It's 9:30pm on a Tuesday night and i'm in patong, thailand! It feels like it's 12:30am (which it is in Oz!) and i feel like a nanna when i know there's masses of partying going on outside my hotel!
Thing is, 2 days ago i did my 5th long course race in 3months! This time it was Asia-Pacific 70.3 Championships. I raced the Laguna Phuket Triathlon this time last year (only 1.8/55/12), but this year was a bit different. Aside from the distances (1.9/90/21), the bike course was kinda backwards version of the tri bike course and more like an off road/ adventure race course! 2 occasions of getting off your bike to run it over a highway overpass, multiple >20% incline/ declines involving 'yellow flag zones' meaning no overtaking or exceeding 20km/hour and the usual trekking through aisan villages avoiding potholes, stray dogs and the occasional scooter!
So race report; lining up on the start line I thought i'd be lucky to make top 10 amongst the strong girls next to me. The swim went ok. Came out of the water with a few girls I have raced frequently over the past few months whom i'm usally behind by about 2mins, exited T1 in 9th place and then after that epic bike course exited T2 in 8th. I thought I was a lot further down the field, however due to the course i was able to count through the girls infront to realise i was still in the top 8. The run went ok I spose, passed one girl before the end of the 1st lap, had some pretty nasty abdo cramps around the 14-19km mark and I had been watching a girl fighting back hard from 11th place, picking off the girls between us and she was moving! I dug deep, fought hard to hold onto my 7th place and manage to maintain a gap of just over 2mins from 8th place.
So to make top 7 and still win some $ made my 2nd trip to Phuket definately worth it. Unfortunately the stomach cramps came back to haunt me that night at the awards party and i slinked home feeling under the weather at about 10pm.... very unlike me!
So a few days to recover and relax in Phuket and then fly home, get stuck back into training and get psyched for 2011!!!
Stay tuned for website to be up and running soon....
Rachie x
swim start line- i'm on the right in black/white next to the tall bloke!
Bike course done!
Presentations- top 8 women (2nd on the left)
Yes i'm wearing a bow tie- boardies and bow tie theme!
