It’s still early in the season but some of us have already been very busy. Enjoy reading Tami’s summary of her 70.3 race in Lisbon that would see her claim 1st place in her age group and 4th overall. Congratulations Tami on another amazing achievement!

Race day

I woke up at 5.30am and looked out of the window of my hotel room… the weather was looking o.k. ”It might not be as bad as they said” I thought. After a quick breakie we all headed down to a transition area (I could even see the sunrise). Happy and excited to start racing I set everything up and calmly walked down to a beach start. As soon as I entered the water I could feel little drops coming down from a cloudy sky.

Boom…. the gun went off. I positioned myself at the front of the pack and in the middle of strong male swimmers (I am not a speedy swimmer but for some reason I had the confidence of a shark that morning). Not a very good idea as they swam over me in the first minute and I had to fix my goggles twice. The swim consisted of 2 laps and I got through it within 35 minutes….drafting off any feet I could find. When I got out of the water the small drops became big ones “Here it comes, well just suck it up”. I motivated myself and jumped on my BMC horse.

Cycle 4 laps out on the highway and back, mostly flat with only 1km slight climb. I remember feeling great and going really fast all the way to the turnaround point. Once I made the turn suddenly the cycle became a survival ….strong wind and rain seriously slowed me down on the way back! I was relieved when I jumped off the bike after 2h50min.

I started the run with not a great feeling in my legs. It consisted of 4 loops a bit over 22km. Part of it was over slippy wooden bridges and lots of puddles. My legs came around in the 2nd lap and I managed to run a faster pace consistently to the end….finishing at 5h18min, 1^st age group woman and 4^th overall ….I’ll take that!

Under excellent guidance of new coach Cat Morrison this race gave me an opportunity to test my fitness for the upcoming season as I wasn’t able to race competitively last year due to my injury. I am looking forward to upcoming long distance racing and improvements.

Special thanks to Alex Gleeson (for his KGB treatments on my troubled leg) and Maire-Triona Keane (T3) and her gang for cheering me up on the rainy race course ….you guys were stars!

Next stop….Dublin 70.3 & maybe a sprint distance club race in Westport for some fun!

Tami J