Another new venue for the already huge amount of venues in the world for the WTC Ironman triathlon.
I had no pressure for this race neither i needed points for the ranking as i already qualified for Hawaii but i wanted to do this one, i race a couple times in sweden and i liked it a lot so this was definitely a good one for me.
I arrived very late witch left no time to actually worry too much about the race, it was all about getting it done the best way possible and with just a few days of rest. Being 50 m to the race finish and 100 to the transition area is what it is... amazing.
So race time came very quickly, it was a mass start with the pro category on a better spot. I started well enough for my sprinting abilities and until the 1st buoy i caught a group ahead. sighting was very good and you could really see where you where and i was definitely in the back of the second pack. i slowly moved to the middle/front of it until the 1st lap (rougly 1500 meters) i was feeling fine and strong, at the begining if the second lap the group got smaller and smaller but i was still there. the only thing i regret was to not being abble to navigate through the big AG peloton that i had to pass at the end of the 2nd lap where we started a conection to the transition area. i definitely went through the farther trajectory but it was really really crowded. lost a few seconds but left just behind Bastie witch was very good.
T1 went smoothly and i started with bastie and kept with him for a full hour. I didnt feel like a million dollars (or euro because they worth more) and at the end of the first hour bastie put another gear that i didnt have at that moment so i was left alone for another hour until i cought a group of 3 that included dragsta. After having my time to regain composure and eat well i led the way till the end of the first lap of 105km at that time i was feeling fine, somewhere at km10 of the second part of the course (75km) i was caught by some guys that swam slower and while the group was getting smaller and smaller it basically got to T2 spread out for just a few seconds. i only got one chance to look at the lead pack and that was only with 40 kms to go, somewhere in the 10 min gap witch wasn't bad, the advantage was stable until the end of the bike. The course was actually fun, it could be a lot faster if it had some better asphalt in some parts and if it wasnt the compromise of having a course totally closed to traffic, meaning we had our share of bike paths and narrow roads through the countryside of kalmar that cut momentum for sure but this made the course less boring, i actually liked it.
Run time, I had some physiological problems in the bik as i couldn't get loose enough to loose some weight so i came out ot T2 with too much liquids in me ;) as usual everyone leaves T2 like it was a olimpic distance race, i started slowly to try to finally get loose and get rid of the extra weight. it took a bit (3-4 km) but i made it, at least part of it to i picked up the tempo and ran my way to the guys in front, Teemu was the only one hanging with me for the first lap then i needed to get rid of more weight, same process, slow down a bit, enough for teemu to go his way, led the weight flow and pick up the tempo again, in the process try to eat more. as i got back to teemu i pushed my pace a lot so that he wouldn't come witch happened and that was roughly the half marathon time i was was running fast and still feeling good. Passed Bastie and Karl but i still didnt have an idea of where i was so i just kept my pace. last loop i had to make a few stops for something else than liquid but they where all fast so as i had no idea of my position it was a matter of beating my PB, i ran my way to the finish in 8:16 in 7th place somewhere with 11 minutes from the winner jan raphael that i never seen during the run, don't get me wrong the course was very nice. it turned out to be a very competitive field with very close finishes.
I was happy with the race for sure, i might even say that overall it was the best race of the season physically speaking, i had a good swim good bike and good run so a very solid performance from start to finish, and i never really felt trashed, totally in control, of course someone to actually say where i was would be better but i didnt have one for this race ;)
No time for slackers i want another solid performance in hawaii witch might be the last one
