on a roll!

First off, I love Singapore. It is such an incredible city. In addition to the cleanliness and the safeness of the city, it really is beautiful as well. I just finished the third stop of my 5 week around the world (almost) trip. The 2007 Singapore ITU race went quite well. I had my best ever ITU result with a 5th place finish, right behind Mr. Nischuishi, 2004 Olympian from Japan. It was my second solid result in two weeks. Last week there was the 11th ranked person in the world in the race, and 3 Olympians (New Zealand, Kazakhstan, and Hong Kong), and this week there was top 10 athlete in the world and three Olympians (Hong Kong, New Zealand, and Japan). These races have been quite competitive.

Heading into the race I was quite nervous as Courtney Atkinson from Australia was toeing the start line. Courtney is one of the best triathletes on the world (top 10 and over 5 World Cup victories), but he is also an incredible swimmer. I was concerned that the swim would be crazy fast and that several athletes would ride away. Not so. I had a solid swim to come out in the middle of the first pack. It was a tight, fast, and technical bike course. I rode well, and hopped off the bike feeling good, but not great. Last week it took me 5-6k to find my legs. This week was similar in that when I hopped of the bike I felt quite flat, but instead of pushing it I settled into a solid pace and accelerated throughout the run. I began to pick off people off one at a time, and moved up. With about 3k to go I passed Nischuishi and moved into 4th place, but he fought back and re-passed me with 1k to go. I was incredibly humid, and I was suffering. It felt like their was a hot blanket around your body, and it really zapped your energy.

Overall I am happy with the result, but I know my run is much better. I think with all the traveling, jet-lag, and my unfortunate week before New York, I a not quite as sharp as I was 3 weeks ago. That means it is back to the grindstone for the next 10 days will I prepare in Thailand for the last race of my Asian trip. For this next race my goal is to get my first podium finish in an ITU/Professional race. We shall see. For now it is au revoir!.

Cheers,
B