Last week-end I was faced with the choice between flying out to Thailand for 70.3 Phuket or…drive down to Surrey for the Wildman duathlon. Guess what I chose…
The day was as grim and miserable as one can be, the early morning fog soon complemented by cold rain the closest I got to Ash Vale, with no hope of any improvement. In fact we started already wet and cold and it only got worse from there. Having won the race in January (albeit on a different course) I had a title to defend and was feeling rather confident with my running at least. Out on the first 10k I took the lead from the start, not really pushing but having decided to run my own race and not to worry about the rest of the field.
My decision to use spikes seemed wise at first while the trails were boggy as hell, but for there were also some rocky bits which didn’t go down very well with 12mm spikes…my achilles soon started to hurt and soon enough I felt a small tear building up in my left tendon. I was about 2k from T1 and knew I could probably manage the pain and soldier on, but damage was done. Although I had a gap pretty much from the start, I never extended it and so was only 15 sec ahead after 10k, having the work cut out for the bike section.
Out on the bike I pushed hard straight away, not knowing whether my bike legs were there or not. The cold and wet conditions soon got through my bones, but I felt good, both physically and technically, and could see my lead had extended at the end of lap 1. On lap 2 I was on fire and I reached T2 with a comfortable lead despite having to stop to (fail to) fix a loose cable.
The 2nd run leg was a different loop of 5k, more interesting with some mixed terrain, single trails and steep climbs, but by then I was running on one leg and a half and had no one in sight, so I pretty much jogged it. I crossed the line with 4min + of a lead, happy to regain my WildMan title, but also quite annoyed at yet another Achilles injury. I know this one all too well and this will keep me busy with calf raises and strengthening exercises for most of the winter…
“almost unrecognisably bearded and tanned” dixit tri247. Really? Not so sure…
“It was very different from last years WildMan course, the mixed terrain is great” Again I didn’t quite say that, but hey it won’t be the last time I am misquoted…
On a last (negative) note I have to say that as a previous winner and title holder I hoped Human Race would be happy to wave the entry fee, but this wasn’t the case. Prize money is bare minimum in those races and doesn’t even cover the race entry which really is a shame, especially considering the 700 entrants for this race alone. Surely a little bit of help for the top guys and gals struggling to stay at that level could do no wrong? I for sure won’t be doing all the races in the series for this single reason…
