Mallorca Here I Come

It sounded like such a good idea back in October when I decided to do the Mallorca 70.3 as my first triathlon. Man has it come round quickly. Since my first few blogs (Part 1 and Part 2),  I haven’t been blogging about this much because A) things have been moving forward at the shop at such a rapid rate of knots and B) my training hasn’t been going perfectly. If there’s one thing that I’ve taken from this experience it is how hard it is to be even mediocre at three sports. I still haven’t run the full distance and have no idea if my body will hold up to the impact of running a half marathon and I still feel like a fish out of water...... when I'm in the water. But thanks to some last minute panic training, I at least feel reasonably fit and ready for the off.

I want to say a big thanks to big boss man Barry for lending me his wetsuit. My swimming is definitely my weakest discipline but I’ve been constantly hearing about what a big difference a wetsuit makes. I had a quick go with it in the pool and WOW!!!! I jumped in pencil style and felt like I came back up like a fishing float. The added buoyancy does make a massive difference to your speed through the water. I’m also told that the salt water makes you float too so I’m at least I’m no longer worried about drowning. I’ve never swam in open water before so the first thing I’m going to go and have some practice on Wednesday afternoon with Ben and Cat from ABC Pure who are out in Mallorca already. My last swimming session went very well and I’m starting feel that all those drills that Ray from Swim CanaryWharf got me to do have really helped.

I also want to say thanks to Barry for letting me use his Trek 9 Series Speed Concept. While the bike course does have a 15km climb in it, the rest is pan flat where I can make up a lot more time on a TT bike. I’ll be looking good in my new Castelli Free Tri Distance Suit which is amazing quality.

 A huge thank to Justin from Saddleback for lending me a set of ENVE 65 clinchers as well. I could probably have got away with taking Barry’s 808 and disc as the climb isn’t that steep. But I’m only able to take one set of wheels and if the wind gets up, I don’t want to be stuck being blown all over the road. I also don’t want to take a chance on tubs because if I get a puncture early on, I don’t want to be throwing myself down the decent on a tub that is newly stuck on. Justin has also been kind enough to lend me his Scicon bike box. These are great bits of kit for anyone that is travelling regularly with their bike.

So, all that’s left is to get on a plane and head towards the sun. I’m crossing my fingers that it doesn't get too hot but, touch wood, the projected temperatures aren’t quite past the melting point of a ginger person. I’m heading out there by myself (much to annoyance of my girlfriend) so if you’re going to be out there, drop me a line with some contact details at fitting@bespokecycling.com. It would be good to see some friendly faces. I’m staying in Alcudia Garden Apartments in Port d’Alcudia. You can follow my progress on the day on the Ironman Live website which will update every time I go through a section.

I'll leave you with my two favorite pre-race videos that get me up and ready to rock: