Race 14. Le mans triathlon
It feels like I did this race ages ago. I had done the same race for the past 2 years being 
successful in 2006 and coming in second in 2007. I wanted to win again this year, and at all costs not finish third, as it would represent a backwards slide! There were a fair few guys to worry about this year. Ah, who am I kidding, I worry about anyone wearing runners at a race, but there were a few guys that were higher on the priority list than the 68 year old, one arm guy who was staring me down and doing fancey stretches in his 1977 track suit. One of my big concerns was Jose Juland. He had out riden (or to be more precice, annilated me) in Laval a few weeks before and since then had won a half ironman and then finished 4th at Nice Ironman. He aint the greatest swimmer a
nd so I knew I would be riding all the bike leg with my head backwards looking for him. In the swim I found myself fighting a few guys in aroung 10th but saw that whoever was in 3rd had lost feet to two guys who were now swimming away. I swam as hard as I could and got back to the two leaders, then remained there for the rest of the swim, occasionaly looking back to see the others dropping further and further behind. I got out the water in third, just behind Adam Fitzakeley and the both of us took off up the road and out of sight. It was no drafting so we kept our distance. He was riding strong and after a while he started to pull away. By the end of the first lap he was about 15 seconds infront of me. We did the u-turn and then rode back up te hill passing other guys as we went.
And then all too soon I saw Jose. He was hooking along and by my estimates was about 1 minute behind. Well I was woried enough to push harder and for a while Adam was in eye shot. With less than 10km to go I started to die a little, Adam was gone and Nicholas Therreau had got to me and gone passsed. Ok I need to stay focussed! What are your srengths??? ---- Aaalright, what about weekneses? Im skinny, get out of puff easy.... but wait thats not going to help now, what can I do...I once did a Rubix cube. Thats not helpfull, and besides thats a lie, I just changed the stickers. So, with no solution to the bad riding problem I just stuck with Nichola. It was a great move as we entered transition just 30 ish seconds behind Adam and Jose was nowhere in sight. I ran solid but too tired to get to Adam. At the start I thought I could but after 5km I just wanted to finish. I crossed in second. Jose finished 3rd and Nicholas 4th.
successful in 2006 and coming in second in 2007. I wanted to win again this year, and at all costs not finish third, as it would represent a backwards slide! There were a fair few guys to worry about this year. Ah, who am I kidding, I worry about anyone wearing runners at a race, but there were a few guys that were higher on the priority list than the 68 year old, one arm guy who was staring me down and doing fancey stretches in his 1977 track suit. One of my big concerns was Jose Juland. He had out riden (or to be more precice, annilated me) in Laval a few weeks before and since then had won a half ironman and then finished 4th at Nice Ironman. He aint the greatest swimmer a
nd so I knew I would be riding all the bike leg with my head backwards looking for him. In the swim I found myself fighting a few guys in aroung 10th but saw that whoever was in 3rd had lost feet to two guys who were now swimming away. I swam as hard as I could and got back to the two leaders, then remained there for the rest of the swim, occasionaly looking back to see the others dropping further and further behind. I got out the water in third, just behind Adam Fitzakeley and the both of us took off up the road and out of sight. It was no drafting so we kept our distance. He was riding strong and after a while he started to pull away. By the end of the first lap he was about 15 seconds infront of me. We did the u-turn and then rode back up te hill passing other guys as we went.
And then all too soon I saw Jose. He was hooking along and by my estimates was about 1 minute behind. Well I was woried enough to push harder and for a while Adam was in eye shot. With less than 10km to go I started to die a little, Adam was gone and Nicholas Therreau had got to me and gone passsed. Ok I need to stay focussed! What are your srengths??? ---- Aaalright, what about weekneses? Im skinny, get out of puff easy.... but wait thats not going to help now, what can I do...I once did a Rubix cube. Thats not helpfull, and besides thats a lie, I just changed the stickers. So, with no solution to the bad riding problem I just stuck with Nichola. It was a great move as we entered transition just 30 ish seconds behind Adam and Jose was nowhere in sight. I ran solid but too tired to get to Adam. At the start I thought I could but after 5km I just wanted to finish. I crossed in second. Jose finished 3rd and Nicholas 4th.
Must give a special thanks to Damien in TOCC for being kind enough to take Ella and I to the race. He was a great help as I didnt want a repete of the 2006 journey (refer to Le Mans blog 2006)
posted by Kristian at 12:09 PM
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