10th or 11th? what a mess

Well, ill start with something i should say at the end. Prague is a fabulous city well worth to visit and the European LC champs 2009 where one of the worst races i have ever been part. Very poor organization, having said that here is how it went for me.

The race started at 9:30 in the morning witch was great time of the day instead of the traditional 7 am. The 4 km swim was a kind of a rectangular 2 lap course with somewhat strong current, enough to be critical the way you navigate the course. I had the lesson well learned and in that part i performed very well, i saw some guys cutting buoys after being dragged by the current especially while crossing the river, oh well i dont think there was anyone checking the buoys anyway...

The thing is im well out of swim form, i have been feeling my swim going downhill after the winter where i was beating some PB's at the pool, all gone and to be honest im slower than my 2006 and 2007 season where my swim results (or times) at races where far superior. after around 200 300 meters i was alone (where didi you read that :P) i tried to catch a big group ahead of me but wasnt abble and could only try to loose the least time possible. i was out of the water in around 57 min soon enough i heard that i was around 7 min behind the leaders, that is a lot for a 4/120/30 race.

the Race had a very good quality field and the elite transition was, well empty quite a view (not fun)

The ride was a simple out and back 6 lap course that had a flat 6 km, a 4 km uphill with around 150 of elevation gain (each lap) the 4km downhill and of course another 6km flat. Thats where i spent most of the time of the race but the ride was very somple, it was a 120km time trial with noone (elite) in sight besides the parts where we crossed in each direction of course. I got into my pace and was lapping in around 29:30 29:45 for all the laps so i had a good pace through the ride. The groups ahead of me gained some extra time in the first lap but the last half it was kinda even except for rasmus and dirk that after attacking in the first group made quite a gap. I actually Finally passed a few elite guys at the final lap YEEEEAH. But i was actuallt happy with my ride. good pacing, i didnt autodestroyed and i didnt lost that many time for undoubtely some of the best riders in the triathlon world. my on course math gave me around 12 13 min to the lead after the ride BUT with a lof of guys in between. I was also glad to see Krepe (pedro gomes) hanging with the leaders at the middle of the ride, his swim is solid and thats a good part of the process, he finished in the chasing pack. My ride time was a bit less than 3h, that is again my on course math :P maybe 2:59, doesnt matter anyway.

T2 was another joke, a total caos i wont even go there...

Run, i was really looking forward to see how i would feel while running since i clearly felt like i had a good lonelly effort in the bike. and that feeling of fast legs came right with the first strides. First lap (of 3) was fast, felt like it because i didnt took splits and there was no km markers, but the fast legs feeling came with a very early hot spots on my forefoot, i could feel that something was going to happen, i passed like 5 guys at the first lap but i was feeling some huge blisters building in my feet. 2nd lapp was also good, passed a few more guys and the pain was building up until the 3rd lap... 3rd lap was all about trying to advoid pressing the blisters, impossible, i had to slow down quite a lot because i was in really big trouble, i still passed 2 atheletes including Krepe that gave a bit to much in the bike, but it was really hurting, last kms i was totally jogging my way to the finish in a weird style and i was glad nobody was on my tail, i tought i finished 10th, at least i was announced that way altough some say i finished 11th, dont know, im yet to find results. The first instinct i had after crossing the line was to take my bloody shoes off, WHAT A RELIEVE, that is something that never happened to me, i guess there a first time for everything).

My Goal for the race was to finish top 16 so im happy with it. i wont whine about the swim and the blister thing was really unexpected and probably prevented me to go deeper into the top 10 but sh4%& happens.

ill post some photos of the weekend but i dont think ill post feet photos :P OUCH.

Ill have a transition week with some light training but i doubt that ill be running in 3 4 days period

more soon