From arriving at 1am on the morning of the race (thanks Monarch Airlines!) to cutting his run short due to injury, #TeamTCUK athlete Ben Carter now has unfinished business at Challenge Mallorca!

Pre-race

From a swim and bike perspective, really good. I went to Mallorca confident that I would be able to set good times (for me) in those disciplines. Having had an ITB injury for the best part of 6 weeks and not having done any running through that period the run was a massive unknown – I had no idea if I would be able to complete the course (turns out I managed 4km before ITB pain resulted in an early trip to the beach…)

The Monarch issue didn’t help. Instead of flying out two days early and having plenty of time to chill out, I arrived at 01:00 the morning before the race. I then had to leave the evening of the race without the mini holiday I had lined up for afterwards! Once the bike was racked I had the afternoon to practice swimming in the sea and eat as much pasta as possible, so I guess the preparation wasn’t all that bad in the end.

I felt totally prepared from the swim/bike training. I was happy with how I was performing in the two disciplines and was hoping for some good times. I was feeling particularly happy with my form in the bike sessions leading up to the event.

Swim

Time: 30 mins 45

First beach start and first sea swim so I was going into the unknown slightly. However, the start was quite uneventful and I managed to settle in a rhythm quickly – an ideal start to the race really. With a straight out and back swim sighting was tricky – despite the sea being calm the buoys were a long way away and tricky to pick out initially. There was the standard jostling for space with one guy on my right constantly hitting me. He wasn’t going anywhere so I hung back…and might have swam over him slightly…and aggressively (well you’ve gotta give what you get!).

First sea based swim went well. My pace since Vichy two months ago has gone from 1:45min/100m to 1:33min/100m. Really pleased with that improvement (albeit some of it was down to being able to use a wetsuit, I think the most gains were from swimming with the local triathlon club in the interim period). Hopefully continuing with the tri group through winter will result in further improvements – maybe sub 1:30 pace will be achievable in the not too distant future.

Slight waywardness again (1,975m according to Garmin) but from checking Strava I think the course was slightly long. I did find myself swimming out on my own a lot but maybe my sighting is improving?

T1

A run up the beach certainly spikes your heart rate! There was some form of shower set up to wash the sand off your feet and then it was straight into the tent to get changed. Found the bike quickly and then it was off to start the bike course.

I walked through transition in the morning so I was comfortable with the layout, etc. Wetsuit came off quickly, found the bike easily enough and then just a little jog up a steep ramp (we had to use the handrail to get any traction!) before mounting the bike. Still no flying mount though, need to learn that for next season…

Bike

Time: 2 hours 36 mins

How did it go? Happy with the bike – 34km/h average over a course with 900+ metres. It was a two lap course with 15km of climbing at the start of each lap. The gradients weren’t overly challenging – it was more of a long drag up. I tried to settle my heart rate early and then just keep a constant effort. There weren’t too many people out on the course when I started and everyone quickly settled into their groove – this allowed me to pick people ahead and focus on closing them down. There were some really fast parts on the downhills which were great fun – first time I’ve been 65+km/h on the aerobars!

Nutrition was good again – Clif Bloks – and the legs felt comfortable for the whole ride. Despite injury preventing me from completing the run, I made sure I held enough back just in case I’d had some miraculous recovery overnight! There was no drafting at all (I saw a few examples in Vichy earlier in the year) so made for a fairer race. One hairy moment when a mountain biker tried to cross the road on a blind corner of one of the downhill sections – narrowly avoided him!

T2

Time: 2 mins (ish)

Straightforward – found the bike spot easy enough and there weren’t too many people back so managed to get changed and out onto the run course fairly quickly. Pit stop in the Portaloos for a slash (expect this is going to become obligatory) and I didn’t get barged out the way this time!

Small transition zone and really easy to navigate. There were volunteers to put bags back on the peg which sped things up.

Run

Time: DNF

I went with an ITB injury and not having run for 6 weeks so there was a fairly high chance I wouldn’t complete the run – still frustrating when you are harbouring hopes of a miracle so you can complete the last race of the season though. Can’t read into the data too much at all but, ITB aside, the first 2-3km (I started walking after) felt really comfortable – who knows how km 19/20/21 would have felt though.

The only really positive was that I started the run feeling quite fresh and that I might, on an injury-free day, being able to post a good run split. We will find out next year!

The frustrating part is that I was sitting fifth in my age group at the start of the run and the guy who finished fifth posted a run split I could have certainly had a go at (not claiming I would have beaten him here but I would have at least like to be able to race him!).

Post race

Barcelona 70.3 in May 2018, Gdynia 70.3 in August…and another one in October time. Not sure where the last one will be though, or whether it’ll be a full distance (I’ll likely man up and do a full event in 2019 in all honesty).