I seem to be good at collecting 2nd place finishes. I am not complaining. 2nd is better than most other places of course. But some day it would be nice to actually win a race!
Great race all around though. It was fun to have such a quality field of competitors this year and I think everyone was really hoping to win the race. I knew it was going to be a good battle but it was very hard to predict who would finally win.
In terms of my race, everything went very well. Swim was a little tough at the start but I managed to get into a strong group for the whole 1.9km. In the end I was only about 2 minutes behind the fastest, which is great by my swim standards!
I pushed very hard to go through transition fast so when I started the bike, I would not take anyone with me. I knew it was best to do the bike solo as I am usually the strongest there so anyone coming with me would be getting a free ride. I was not going to let that happen.
The first 10km I pushed very hard on the bike to keep any of my competitors from coming back to me and also I tried to bridge the gap to the front two guys. Unfortunately Marko and Teemu were going quite fast and I was only able to match their pace in the beginning. Starting the third lap, I knew Teemu had been dropped by Marko, so I lifted the pace to try and catch Teemu before the run. It was my only chance to win the race, if I could start with or before Teemu on the run.
I was able to bring back Teemu about 5km before the run start and began the run with only Marko in front. I knew I would be able to easily catch him on the run but I was mostly worried about Teemu catching me on the run. And he did, quite quickly. We ran together for the beginning few kms but then Teemu started to cramp. I took a sizeable lead until the final of four laps when Teemu's legs came around and he was able to catch up to me and really go fast. When he passed me it was like I was walking and he was sprinting! He really has another gear that I don't have yet. Perhaps next year I will learn how to really run like Teemu but for this year I have to be content with 2nd place again.
Still, it was my best performance yet and I can easily say it could be even better with just a few small adjustments. In two weeks I will race 70.3 Antwerp in Belgium where I feel very confident I can get a good result. Already feeling recovered well, just need to take it easy for a couple more days then do some tune up training before Antwerp.
BTW... I had to add one comment to Teemu Lemmettylä's pre-race prediction blog. I thought it was rather funny that only one person even predicted me as a top three finisher. I was 2nd two years ago. Last year I would have been at least 2nd place if I did not choose to drop out with knee pain. And this year I have progressed even more. So.... maybe next year we will see my name on the top three list? Hopefully I have earned that by now...
Until next time...
-darby
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