Abu Dhabi International Triathlon, Race Recap. 3rd Place.

Yesterday was the day that I've been waiting, and training for more than 120 days. It was a long wait, and with it came a lot of expectation from this race, so to tell you the truth the previous days I was a little nervous, the long long trip to Abu Dhabi and all the waiting made difficult to take it as "just another race"

This time there was my family here to watch me race, so my thinking was
"I took them all across the Globe to watch me race, I just can't let them down"
So the simple idea of having a flat tubular, gave me nightmares.
There were also other things to worry about, even I didn't wanted to think to much about it, but they were always in the back of my mind.

One of them was the approach that I took with my training for this new distance for me, my longest race before this was Half Ironman distance races, so 90kms at race pace was the longest distance I ever done. And my approach to training for a 200kms bike ride, was the opposite as almost everyone does it, instead of doing various Long & Slow Rides, I took it with mid distance (90-120k) At slightly below race pace, so my longest ride in the year was just one, of 120kms. So even that I knew I had it in me, there was this fear of the 200kms that I have never, ever ride in my life.

There was the Heat factor also. I like the hot races, and I tend to handle the heat ok, but the previous days here in Abu Dhabi were just too much, I was starting to doubt of my affinity with the mercury.

And the last one, was the field.........it was like a Kona Week, everyone was very fit, so I knew it was going to be "Hard" in every aspect.

4am.......... and I was already up and ready to go, after a Good Breakfast, we went to the Emirates Palace, a Hotel that really deserves a couple of lines, it's simply AMAZING!
It's the most expensive Hotel ever built, 3,000 Million Dollars, it has 850,000 m2 of floor space, an underground parking for 2,500 cars, and the exterior has 114 domes of 60 meters high. so being on it's beach front at T1 was a privilege.

So there I was preparing my stuff in T1 with a surreal view of this amazing changing color hotel in the background.
The swim was 2 laps of 1500 meters and a 100 meter dash in the sand in between. My first lap was right on time, 23 minutes, and my second I think I didn't swim straight, because I lost a minute, coming out of the water in 47 minutes.

Already in the bike I knew it was going to be a hard & hot day, much more than the previous days, because I had been training at that time, and it wasn't as hot as this day at the same time.
The bike course was in the Corniche that is along the beach front of Abu Dhabi, where all this super hyper modern buildings are, so the first 7kms of the course are extremely beautiful. but then you cross the first out of many bridges, and enter the real Desert, at the moment you start seeing the sand dunes you feel the temperature rising, the view was fantastic, and I was feeling also fantastic, the first 40k split came in 1:04, the second 40k in 1:05:50, the 90kms split was 2:27 and the 180kms split was 4:57 for a Total of 5:30 pretty much what I expected in the right conditions, the only "problem" was that this were no right conditions by any means.....

The heat was just like being in a barbecue, just like Bjorn Andersson later said it. I was pushing like there was no run after the 200kms bike ride, I knew I was taking a risk of blowing up, but since biking is my strongest leg, it was also my best bet, so there I was hammering through a hotter than hell heat, some winds, and hot water & gatorade at the aid stations.

It was a real hard bike, but it also had something that no Triathlon race in the world has.......
You get to enter and ride the incredible "ABU DHABI YAS MARINA FORMULA 1 CIRCUIT" this was a rest for your mind and body the 2 times we rode the 4 kilometers of the circuit. The surface of the Abu Dhabi roads is very smooth, but as I entered the Yas Marina Circuit was like there was someone pushing me, the pain in my legs was gone and the mind was to busy enjoying the surreal view of the buildings like the Ferrari Building, or the Yachts parked inside the Marina that's inside of the circuit, it was like being inside an X-BOX game of car racing.
(I can't wait for the pictures)

After 150kms I started to feel cramps in my thighs every time I was out of the saddle, so for the next bridges I was forced to stay in the saddle.

Arriving a T2, there was a smile in my face when I saw my bike split of 5:30, but that smile turned into a scream of pain when I took my first stride, my left thigh was cramping bad, and the floor was like a frying pan, after a couple of steps the cramp started to fade away, so I knew I was ok for that 20kms run that was in front of me, and that I was pretending it didn't existed for the previous 6 hours, now it was about time to start thinking they were as real as the 3k of swiming plus the 200kms bike ride.

The run was ok, I never felt like I was suffering, I just didn't have another gear, the first lap I did it, in 40 minutes, and the second in 46 minutes, for a total of 7:48 enough for a podiumo 3rd place in the Abu Dhabi International Triathlon.

p.s. as soon as I have time, I will upload some pictures in the Gallery @ http://www.janosoto.com/