After IM Canada, I took a week off before turning up to fulfill my National Team obligation to race the Macau ITU Triathlon.......an Olympic distance race the weekend after an Ironman and traveling back from Canada was going to be an interesting experience.  I had a pretty average swim, great bike and first 3km of the run and then the wheels fell off - not surprising really.  I had no expectations going into this race and had promised myself I would put my body first, so I pulled the pin at the halfway point on the run.  It just didn't seem worth struggling big time through another 5km to get a finishers T-shirt and potential end my chances of a descent race in Hong Kong a month later.

Well, after another few days off, training began and boy, how much did that hurt?  Lots, let me tell you.  I had become so used to doing the longer and slightly slower training through the summer and then that taper week and post race week off - my body was definitely not prepared to be doing anything fast.  I did the National Aquathon Championships that weekend and I actually think this really helped to kick start my body back into the mood.  By the time, Susan Williams arrived 10days before the HK race, I was really enjoying training again and it was awesome to have my training partner on my turf for a change.  We did some great sessions (thanks Siri!) and I really enjoyed showing Susan the running trails around Tai Lam Chung and my favorite climb up Tai Mo Shan.  As many of you will know, doing the HK race requires getting up at an unbelievably early hour in the morning but I felt wide awake and ready to go despite the clock only showing 3.15am!  Susan and I went for a quick 15min jog to try and kick start our bodies into the idea of doing something energetic and at least this would be one less thing to do at the race site.  Having struggled to get Cookie out of bed, we were finally on our way.........

Everything was straightforward when we got there and I was soon jumping in the sea to do a quick warm-up in the dark.  Having told all the beginners at the triathlon clinic the weekend before to get clear goggles, guess who turned up with a black pair?  You got it......muggins here.  Thankfully that didn't seem to effect my swim and I was able to hang onto Inoue's (Japan) feet for the entire 1.5km swim.  This was a pretty big deal as she has also swum better than me and it didn't feel really hard although I tried a couple of times to go round her and couldn't go any faster. This had me out of the water in 4th place behind Susan, Lauren Groves (Can) and Inoue......ok, now was the time to try and gain some places on the bike.  Inoue and I rode up the first steep hill together but I could hear her really blowing so I tried to keep the pressure on over the top even though I was suffering too.  We took turns along the flatter section of the course but I took to the front to push the pace up the longer climb in the hope I could drop Inoue as she normally runs quicker than me.  The plan worked and by the time I reached the turn around, she was nearly 30seconds behind.  I was pushing hard for the entire bike and it was good to feel pretty strong although nothing compared to Susan, who was even putting the boys to shame!  I finally caught Lauren towards the end of the second lap and was able to sail past without too much of a response and came into T2 with a 1:30 lead on her.  Wow, I had never imagined I would be in second at this point but the 10million dollar question was, would I be able to hold together a descent run?

My legs felt pretty heavy going up the first small climb onto the dam but I was trying really hard to focus on light feet, getting into a good rhythm and being positive.  My breathing was sounding labored but I guess this was because I was working pretty hard.  Susan was looking good and romping away from the field, as she flew past me heading in the other direction up the dam.  I saw Lauren not so far behind me at the first turn and as normal, she looked like she was flying along too.  At this point, I wasn't sure how much time she had put into me, so I tried to hold it together and hang onto second but it wasn't to be and at the 7km mark, she flew past me like I was standing still.  For the last 3km, I was determined to claim my first ITU podium and held off Inoue by about 2minutes in the end, so I was pretty happy with the result.  Not a bad way to end a very long season and it was time to look forward to a few weeks off. 

One of the best parts of the day for me was watching the athletes I have been coaching do their first triathlon.  I was remembering how nervous I had been for my first race and what they must be going through.  It was agony waiting to see them appear on the dam.......you start imagining all sorts of things may have happened and loose all perspective of time.  It was fantastic to see them all really enjoy the experience and achieve something they never through possible only a few months back.  One of them struggled to swim 25m in June, so a 1.5km ocean swim was a big deal and he came out of the water with a number of people who have been racing for years, which was a big confidence boost for him.

Roll on Phuket in November which will be my next race (after that off season of course) and it will be the first or second race for a number of my athletes too, so it promises to be a great trip.

Happy Training..... more news soon.

Cheers Claire

For full results & details see www.triathlon.com.hk