Eaton Super Sprint May 2007
I always like to use short races as quality sessions to prepare for big races I’ve got coming up so with Switzerland 70.3 now only two weeks away I headed down to Dorney Lake for a Super Sprint. I rode down with my younger brother Geoffrey and my mum followed in the car with all my race gear.
The swim went, well the best I think it’s EVER gone for me and hopefully is an indication that all the work I’ve been putting in over the last 2 years is FINALLY starting to pay off. Its also no doubt a result of the fantastic Orca 3.8 suit I’m using this season, which continues to be super comfortable whilst making me faster. (I’ve swum PB’s in both races I’ve used it in now!) I went hard but for once, this actually resulted in my going faster and I managed to exit the water a mere 30 seconds down on the leaders… for me this is a MASSIVE improvement (normally well over a minute). This is just ducking under 20min 1500 pace and whilst I’m not able to keep this effort up for that kind of distance yet, I’m sure than it will now come… and at some point this year!!!
Onto the bike and I instantly felt the benefits of the Kronos in the blustery conditions. Despite a pretty heavy head/cross wind on the way out (on each of the 4 laps) the bike just seamed to cut through without a problem. Despite not riding as hard as I’d planned (I was about 10watts down on my planned effort level) I soon managed to catch the fish (lead swimmers ;-) ) and by the start of lap 2 was in 1st. I continued to reap the benefits of the time trial framed Kronos and hit T2 in under 27 minutes (for 20.1k).
Trainers on and I left T2 feeling pretty good… going a bit too fast I felt and so dialled it back a fraction. I wanted to finish the run feeling strong and solid, not suffering heart failure! By the end of the first lap of 2.5k I’d taken 8:14 to cover the distance. I was comfortably on to duck under 16:30 for the 5k. I maintained the same pace for the next lap and clocked 8:15 for this brining me home in just over 52mins and a nice win to push on from to Switzerland.
The next 2 weeks will see me trying to peak for this race and then UK 70.3 two weeks after, with a real desire to perform well at both of these races!