Tape to tape at Long Distance Nationals

Coming to this race I honestly thought that the lack of solid work on the bike for this kind of events would kill my chances of going solo for the entire ride. I knew I would exit the water a few minutes ahead of my fearest rivals but then I would have to make a decision of going solo or wait for them and try to hang with them. Sergio Marques was - in theory - the man to watch. He had come from a victory in spanish solo on the same distance and he's one of the fastest guys on the IRONMAN circuit to run a marathon.

Race day. Double-oly distance over a very up-and-down course. Start. The swim was divided in 3 laps of 1Km and we had to exit the water on each. On the first lap I had an hard time finding a comfortable pace and so stayed on Charlotte's feet. Charlotte is the current European Long Distance Champ and one heck of a swimmer. On the first time we exited water I looked back and we were well cleared from the field. I entered the water in front of Charlotte and it was time to get serious. Lap 2 and we again exited the water together and more cleared from everyone. Lap 3 and the split of 40-ish said we - I and Charlotte - had put 3-min on the next athlete to come out. It was a nice head start for both to get the male and female overall wins.

Once on the bike I decided to have a go as I did last year on the nats. I took it really hard on the first two laps of the bike (5 laps in total). My heart rate was toping 170 on the climbs. By the end of those two first laps the gap to Sergio - who had already ride himself to second place position - was five minutes which meant I had put at least one minute on him. I continued to hammer it down and by lap 4 I had almost six minutes of a lead. On the last lap of the bike I started to feel fatigue. I took it really easy but still mantain my lead to T2. The run was also very tough. You would either go up or down over a cobblestone road. No flat sections there. No Sir. On the first two laps I did the same as on the bike and hammered it down. I ate a lot on the bike - 8 gels! - and was pretty much on top of my nutrition program. By lap 3 I had 7 minutes in hand and by then I decided not to take any risks of bonking. I had the pace in control and pretty much cruised to finish line. I would eventually take it home in 3h56m50s, 11 minutes ahead of second place finisher, Sergio Marques (4h08m11s). Little Sergio Dias (4h08m37), was third. Charlotte Kolters won the overall female competition and Claudia Martins took the Portuguese title by finishing in second place.

I had the fastest swim and bike and the third best run of the day (Sergio Dias had the fastest run). I couldn't ask for a more comfortable win. Still and althought my lead was never really challenged I pushed it REALLY hard on the first laps of the bike and run and it paid it's dues. It was a risk I was willing to take even if I had to die trying. I took my second overall Long Distance National Championship home by chrushing them all.. all my fears and all their ambitions. (I had that quote - see previous post - in mind all the way).

Next stop: Portuguese Cup in Madeira, next weekend! Sprint Triathlon race.