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Well we had a great time in Bermuda and are now back in Los Angeles settling in for the rest of the year.
Bermuda was a real buzz. It was great to catch up with the Butterfield family who I have known for more than 12 years now. Tyler was only a little boy when I first went to Bermuda for the ITU World Cup Triathlon in 1996. I was homestaying with Tyler and his family and we have stayed friends ever since. Tyler is now getting married so it was wonderful to be out there and celebrating with him and Nikki for their big day.
The Escape To Bermuda Triathlon was a great day. I had not done much since Kona and was really focused on spending some quality time with my family on our end of season vacation. This being said, the course was a tough one and despite there being some super fast guys in town who had all just flown in from the World Cup race in Mexico the week prior, I figured it would be wonderful to get in the mix and see what I could do.
The race in Bermuda has a big prize purse and IMG do a wonderful job bringing the athletes in and accommodating their needs. For this reason it drew a solid field with 6 Olympians racing and 4 of the guys from the top 8 from the World Cup race. It also drew a lot of the European boys who were making the trek across the Atlantic to race in the Ironman 70.3 the following week in Florida.
My wife and I joked that I was going to get slaughtered as we saw these guys motor-pacing around the island behind mopeds and running the hills, while we were drinking cocktails and eating at functions with our friends for Tyler’s wedding.
Race day dawned and I felt OK. I drank a couple of cups of coffee and said to myself, let’s just hurt as much as I can for 2 hours and see how I go. I realistically thought i could get a top 5 if I could get away on the bike, but knew come the run, these guys would have too much leg speed. I simply had not done anything to build my leg speed up in an Ironman preparation and then ultimately a 3-week rest. It was not the ideal preparation for an athlete looking at winning a race in this caliber of field.
Matty Reed and Benny Sanson kept me laughing and on the boat ride out to the start, the competitive juices started to kick in and i started to really get excited about the race. I thought, I am going to take out as many of these young guys as possible. I drank in another coffee and away we went.
I swam great and despite Benny Sanson, was 3rd out of the water right next to Matty Reed. I was surprised these guys didn’t swim quicker than this, but i actually felt wonderful in the water. On the bike Matty and I exploded and rode immediately away from the group of 6 behind us. By half way we had separated ourselves by about 90 seconds from the chase bunch, but Matty was starting to distance himself from me. He was really strong on the flat windy sections and I just felt like a big diesel engine and had no more power to give. I could not go any faster but was feeling unreal. I started to think I was half a shot at winning the race if I could just stay close to Matt.
Off the bike and Matty had about 45 seconds on me. As I ran out of transition I saw the big pack of cyclists come in behind me and thought this is going to be interesting. I was feeling great but my legs just would not go any quicker than the pace I had set. I didn’t have the leg speed and it was obvious. I could have run the speed I was doing all day, but I just could not go any quicker.
At the 7km mark the boys started to pick me up. first the German Raelert caught me and on his tail was Aussie Simon Thompson. I tried to tag them but they ran away on the downhill. In the end I cruised through for a 4th place finish and felt unreal. I had a great day and was really surprised to be this close in the mix and to have some of the athletes I did have behind me. Matty Reed came over and congratulated me, and to be honest I felt pretty stoked with my race. My first big short course race since winning Noosa in 2005 and to be still in the mix was sweet, especially knowing what I had done in training.
Emma and I enjoyed the rest of our vacation laying out in the sun on the incredible beaches of Bermuda. We had a night out with the crew from Bacardi who made me drink a little more than I wanted to, and hung out with Tyler, Nikki and the athletes enjoying this amazing place. What a great event and what wonderful holiday. We left Bermuda yesterday with a smile on our faces. My girls loved the resort, loved the people and enjoyed the pace of this great Island. I have included a couple of pictures from Tyler and Nikki’s cocktail party that we went to on the Saturday night before the race. These pictures give you an idea of how cool this place is.
Safe Training,
Macca
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