Tour of Malta
It has been two years that I've been thinking of a new personal challenge and this time I chose the cycling Tour of Malta to try to improve my cycling. This was also the first set of races for the year.
I started preparing for the Tour since November and although the focus was to cycle more I tried to keep up a good volume of Running and Swimming as well. Things didn't go so smoothly though as from these months of preparation, 30 scattered days of training were lost due to illness. It was only lately that I had managed to be consistent and notice improvements.
The days for the Tour were the 26th till 29th March. The 4 stages were:
Stage 1: Individual Time Trial of 25km (4 laps) on the St. Paul's Bay Bypass
Stage 2: Mass Start of 100km (10 laps) San Martin Hill limits of Mgarr
Stage 3: Mass Start of 60km Nadur Hill Gozo
Stage 4: Mass Start of 40km (7 laps) Ta' Pennellu Hill Mellieha
I was very excited on the first day as it was a new experience for me. Having problems with my rear racing wheel did not help as I lost a lot of time before the race to try and fix it. I had to settle for my training wheels which are much heavier. I finished in 33mins and although it is not a great result for me, I avoided pushing harder for fear of being tired in the coming days.
On Friday I was on the starting line of what I knew would be the hardest challenge since I started triathlon but I didn't know by how much. To be honest, I had never done more than 70km and never raced in these conditions. Being in a cycling race makes it much harder as when an athlete is overlapped he would have to stop and I knew it would be very hard to keep up with cyclists. From the moment we started, it was very hard to keep up and I was soon in the last few places. I tried to work with other cyclists to work and rest during equal parts but in vain - the levels were so different that we quickly got separated. I ended up alone working against the wind and it was extremely tough. I got lapped during the 7th round and I knew I would be told to stop soon. However, by the 8th climb I had used a whole bottle of gatorade and 3 gels and I felt sugar levels running low and I decided to stop (Stoppage time 2hrs 33mins and Official time 3hr 15mins 14sec). For the first time since becoming an athlete (17 years ago), I felt a failure. I was also extremely worried about whether I would be able to complete the remaining 2 stages.
On Saturday I had to head to Gozo. The wind was Force 6-7 and raining. The road, apart from being unsuitable to race due to the large number of potholes, was flooded. As soon as the teams arrived, the club delegates were called for a meeting and sensibly the race was cancelled as the course was unfit for racing.
Sunday was the last day of the Tour - I felt rested but I still knew it would be difficult as Ta' Pennellu hill is very tough (and we had to do 7 laps). Even though I struggled that much during Friday's Stage, I learned a lot especially about nutrition, I kept some solid food to nibble together with the usual gels and gatorade and it worked. I felt a lot stronger and even though I was still no match for other cyclists, I was surely faster than ever. In fact, I only got lapped in the last half lap. I finished in Official time 1hr 25mins 25sec).
I placed 31st out of 40 athletes in my category. After all the hard work in preparing for this event, I am sure I will gain a lot of benefits for the current Triathlon Season. In fact, the first test is very close; just 6 days away - a Sprint Duathlon on Easter Saturday. I need to rest my legs and focus a bit more on running.
On the 4th of April I was on the starting line of the Mellieha AC Sprint Duathlon organised on Dingli cliffs. The race consisted of 5km run, 20km bike and another 2.5km run. I was very confident in my newly acquired cycling skills but had no idea how I would perform for both runs as I had not focused on running lately.
Stage 1: Individual Time Trial of 25km (4 laps) on the St. Paul's Bay Bypass
Stage 2: Mass Start of 100km (10 laps) San Martin Hill limits of Mgarr
Stage 3: Mass Start of 60km Nadur Hill Gozo
Stage 4: Mass Start of 40km (7 laps) Ta' Pennellu Hill Mellieha
I was very excited on the first day as it was a new experience for me. Having problems with my rear racing wheel did not help as I lost a lot of time before the race to try and fix it. I had to settle for my training wheels which are much heavier. I finished in 33mins and although it is not a great result for me, I avoided pushing harder for fear of being tired in the coming days.
