I finished in 4:03:31 (my target was 4:12:00) thanks to a good swim and my super-easy ride leaving enough energy in me to do a good run.
Pre-race
Fantastic pasta party / buffet at the Sheraton Grande the night before. Great food, and a table of Pro's were introduced. The whole "Celebrity" thing does't really turn me on that much but I do get a wee bit excited to be in the same race as the big names. Faris Al-Sultan, Chrissie Wellington, Mirinda Carfrae and Belinda Granger were all there. (btw Faris' bike had the most outrageous looking aero bars - they looked like he'd attached a model X-wing fighter to his stem!)
On the big day, on the way to the swim start, there was an old wrinkly unshaven guy with long tied-back grey hair, wearing a bright pink 2-piece "Growing Old Disgracefully" tri-suit - puffing on one last fag before the start. Have you ever seen anyone smoking on the way to a Tri start!! amazing!!
Swim
37:49. Beat my target by 7 minutes! This was by far my best ever swim, and I therefore moved up from my usual fairly quiet spot towards the tail end of the field, to be what felt like right in the middle of a big thrashing pack the whole way! Navigation was tough due to the rising sun. I got my left goggle lens whacked by someones arm and pushed my lens onto my eye as hard as it could be. The run across the beach into the lagoon messed up my ryhthm and drive, but I got back into it and was overtaking people towards the end.
Bike
On my trusty old road bike (I didn't trust AirAsia handlers with my Planet X in a soft bag) I stuck to my plan and took a leisurly Sunday-style ride around the 55km course. A few short sharp climbs from 8-12km. A few people walked. I didn't - I consider walking a bike up a hill to be failure. The number of very Pro looking competitors on P3C's, Zipps 'n disc wheels etc... passing me until quite a way into the ride made me think I'd dome a good swim, (or there's lots of poor swimmers with very "bling" bike gear!).
The local support was fantastic - the best I've experienced - lots of young kids excited by the spectacle of hundred's of crazy farangs (only 80 Thais out of 750 individual competitors in this race) riding by. There was some organised fanatical cheering too. I slapped palms at 30kph with numerous groups of kids. I love that - I'm having fun and at the same time giving a few secs of excitement to the local (and to be frank - generally under-privileged) kids.
At one point I came across a Thai policeman (in one of their rather militaristic uniforms) standing at the road side holding a TT bike with deep-section HED wheels. A great photo opportunity, but the time was not right. I caught a glimpse of the actual bike owner returning from behind a tree to get his bike.
Towards the end of the 55km, with the help of a gel and a headwind, and spurred on by being 5min or so down on my target bike time, I pushed on a bit, overtook the guy with the yellow and blue curly wig who'd passed me earlier, and headed into T2.
Run
I started my run just as Liz Blatchford won for the Pro women - hooray! - another Brit success!
I had a good run. Legs were fresh, no sign of cramps, and I was doing km's in a little over 6:00, which amazed me. This was the first run where I've found myself overtaking people, and I managed to average 6:21 per km to finish 12km in 1h 15mins, 9 mins inside my target.
The course was great. 2 x 6km loops, with music at the start and at 3km. About 1km on fairly narrow undulating tracks through wooded areas, a couple of km around a golf course (even on the fairways), and the rest on roads or within the resorts. With accurate km markers every 1km.
Result
My strategy worked, although I reckon I could have gone a bit harder on the bike.
Post race
Free Thai massage, without having to wait too long - wonderful! Nice food to re-fuel with too.
Wrap-up
I was only in Phuket for 26 hours! It was a great race. A kind of party/resort atmosphere. Well organised, great location - lovely water and good run course - but shame about the pretty awful road surfaces. Next year I'll be back with the family and for at least a few days.
That's it - nor more Triathlon this year. Next race - A'Famosa 2008?
3 comments:
Nice job, well done.
PS - the party after the race is normally very good in Phuket - well worth hanging around for.
I'll probably join you next year as it's been a while since I've done the race - as you say it's an excellent race
u didn't take pictures with the pros?? faris al sultan, chrissie!
congratulations! ya Bola2api is rite?u dint, take photos with the pros?
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