Both races went reasonably well and I was happy with many of the improvements that I had made leading into these races, I was especially happy that I got my nutrition right for both an extremly long race in Abu Dhabi followed by a very hot tough race in Singapore.
Abu Dhabi was a new concept with a 3km swim 200km bike and a 20km run so for months leading into the race I was doing alot of hard long miles on the bike and some huge training days, very similar to the preparation I would do leading into an Ironman.
The race was offering $250000US prize pool so attracted most of the big name guys that I had only ever seen on TV or read about, I though this was a great opportunity for me to see where I would fit in to the Ironman scheme of things without actually doing an Ironman.
I made the lead group in the swim and just tried to hold my threshold on the bike. To stay in the lead group I had to ride slightly above what I knew I could hold and sure enough at the 90km mark I just had to let the group go and find my own pace. This seemed to be a good move as I held a constant pace for the next 110km and was able to concentrate on my nutrition and hydration that was going to play a major role later in the run. Getting off the bike, even though I averaged 40km/h for the 200km I was a long way from the lead and a long way from a top 10 position which was where the money was going down to so the run was really just for pride and to prove to myself that I can handle the distance. I managed to pick up a few places on the run and finished 16th, a pretty good result.
So after this I had to try and recover enough to be competitive in Singapore 70.3 eight days later.
I was'nt sure if I could do it but I was determined to give it a go, the field was no where near as strong and I thought that top 5 would be achieveable, thinking that there are always alot that drop out in Singapoe simply because of the conditions and there were only 15 of us to start with.
I had one of the easiest weeks I've ever done, alot of stretching,sleeping and just enough to keep the body rolling over and by Sunday I was feeling like I wanted to race again!
The swim and bike turned out similar to the week before, I made the front group in the swim, we caught one of the guys that swam off the front, and two guys caught our group from behind so after a very flat fast 90km we rolled into t2 as a group of about 8 guys. The weather was warming up and I did'nt know what to expect from my legs over the next 21km but I thought if I just keep hydrated and get my nutrition right I'll surley be able to get through it. Within the first half lap Craig Alaxander had put about a minute into most of us, I felt terrible but I seemed to be moving along ok and soon enough guys started to crack and I found myself in second position still only about 1min down on Crowie, I thought this was great, surley I could finish top 5 if I could just get through the next lap and a half (10km).
I ran better than I thought I would be able to and after a long battle with James Cannama came over the line in 3rd place totally spent and looking for some recovery. That was my best result in a 70.3 so far so I was wrapped.
So now I start to prepare for the European season and alot more shorter races in the coming months.
Massive thanks for the Dobson family who let me stay with them over in Abu Dhabi and my cousins in Singapore thats now become more like a second home.
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