Well the satisfaction of a very good result at yesterday´s Bilbao International Duathlon has been dimmed by a Gd 1 Hamstring Strain sustained in a sprint finish for 3rd place. We head to Switzerland today and I will seek treatment but racing this weekend in Switzerland and training for the European Championships will be restricted.
Yesterday´s race was very high quality again with all the best Spanish, Frenchman Laurent Galinier and Nico Capoferri plus Aussies, James Attard and I. The first run was extremely quick as we did a circuit of the river and Guggenheim Museum, the French are both running very well and I was at maximum speed maintaining contact as the rest of the field splintered behind us. The run course though was absolutely spectacular and a te race organisers did a fantastic job accessing the globally iconic location for the race.
The bike was basically 10k climbing a mountain, then 10k descending back to transition and from the outset, Capoferri (a former bike pro with Cofidis) set an incredibly high tempo which I was unable to follow. The two Frenchies continued to build an unassailable lead and are both very very strong climbers- simply too strong for me on the day. At the summit of the climb I had 20 seconds on a large chase group of athletes so chose to wait for the group and get a rest on the descent to prepare for the final run.
After a poor transition, I exited in 7th place but immediatelty felt very strong and by 1km was into 4th place with James and former World Junior Champion, Santamaria (ESP) on my tail and only 5* Spanish Champ, Javier Garcia ahead. The final 1km was a dogfight and eventually I won the battle for 3rd. In the end, all 4 of us crossed the line within 2 seconds. http://www.triatloi.org/clasificaciones2009/bilbao_archivos/MASCULINA.pdf
Unfortunately, half way down the final straight I felt a mild twinge in my hamstring which I thought was a cramp. This morning it appears more serious and now it is a case of trying to best manage the situation. Hopefully I can jump on the bike tomorrow and keep the heart ticking over while the leg recovers....fingers crossed
Regards
Radar
Yesterday´s race was very high quality again with all the best Spanish, Frenchman Laurent Galinier and Nico Capoferri plus Aussies, James Attard and I. The first run was extremely quick as we did a circuit of the river and Guggenheim Museum, the French are both running very well and I was at maximum speed maintaining contact as the rest of the field splintered behind us. The run course though was absolutely spectacular and a te race organisers did a fantastic job accessing the globally iconic location for the race.
The bike was basically 10k climbing a mountain, then 10k descending back to transition and from the outset, Capoferri (a former bike pro with Cofidis) set an incredibly high tempo which I was unable to follow. The two Frenchies continued to build an unassailable lead and are both very very strong climbers- simply too strong for me on the day. At the summit of the climb I had 20 seconds on a large chase group of athletes so chose to wait for the group and get a rest on the descent to prepare for the final run.
After a poor transition, I exited in 7th place but immediatelty felt very strong and by 1km was into 4th place with James and former World Junior Champion, Santamaria (ESP) on my tail and only 5* Spanish Champ, Javier Garcia ahead. The final 1km was a dogfight and eventually I won the battle for 3rd. In the end, all 4 of us crossed the line within 2 seconds. http://www.triatloi.org/clasificaciones2009/bilbao_archivos/MASCULINA.pdf
Unfortunately, half way down the final straight I felt a mild twinge in my hamstring which I thought was a cramp. This morning it appears more serious and now it is a case of trying to best manage the situation. Hopefully I can jump on the bike tomorrow and keep the heart ticking over while the leg recovers....fingers crossed
Regards
Radar
3 comments:
Hi Raffy,
Hope the injury makes a speedy recovery. Very fast first run by most top finishers. i see you were the fasters run in the las leg.
I hope the hard work you hard already done will hold you through while the leg repairs itself and you can perhaps benifit from a little rest in prep for the Euros.
love Bean
last leg...
hard work you have already done...
wheres the spell check when you need it!
hi Rafael.
here we are in Gernika. good luck in your races. Hope the injury makes recovery.
We are waiting for you and family next year.
Roberto.
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