Eton Super Sprint 750/21/5. 2nd overall

What a couple of weeks makes with the weather. One day you are racing in freezing conditions and two weeks later it’s virtually tropical. I opted out of doing the drafting race in the morning at Dorney lake for the reason that I’m not looking to head off to the Worlds in September. So instead I chose the classic sprint. But the issue is that the race was at 12.50pm and I have always found eating and mid day races hard to figure out, so who knows how the body would respond.

There were three main waves, women, men 42+ and then men under 42. Off in the middle wave I knew that the sharper athletes would be starting off in the final wave so it was going to be a matter of racing to feel rather than chasing people or looking to get a gap.

After 100m in the swim I was clear and followed the guide ropes on the bottom of the lake. I exited clear in first and looked to get out sharp to open up a gap ahead of the run. Solid and comfortable time in just a shade over 10mins swimming. 2nd fastest all weekend for the non draft racing.

Dorney Lake is always windy and today was no exception. On the turn at the far end a wall of resistance hit & I did all the best I could to keep the bike stable. Over taking the women kept me focused and I felt good besides my power metre not pairing with my garmin so I had to rely on feeling –  so I’m unsure if I was under or over powering.

Coming into T2 I was hoping to have some legs but I suspected the final bike lap where I pushed hard might play it’s part.

I’ve been working hard on my running so I wanted to get to half way point feeling comfortable only to forget about the head wind. I could see the next guy and he was about 2mins back so I was comfortable for the wave win but unsure if it would be good enough to take the day. A solid 20mins which felt controlled, knowing that the high 18s are a matter of focus and not running comfortable

I crossed the line and waited. As it is turns out I was 2nd overall for Sunday and 3rd overall for the weekend which is good. Two weeks until the English Champs so more run focus

Mark