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Ford Ironman U.S.A, Coeur d Alene, Idaho - June 24th 20075th - Ford Ironman U.S.A.Dear Sponsors and Friends Well yesterday I competed in Ironman Coure d'Alene. Coming into this race I had shown that my body was getting back to 100% health with a 4th place finish at Florida 70.3. I had logged some big weeks of training in Boulder and the goal here was to get my Hawaii Ironman Qualification!
I have been swimming really well and knew I be out 1st but didn't want to lead the whole 2.4 miles and in the huge chop the other guys were getting to swim easy behind me! I was aggressive coming into the beach and got onto the bike to attack the course; I felt pretty strong so went for it and opened up about 1 minute on Luke McKenzie and Tom Evans. About 35 miles in I could see that I was not getting away from those two so eased off to ride with them as it is easier to pace off others. Coming into town after the first lap I was shivering as it was really cold and my lower back was stiff and locking up. I was really worried as I felt fine but was losing power even thinking my rear tire was going flat! Then at the worst moment Tom Evans hit the gas and I couldn't do anything from falling off the pace. I just stayed calm and focused and in 20miles he had put 3 minutes into me and I was amazed he just kept the hammer down. I caught back up to Viktor at 85 miles and could not shake him so coming off the bike I was with the best runner in the field. I had a good transition and headed out on the marathon 7 minutes down on Tom and 5 minutes behind Luke so I felt that if I ran under 3hrs I could place top 3! I started out on a 2.57 pace and was locked in and felt pretty strong. It was good conditions for running and heading back towards town I could see Michael Lovato bouncing along and knew he was flying. My goal was to keep on my pace and I was doing that but others were just going that bit faster. I got passed by Michael at 10 miles and tried to pick up my pace but he disappeared into the distance I was getting splits that I was catching Luke fast so that helped and I passed him at 18 miles. I thought I had 4th in the bag then entering town I had a friend yell out your 4th you got it in the bag. I yelled at him, can you see a small guy behind me wearing a blue number, he said no and I eased off a bit and then 800 metres to go I got passed by Jasper Blake who ran a 2.51 to catch me. I was so gutted that I nearly cried! I ended up calling my friend some names and throwing my empty Gel flask at him just missing him as when you are that tired you just have no aim or accuracy! He said to me at the finish that he was sorry and though I would have hit him and I said your to nice a guy to hit but I would have rather he passed me with 5 miles to go than the last 800 metres! Race Results:
I hope to report on more great results soon! I’ll now do a couple of Olympic distance Triathlons and am looking forward to the speed of those! Kind Regards - Bryan Rhodes |
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My Coach and I decided that it was best to have a small taper and focus on my major goals; to win IMUK and then go fast at Hawaii so no speed work was done before this race. Just all solid base work!