frame finish is a nice touch

This stem is not a production model. An interesting story though - the first basebar was damaged in transit and cracked on the first ride (was a proprietary basebar & stem for the IA). A new proprietary 31.8 stem was required which didn't yet exist. It was Tuesday, and Josh was racing the 'Vegas 70.3 on Sunday. On the phone to Jim Felt, he had a new stem made & fitted 48 hours later 

Side view of the integrated bento box. The whole cover is made from flexible silicone, the height matches the profile of the stem

Quick access is via the cut slit, the port is for a hydration hose that goes into an internal bladder. The bladder is not available yet on production bike

The cavity is voluminous - Josh states he can fit 7 gels in there (without the tube of course) ideal for Ironman distances - no more taping gels to your toptube!

No, FRD is not Frog Racing Design, it's Felt Racing Development, which signifies this is their top tier product utilising TeXtreme 'Spread Tow' carbon fibre

You can see how much shielding there is for the front brake, with very little protrusion into the wind. The cowls are easily removed for access.

A visual characteristic of the layup method of the TeXtreme carbon fibre, is the unique broad weave - very much like a chequered flag. This effect is far more noticeable in natural light. In short, TeXtreme fibres are more ribbon like in their shape (as opposed to rounded like regular fibres are) so they can be packed tighter with less void between them, to yield a stronger composite. More info here: http://www.feltbicycles.com/blog/?p=2812

Neat cable exit point. Needless to say all cabling is internal - mechanical or electric

The rear brake is nestled under the cowl

Westy is like a big kid. Can't blame him - he's passionate about the bikes and Ironman (having raced about 500 of them  ) he's reached legend status

Seatpost simplicity. Bolts attach from each side, into a sliding captive nut plate inside the post, that sandwiches the frame and seatpost together. Large surface area for clamping reduces point loading and potential for overclamping. A clear cover clips into the slot, cut to length once you have your seat height

A bike like this, makes you want to put on a number again... hey boys? Josh won the 5150 in Galveston, Texas, less than two weeks ago. He took the bike with him to the dias, and was hounded by the paparazzi following the medal preso, all fawning over the IA. Not hard to see why

First Win of 2013 in Galveston 5150

I crossed the line in Galveston last Sunday with great pleasure & some sense of certainty that I had actually won, but I couldn't be too sure. I had to wait and see for all the others to cross the line! I'll spin the yarn in the following...

Galveston was my last stop on my nomadic 5 month tour of the US & Europe. After 70.3 Worlds, I stuck around at a friends place in Las Vegas and waited until Ashleigh arrived in direct from London WTS. We planned a little respite together, and gave some service to our sponsors at the annual Interbike expo. It ended up being a whirlwind week full of debauchery, intoxication and gambling (just kidding, we're model triathletes), with no moment to spare or relax as intended. I even managed to squeeze in a supersprint race in Las Vegas to little success, but it was a lot of fun on these tired middle distance legs. I arrived in Galveston in pretty rough condition with a cold, and many missed hours of sleep & training, but still motivated to make up for a winless 2013. 

When I arrived, the Galveston area was experiencing some large weather fronts getting pushed in from the North, dumping lots of rain and blowing enough wind to give Team Oracle another victory on the right day. Come race day, the RD decided it wasn't going to be safe to swim because of the choppy water so they called it off. By this point, I was so over the travel and still feeling ill that I didn't care what they did. I just wanted the race to be over with so I could get on that plane and start the journey home. 

The format was to be a bike/run, with TT start at thirty second intervals. Being #1, I led off first and was chased all day. To be honest, I hardly new any of the athletes in the field, and was just interested in racing my own race. I was still in some reasonable biking shape, but was getting frustrated when I wasn't putting any time into the #2 athlete Daniel Bretscher. Turns out he was fresh off a second place finish in Ironman Wisconsin and also riding very well. We battled it out & even splitted the whole 40km in the heavy heavy crosswinds and uninteresting roads of Galveston. Daniel ended up riding only 5 seconds quicker than me, but we both rode considerably clear of the rest of the field. I felt as if I had a good ride considering my undesirable lead up to the race, and rode at 316 average watts (65kg race weight). You can view my power file here. 

Onto the run, I knew I would have to put time into Daniel quickly to break his morale. The run course was really fun, full of corners, u-turns & technical sections. There were many chances to get some sort of split of the competition behind, and I knew I was putting time into Daniel but he kept pressure on me the whole way and made sure I delivered a honest performance to take the win. My travel buddy Brooks Cowan from Detroit was third. 

In summary, good move from the RD to cancel the swim. I really enjoyed the format of the race, it kept me on edge the whole time not knowing where anyone else apart from #2 in the formation was. Would be interested in racing this format again, but a swim would need to be added of course! Any more RD's out there fancy on making another pro race a TT start? Any interest in Australia? Ahh anyway, keep dreaming. Here's a few shots!

Thanks to the community of Galveston for hosting such a good event. My homestay Bel & George were very accommodating, as well as the locals who shouted Brooks & I dinner, Kim & Steve, owners of the local tri shop who showed us around and all the athletes who came up for a chat. What a blast! For now, it's really good to be home, bring on the end of season races in Oz. 

Cheers

Vegas 70.3- Taking the Good With the Bad

With a tear in my eye, I say goodbye to the 70.3 World Championship course in Las Vegas. As most people would know, the rotation of new 70.3 World Championship venues begins next year, making it the last year the event will be held on this spectacular course. If you've not read my race reports before, I always like to give a run down of the course with swim/bike/run maps & a short commentary on each, so please see my post from last year's race if you need to be bought up to speed on the course. There's also the race video to watch to kick things off!



I'm still yet to report on my race from Hy-Vee the week prior, but I'll get around to that next. It is difficult to write about a topic when the culmination of a years' work leads to nothing but disappointment, so let it be known that I got a drafting penalty early on in the bike in Hy-Vee which put me out of the race. With the focus of 2013 however always being on Vegas, and Hy-Vee merely serving as a well-paying primer for Vegas, I still had my eyes on the Vegas prize. I had dreamt of the race in Vegas many times, trained to the thought of the course many more, and desired a spot on the podium every day. With my setback early in the year from a fibula stress fracture, I gave myself every opportunity to build into the season to peak in form by September. I think I got this part right, but my race tactics left me in the gutter, literally. I finished the race in 33rd, under a big shadow from last years 7th place.

The day started perfectly. I think I was tapped on the feet only once or twice during the swim. I lead the swim form start finish after a great start. I breathe to the left hand side, so I always like to start right so I can see the spread of athletes after the gun, and judge my position easily. I saw Andy Potts line up next to me, so I must have been in a good place. I started hard, had a clear lead to my left and set about keeping the pace high the entire time. Jan Frodeno told me after the race that the swim was fast & that he was hurting, so that makes me feel king beef. Swimming at the front isn't always easy, and it's never clear whether others behind are struggling from the pace or doing it easy, just slowly letting you burn your matches.

It had been raining all morning, and I was hoping it would have cleared up by the time we got onto the bikes so the Vegas weather could do what it does best. I typically have my best races in the heat, when the stress across all competitors is at it's highest. High hopes left me disappointed, but still eager to get on with the job. I had managed to split the swim considerably, but there was still a lot of pack meat about. There's some good climbs straight out of transition, which typically brings the workers up the front, showing portants of the 90km ride in just one section. It was Tim O'Donnell, Potts and myself up front. We swapped the lead a few times in the first 15 minutes or so and then we hit the first downhill. I was set up the week prior on the new Felt IA, and without this trying to sound like a salesman, it felt incredible. I got off the brakes and took the lead again, notching up top speed on the downhills. At this point in the race last year, I was probably second to third last wheel in the pack, but was now driving the pace up front. With the media cars and bikes around, this was a pretty amazing feeling. I think my cycling has been steadily improving the last couple years, but I had bought my best to this race. The next time I looked around to see what the situation of the pack was, I was by myself, entirely out of sight of anyone else.

