| That was tough! Ironman 70.3 Bariloche in Argentina brought on the hardest of conditions with the start being in 7-degree air temperature and course being relentless throughout the bike and run. I was very happy to run into the town square in 1st place and absorb all the crowds’ energy, absolutely amazing!
It has been sometime since I have competed in a cold race and it caught me way off guard. I was roaming around the other pro athletes collecting all the extra gear I could gather for race day, top this off with a hyperthermia blanket underneath my race suit and in my sidi cycling shoes and I was about right for the race.
The backdrop for the swim was incredible with the Andes mountain range across the lake. Out of the water there were 5 of us including – Igor Amoreli, TJ Tolakson, Jarred Shoemaker, Daniel Fontana and myself and the race was on to see who could get their arm warmers, gloves and extras on the fastest. This did allow for the group to split up and soon I was at the front of the race pushing the pace through the initial 20km section that included a lot of climbing and technical descents on wet roads. By 30km Igor and Kennet from the US bridged across and unfortunately TJ and the rest of the field were stuck in no mans land and isolated, all riding individually.
The legs were okay but I definitely still had a little residual fatigue in the tank from Ironman NZ, along with the cold weather the body was just not responding like I would have liked but I was getting through it just fine. The real test would be when we started the run…
Thankfully as I kicked out of T2 I still had a spring in my step and managed to gap the other 2. It was a hard course to find any rhythm with either head wind or tail wind and not many flat sections. The crowds through town were very motivational and I grew my lead to 4minutes by the finish. Igor rolled in 2nd and Kennett in 3rd place.
I have a long trip across to Campeche, Mexico but I am definitely looking forward to some warmer climates with the forecast for next weekend to be around 36 degrees Celsius… HAHA.
Cheers
T |
