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Stories about the final preparation for the world’s most famous triathlon
After dominating the ITU circuit for many years and winning two Olympic gold medals it was clear that Alistair Brownlee needed a new challenge. It was time to target the most precious triathlon race in the world – Ironman Hawaii. Join us in following his final preparation leading to his first attempt at the Ironman World Championships.
The first goal of his season and the last race before his first Kona attempt was the 70.3 IM World Championship in Nice. This race is a distance which seems to me made for the Yorkshire native and a good test against the best long-distance triathlon athletes on the planet.
“I trained really hard for it. I prepared as well as I possibly could for it. I am here a couple of days earlier than I would be normally to check out the course. One of the interesting things about this course this year and one of the reasons why so many are excited about it, is that it is a super hilly, mountainous bike course with a really tough climb and a technical descent as well. It is a race which has everything and should be really interesting and make the racing really fun as well.”
“So, my focus is very much on the 70.3 this weekend first and Hawaii is 5 weeks after this race. I am going to be at home for a bit of time, just for a few easy days and then flying out to Arizona for a camp in preparation for Hawaii. Spend some time in the heat and get some longer sessions in and see what I can do to prepare for that longer race and see how it goes. Obviously, Hawaii is a massive deal in triathlon, and I think I’ve known about the race since I was 8 years old. So, I am really looking forward to going and obviously I am going to race to the best of my ability. I am going to train hard in Arizona and Kona and prepare as well as I can and learn about the race as much as I can.”
“I think the main thing when focusing on the long distance is doing these constant pace efforts. I didn’t do any of this for ITU style racing. You know 15, 20 or 30min efforts. Learning to hold watts, learning to pedal efficiently and get the body as efficient as possible and of course to be as aerodynamic as possible. I work hard on that with a couple of different sessions and fitting sessions with the SCOTT and Syncros guys working to get the best position I possibility can,” said Alistair Brownlee prior to the race.
After an aggressive race the double Olympic champion finished second to Gustav Iden.
“The swim was almost perfect. I swam straight on Josh Amburgers feet, so I knew we swum pretty fast so this was good. Out on the bike, the lineup was pretty quick. Ben Kanute was talking out pretty hard. I thought it is no point on pushing on this flat bit, so I got some nutrition in and readied myself for the climbing.”
“Pushed on the first part of the climb and started to get away and brake it up and then rode pretty much on my own for quite a way until I got caught by Rudy Von Borg and Gustav Iden just on the first bit of the descent and then hanging on for the rest of the descent. Got back on the descent. Rolled into town and started the run. I was confident in my run. I was feeling great in the lead into it. Oh, this is perfect here I am pushing on. The first few km’s I got going and I felt fine. I got to 5 k and it was like bang. I was feeling rough and then at that point I had a few rough km’s and I got into my stride a bit. I was disappointed how I felt on the run, because I should have felt good. Obviously, I wanted to win but second isn’t too bad,” reflected the Brit on his race.
“This was a big focus, obviously I wanted to win but I think a hard, hot race and the last big block of training I have done over the last couple of months will hopefully pay big dividends in the next month leading into Kona.”
