midway through the run at Clearwater - fresh like lettuce?

 A year really does fly by, and just like that, I have completed my second race at Clearwater. Once again I am pleased to be able to say I have a top ten finish for my efforts - crossing the line in 10th place on Saturday morning.

Given the improvement I have managed this year in terms of consistently solid results, I had every reason to believe I could build on the 7th place I achieved last year, however I knew only too well that there was strength and depth in the field assembled and I would have to up my game in order to be around the front with the boys come business time.

My final lead up to the race was great. I arrived in St Pete the week before and had a fun week hanging out with Julie, Toby and Joel and of couse our wonderful homestay Carolyn and Tim. I did some light training, tried to rest and relax, but still, come Thursday evening I was ready to just get on with the damn thing.

Clearwater is a strange race, unlike other 70.3s throughout the season due to not only the nature (extrememly flat) of the course, but also the athletes that race. - So many guys just don’t race that many 70.3s during the season. I mean I am by no means a 70.3 veteran, but I have raced a few now, and have competed against a fair few lads. However, whereas 25-30 would typically represent a large startline, there were over 60 registered pros this time - and rightly so as well, it being a World Championship and all. But it adds a different dynamic to the race, and makes for a tough time in thinking about possible finish positions.

My race plan was fairly straight forward. Try and stay towards the front. I reckoned I was swimming as well as I have all year, which seems to have stood me in good shape for the longer races I have entered. So although I had all the usual nerves before the start, I was confident I could get out of the water with whatever ‘front’ group materialised. I stood besides Luke McKenzie and Terenzo Bozzone on the far right, as I believe them to be amongst the best swimmers in the field. I had a clean start and before not very long found myself in clear water and then settled in 4th place all the way to the turn bouys. I knew Andy Potts was leading us, and I also knew I had gapped the rest of the field a little bit, but then I lost concentration and lost the feet. Rounding the 2nd turn bouy for the shore is very difficult in Clearwater since the sun is starting to rise and causes a terrible glare. In this instance, more than any other - feet are a good thing to have to follow! I passed one of the guys on the way back to shore and ran up the beach in 3rd place, making a bee-line for the change tent. So far so good.

I got out onto the bike, and much like last year, started to be passed by one after another after another guy around 3,4 and 5 miles….. which is a very nerve racking time, as you always fear the presence of the drafting officials. You see we are allowed 10m front wheel to front wheel as our legal non-draft zone, but out of common sense we are encouraged to leave say 12-13m. However this then means that an athlete from behind can rightly slot into your ‘gap’ therefore forcing you to have to back off - which means sitting up on the bars and free wheeling so as not to be in the draft zone. For the first 10-15 miles this process of jockeying for positions amongst the first 15 riders constantly happened and created what I referred to as the ’slinky effect’ where the group bunches and then stretches out every so often. However, once the speed of the race increased, nothing much changed thereafter, save for the odd pass, since the speed was simply too high for anybody to really be able to get by!

We had a dead turn at mile 20 ish and our group was large - possibly 20 guys, and by 25 miles Oscar Galindez had ridden to the front and the pace gradually ramped up. To add to the pace, the Timex bike prime was rapidly approaching at mile 32. I would liked to have been able to contest the ’sprint’ for the 00 bonus, but as I was languishing somewhere towards the back of the group, all I could do was concentrate on my race and stay focused. I was pleased to later find out my fellow Brit Joe Gambles had snaffled the bonus. Joe had ridden up to us very early in the race and put in a lot of effort at the front for most of those 32 miles, so well deserved his money. From miles 32 to 45 I was seriously hurting, and had to make some long and painful efforts to stay in contact, but so were others, and our group reduced in size to 10 athletes, This group included 8 of the final top 10 positions, so I am pleased to have been able to dig deep during that section of the race, which I feel was crucuial. Interestingly enough, this was the first time in the race that I had even seen Terenzo, and so he was clearly starting to execute his race plan whilst moving towards the front of the group. The final 10 miles for me were all about getting some water at the final aid station, taking on a gel and beginning to think about T2 and the half marathon ahead.

We hit Clearwater beach as a group of 6, roughly 40 secs back on 4 that had snuck away in the closing miles. - It would appear this was a smart and useful move for Terenzo given the final winning margin of just 30 secs. I started the run with Andy Potts and Joe, but knew pretty much instantly I didnt have the zippyness I needed to run the sort of time I felt was needed to compete for a top 5. After a mile I found my own pace, watched the others slowly pull away, and grabbed every liquid I could at the aid stations. For a while I was in 8th position, but then Andreas blew past me so fast he almost gave me a cold. 9th spot. At the first dead turn I saw I had a good gap on the others behind and thought only about getting to the half way point to have another peek at my gaps. All seemed good there, I mean I wasn’t doing my best Haille Gabreselasi impression, but I wasn’t too bad either. However at mile 10 and the final dead turn I was starting to hobble and then I rounded the cone to see Brent McMahon right behind. At 11 miles it was 10th spot. The final mile was hard work, and despite being a long ways in front of the next couple competitors I was still nervously looking behind. I think because you are running so slowly by this stage you don’t believe you can be out running anybody, even though the truth is that most folk are running slowly by then. I closed dramatically on Joe but I was going to catch him. We’re 1-1 for the season now!

So on reflection I think I did a decent job, all things being considered. Less than 5 weeks earlier I had my first cortisone injection above my knee, and so I lost a couple weeks of bike milage. I think those few extra miles would have helped give me the top speed I needed to ride my 2.02 bike split on the rivet as opposed to way off the scale! That extra effort during the bike without a doubt impacted on my run and dusted off the chance of a 1.15 or so half marathon that I knew I was in shape to knock out. Next year!