Was this my race plan? Go all out, bust everyone up less than a quarter way into the bike leg and hit it off by myself? Please don't think I was stupid enough to think I could go at this course by myself, I always knew I would need a couple (minimum) athletes to work with to have gas left for a fast run on a hard course. But would could I do, it was a World Championship, and I was now out of sight. Jim Felt always tells me he's waiting for me to do a Craig Walton and go mental off the front and dominate the race. With this thought in my mind, I couldn't let the opportunity go so I went for it. I held my watts steady, tucked as aero as I could and jammed.

At the far turnaround, I could see there was now one large chase group that I wasn't gaining much time over. It had the momentum of Sebastian Kienle, so there was little chance I was going to extend my lead but I wasn't phased the slightest. I was committed to riding at the front and I did so until he caught me at the start of the longest climb on the course. Unfortunately, this was the first point in the race where my legs started to feel heavy. It was always going to be a huge ask to ride with him but I gave it a go and didn't ever come out the other side. My watts jacked up tantamount with lactic acid, and it was soon clear to me that this was the beginning of the end.

(Ride file here)

After this point I switched into survival mode, and only just made it to the end of the bike at the time the chase pack caught me. As soon as I got off the bike, I knew I had nothing to give for the run, and my legs sadly made it through the half-marathon. However, with a smile on my face, I could reflect on the fact that I seized on an opportunity to win. With some more experience and some more years in the legs, I have no doubts I'll be able to race in this manner and finish the job, but just not in 2013.

So with the long campaign to Las Vegas over, I look forward to finishing off the season in Australia and having fun with my training into these events. I thank everyone for their belief and support, and know I'll be working harder next year to make it all count.

Cheers!

All photos credit to

Paul Phillips / Competitive Imagine

and

Timothy Carlson / Slowtwitch

4th in Wiesbaden 70.3

Time to get back into the blogging after a long mid-season blogattical. It seems to happen to everyone right!

On Sunday I competed in my only European race for the year, and probably the second most important race  for me next to Las Vegas. It was the European 70.3 Championship held in Wiesbaden, just East of Frankfurt. I'm told it's where all the rich Frankfurtans live if that makes sense, or where the rich Wiesbadens who work in Frankfurt live. Anyway, it was an neat little place to visit, and only 15minutes taxi ride from Frankfurt airport if your driver shows enough zeal on the Autobahn. 

I flew in on Friday from Vitoria (Spain) after completing part 1 of a heavy pre-Vegas block. I was a little fatigued on the start line, but made sure I had just enough freshness to be competitive in the race. Wiesbaden is notorious as being one of the hardest courses around, specifically the bike leg. It would be pointless to line up in such a competitive field only to deliver a sluggish performance. My main motivations behind starting the race was to race a field and course similar to what we will see in Las Vegas. 

The Course

The swim is a good change from the normal out and back course. There's a lot of corners to break the pack up and string things out. The only thing holding this course back is the 23c water temp, making wetsuits legal. WTC really needs to mature on this rule, 24c limit on wetsuits for pro's is embarrassing. I'd say the gaps in the field would have been a lot bigger if wetsuits were ruled out for this event. 

The bike course is legit. The first 40km is mostly flat & rolling, with the next 50km massing up 1,500m of altitude gain alone. The whole course adds up to 1,634m (5,361ft). Tell me another 70.3 course that matches this, Las Vegas alone only tips over 1,000m of gain. When you're not climbing, you're descending through tiny towns and around hairpins corners. The longest climb was about 15minutes long, and you can view it as the one split in my data. I had no idea where I was going the whole business end of the course, most of it remains a blur, just following the wheel in front of me. 

The run was one of the best courses I've done. Four laps is a good number for starters, and most of the course is on hard packed gravel and some asphalt road. Almost the entire course is shaded, and it's a nice 1-2% gradient on the way up and similar on the way down. There was also lots of crowd to keep everyone going!

