Jamie Rhodes - Professional Triathlete

Donosti Race Report

11:10 PM, 18/6/2008 .. 2 comments .. Link

Although the result was the same with a win this morning in Donosti, the way in which it came was vastly different. I had spent a hard week training on my own and I knew that come the weekend that I would probably be pretty tired. Still, to come away with a victory I was really pleased with myself and showed that although I was fatigued I was still able to get across the line first, which is the important thing.

Due to the early start (10:00am), Kepa being the morning person that he is decided than rather get up at the ridiculously early time of 6:30, we would get a room in Donosti and get up at more reasonable hour (but still too early) of 7:30 and this would give us plenty of time to drive the 5 minutes down to the race.

The previous day was spent doing a little bit of training in the morning and then going to watch the local long-distance race in Zarautz. The race was 2.5/80/20 and many of the guys who I raced last weekend were racing as well as Hektor’s brother Eneko who finished second to Macca at Wilflower. It was a great race to watch and the scenery was quite spectacular. Although the standing up on the concrete was probably not the best for the legs the day before the race.

Race morning rolled around and after fitting in spurts of sleep between Kepa’s snoring spells I was ready to go…..

Breakfast came in and was also probably not the best before the race. A lovely selection of pastries and some coffee. But there was nothing else there so I stomached a few sweet bakery goods and was ready to go……

The sky was overcast and the roads were covered in water as it had rained a bit during the night. I didn’t hear any of it so I must have slept not too badly after all. I had done this race last year so I was familiar with the course and transition and where I could grab a free shower afterwards should I need one. The local sports club for the healthy and wealthy was a great place for Schussy and I last year as we helped ourselves to the changerooms and a nice warm shower.

I set up in transition after registration and there were a few drops of rain. It was nothing new to me given that I have been in the Basque country for a few weeks now and actually remembered what rain is like. But it soon stopped for the race start and we were off.

If I were to rank my start on a scale of one to ten, it would probably be found in the lower half (that’s below five keaysy) as I dived into the water and my goggles came off. Also somehow (and I have no idea how) my wetsuit leg found itself up around my knee and was catching water for the whole swim leg. Not to worry. As I put my goggles on I was surrounded by guys and it took me a while to work my way to the front. When I eventually did there were a couple of guys who stayed with me and we came to shore as a threesome (I can see Guilley giggling already……..threesome, haha). Last year I came out with a few guys nipping at my heels and was able to get away with a quick transition, but this year was not the same. We went out onto the bike together as a threesome (haha) and it was at the beginning that I tried to break away.

Unable to do so as the legs were feeling “not so willing” I decided that I would stay with these guys for the ride and see what happens on the run. About 14km into the bike one of them tried to attack up the hill and I was left to chase as the other lagged behind. I was able to close the gap which was lucky and then left the guy who attacked out in front for a while for being a dick. Upon entering T2 I was left on the front by the others which was OK as the legs were beginning to come good, or so I thought. I had a pretty good transition and was out in first.

I got out onto the run and the legs were obviously fatigued. There was no spring in the step like there was last week and I knew that it would be a bit of a battle today. I didn’t want to go out too hard and settled into a comfortable rhythm. Behind I could hear the other two guys breathing a fair bit heavier than I which is always a good sign so I kept the pace where I felt comfortable. For the whole 2.5km out to the turnaround I could hear two set of footsteps behind and it was not until the turn that I could see who was sitting where. To my surprise, the guy who I thought would be behind me was actually in third and looked to be struggling.

After the turnaround I upped the pace a little bit at a time and soon the third guy had begun to drop. It was at about the 3.5km mark that the guy in second made a move up to my shoulder. I increased the pace as I wanted to stay in front but he had another go and gapped me by a few metres. He was obviously putting in so I closed the gap and sat in behind for a while. There were runners coming the other way as the course was out and back and as I was attempting to sit on the shoulder he chopped me about 4 or 5 times as he swerved from side to side. On one side towards the oncoming athletes, and on the other towards the curb. I dropped back about a metre to avoid tripping, at which point he made another move. At this stage there was probably about 900m metres to go. He put in a surge and was off. His lead got to about 5 metres before I held it and then slowly began to reel him in again. It was not very fun. The next part of the course was a slight downhill section of about 100m and as we were going down I was able to catch right back up to him. He wasn’t running too well on the down part so this is where I attacked, with probably 500m to go. I just went as hard as I could to gap him as quickly as possible, and it hurt…… a lot. By the time I had looked back, with about 300m to go I had a lead of approximately 20m. From here I kept the pace as high as I could as my body was filled with the burn.

Luckily I was able to hang on to the finish and take the tape again, with second only a few seconds behind.

It was a hard race and I found it much harder than last weekend. But hopefully after an easier week in training I will be back up to my best for next weekends two races. It should make for an interesting blog anyway. Till then

Catch

Rhodesy

Oh yeah, well done to Gary for winning the European Cup in Hungary on Saturday. A top effort Gary!!!

Gary is OK!!!