Challenge Fuerteventura: Two out of three ain't bad.

A really lovely event held by the sporthotel Playitas, very chilled out, relaxed, friendly. And really tough, certainly one of the toughest 1/2 IM races out there - a hilly hot windy bike course, the 90km having 1,300m of climb, an even hotter windier hillier run course, the 21km having 350m of climb - not an event for the beginner (unless you are a stupid mad beginner, like me) - and as such a very strong and competitive field of just 200 triathletes. I chose it deliberately as practice for Lanza.

Unlike my first Tri in Bahrain in December where I was a bundle of nerves here the nerves were just healthy pre race nerves, nice and buzzing, raring to go. Raring to go straight into a really mediocre swim time. I'm not a strong swimmer, I've only been swimming for a year, but I was at least hoping to match my Bahrain time of 37 minutes (that I was thrilled with) but here I never really settled, coming out 188th out of 200 in 42 minutes (still not a shabby time but hey, there weren't many bikes left on the racks when I got there....).

Onto the bike. I had recced the course on Thursday so knew exactly what to expect, I rode the exact course that was on the race website last week.... except then they changed it entirely.... most of it was done in reverse, with large chunks of new section so I had actually riden I think about 6km of the 90k  course... But hey ho, these things are sent to try us. I was hoping to do a 3.5 hour ride but felt really strong throughout, pushing on through the field, picking up 25 places, not a single rider came past me (well, caveat below...) and finishing in 3hr15 - very happy for a course with 1,300m of climb.  Felt super sorry for the poor guy on the sprint event (20km bike versus our 90km ride) who came flying by me at about the 15k mark (the only rider to overtake me on the whole course) -  I was sure that he had missed his turn as he was heading to the far side of the island when he was only meant to have 5km left to ride. Sure enough a few km later he had blown up, slowed right down and probably realised he was on the wrong course - that's gonna spoil anyones day, being on a 90km course rather than a 20km course...

And onto the run in the midday heat. In Bahrain I ran the 1/2 marathon on a dead flat course in 2hr 6 minutes, picking up loads of places. My only other timed 1/2 marathon run off the bike was training in Mallorca, again dead flat, finished in 2 hours 1 minute. Here the course was really really hilly, a proper leg sapper in the heat. And I managed to only overtake a couple of people, with several coming by me. I was a bit demoralised by all the people overtaking me but kept on going, the end getting slowly nearer. 

So in Bahrain I did 6 hours 5 minutes on a totally flat, totally benign course. Here, well maybe 6.5 hours I was thinking would be optimistic, and then as the run was seemingly not going well I was thinking maybe 6hr40 and I turned the corner into the finishing chute and the clock says 6 hours 6 minutes! I'd done the super hilly super tough run in 1 hr 55, demolishing my Bahrain time. My overall time just 1 minute slower than Bahrain on one of the toughest courses going versus by far the easiest course going. 

So, I ended up way down the rankings, 167th out of 200, but that's reflective of the strength of field -  for my second ever Tri, and where I couldn't either swim or run a year ago, I'll take that result any day. Lanza here we come (via Mallorca...). Maybe one day I will actually get a bit quicker at swimming but until then, two out of three disciplines ain't bad.