The Race

It was a deep water start to kick off the day. I like a deep water start, I'm normally pretty good at them but was a bit sluggish off the line and settled in third from the front. The pace was solid, so I didn't feel a need to swim up to the front once I settled into a rhythm. This was a good thing because my swim cap fell off after a few hundred metres and the rest of the swim looked something like this every time I breathed or tried to sight

 My transition was shocking, I couldn't find my swim bag on the race to collect my gear for the ride, and I fumbled for a good 10 seconds with a careless wetsuit removal. I was #59 so finding my bag gave me grief in both transitions on the day. I started a ride a good couple hundred meters behind the pack so I had to dig to catch early. I think this took a little out of my legs and I had a hard time finding a rhythm most of the bike. We passed the 40km marker, still with the front group intact (Vasiliev brothers, Jan Frodeno & Matt Chrabot) but I thought things were improving. I was wrong! I was the lead wheel and we just began the ascent up a long 8km climb when Sudrie Sylvain came storming past. I knew he was a strong cyclist, so I hoped he bridged up to the group solo. I soon looked around and saw this exact view (probably seconds after this shot was taken) which was very disheartening.

We weren't blazing up the front, but we weren't mucking around either. It's just that when Sebe Kiele is racing, the whole dynamic changes. I think because conditions were very cool (around 17c / 60f) and the first 40km was relatively easy, a lot of athletes were able to latch onto him as he went neberwerfer up to the front. From this point until the end, the front group remained large, and the stupid hard course almost worked for the group instead of stretching things out. I think because the ups ad down were so frequent, athletes could sit in and recover for the next surge of pace. Athletes did drop off, but not many, and most of the key runners were left intact in the group. I though I must have been one of the weakest runners up the front, so I was happy to sit in and conserve as much as I could, which still wasn't much when Kienle is driving. The guy is just amazing. My ride data is here if anyone wants to look (race weight about 65kg).  

Just before T2, we climbed and descended the 8km beast I mentioned earlier, and I think this is where the group split up the most. Beginning the descent, you could easily spot the guys who weren't confident on the downhills and were beginning to drop wheels. I did  my best to tuck and quite easily made my way up to Kienle's wheel, topping out at 96kp/h (60mp/h), and hitting T2 within seconds of the leader. I was happy to be up the front at this point in the race, but I still didn't rate my chances for a medal or good result considering how many good runners I was up against. Be sure though that I wont be writing myself off this like this again. 

Another fumble in finding my gear bag ensued but I quickly got my shoes on and was out the hatch with my mind focused on running my own race. Athletes were going blazers all around me, and Ritchie Nicholls looked like he was setting off for a 5km track race. Coincidentally, his fastest 5km lap around the course was clocked at 15.44, so it wouldn't surprise me if this was recorded on the first lap. 

My legs felt good, but not great. It wasn't until I completed two laps that I felt I could begin lifting the pace, and once I did, I was catching athletes quickly on the uphill segments. I've been doing a lot of shallow hill reps specifically for the Vegas course, and I think this worked to my advantage in Wiesbaden. I was in 7th, then 6th, and by the last lap I could see 5th place in my sights. All the while, athletes were blowing up everywhere and the chasers were getting fewer by the lap. The only athlete running through from the second bunch was bike/run stud Boris Stein. I caught 5th within a couple of minutes after targeting him and then out of nowhere I saw Kienle, and ran up behind him within another couple of minutes. I must have been negative splitting the shit out of this course because I never run through the field! It felt like a career highlight passing Sebe, and at this point I was 4th with only 2km to go. I held my gaps until the finish and celebrated like a German in the month of October all the way to the line.

I couldn't be more thrilled with 4th in my first European Championship 70.3, and my performance on such hard course. From here, I'll work on my recovery and then do a final short push into Hy-Vee & Las Vegas. But all things are looking in check for the big tests, and I'm more motivated than ever to test myself at the World Championships. As always, thanks everyone for the support and please check back leading into the big one to see what I'm up to before the big day!

Cheers

Photos available thanks too...

@photo: Sebastian Kuhn / drehmomentede

&

Daniel Kraft Fotografie