On Friday I was on the starting line of what I knew would be the hardest challenge since I started triathlon but I didn't know by how much. To be honest, I had never done more than 70km and never raced in these conditions. Being in a cycling race makes it much harder as when an athlete is overlapped he would have to stop and I knew it would be very hard to keep up with cyclists. From the moment we started, it was very hard to keep up and I was soon in the last few places. I tried to work with other cyclists to work and rest during equal parts but in vain - the levels were so different that we quickly got separated. I ended up alone working against the wind and it was extremely tough. I got lapped during the 7th round and I knew I would be told to stop soon. However, by the 8th climb I had used a whole bottle of gatorade and 3 gels and I felt sugar levels running low and I decided to stop (Stoppage time 2hrs 33mins and Official time 3hr 15mins 14sec). For the first time since becoming an athlete (17 years ago), I felt a failure. I was also extremely worried about whether I would be able to complete the remaining 2 stages.
On Saturday I had to head to Gozo. The wind was Force 6-7 and raining. The road, apart from being unsuitable to race due to the large number of potholes, was flooded. As soon as the teams arrived, the club delegates were called for a meeting and sensibly the race was cancelled as the course was unfit for racing.
Sunday was the last day of the Tour - I felt rested but I still knew it would be difficult as Ta' Pennellu hill is very tough (and we had to do 7 laps). Even though I struggled that much during Friday's Stage, I learned a lot especially about nutrition, I kept some solid food to nibble together with the usual gels and gatorade and it worked. I felt a lot stronger and even though I was still no match for other cyclists, I was surely faster than ever. In fact, I only got lapped in the last half lap. I finished in Official time 1hr 25mins 25sec).
I placed 31st out of 40 athletes in my category. After all the hard work in preparing for this event, I am sure I will gain a lot of benefits for the current Triathlon Season. In fact, the first test is very close; just 6 days away - a Sprint Duathlon on Easter Saturday. I need to rest my legs and focus a bit more on running.
Mellieha AC Sprint Duathlon
The first run felt comfortable enough but I felt a slow compared to others. I finished in 21mins 23sec - a personal best by a bit more than a minute over last year on the same course and also a best time over the 5k distance.
I knew I would still make up for my weakness in the run on the bike. I immediately started pushing as 20k is short and there is not much time to improve one's placing. All of the hard work done during the past months on the bike really paid off in both confidence and speed. I finished in 57mins 26sec - a personal best by almost 4 minutes on the same course.
Some seconds were lost at transition as I missed the proper entry way but at least the organisers did not give me a time delay. Since I haven't practiced running off the bike at all in the past months, the first bit of the run was very hard and I had to slow a bit down until my legs adjusted but then it was ok. I was only worried as I had another athlete drafting behind me and I knew he would attempt to sprint finish only at the end. I wanted to wait till the very last bit to sprint as I felt I couldn't push any more. In the last 20m, however, the athlete took me by surprise and sprinted past me and did not give me any time to reach him. This is the third time I lost a race during a sprint finish - I really need to work on it. The second run took me 10mins 34sec for a total of 1hr 8mins. I am still very happy with the result - a personal best by 3mins 22sec and placed 22nd out of 60 athletes.
I knew I would still make up for my weakness in the run on the bike. I immediately started pushing as 20k is short and there is not much time to improve one's placing. All of the hard work done during the past months on the bike really paid off in both confidence and speed. I finished in 57mins 26sec - a personal best by almost 4 minutes on the same course.
Some seconds were lost at transition as I missed the proper entry way but at least the organisers did not give me a time delay. Since I haven't practiced running off the bike at all in the past months, the first bit of the run was very hard and I had to slow a bit down until my legs adjusted but then it was ok. I was only worried as I had another athlete drafting behind me and I knew he would attempt to sprint finish only at the end. I wanted to wait till the very last bit to sprint as I felt I couldn't push any more. In the last 20m, however, the athlete took me by surprise and sprinted past me and did not give me any time to reach him. This is the third time I lost a race during a sprint finish - I really need to work on it. The second run took me 10mins 34sec for a total of 1hr 8mins. I am still very happy with the result - a personal best by 3mins 22sec and placed 22nd out of 60 athletes.
This race gave me a very big mental boost. I must work hard to improve my run but I'm certain I can do better especially in Triathlon races which remain my favourite. Thanks to Steve Sciberras for the amazing photos and my big thanks go to my two biggest and constant supporters: my wife Maria and daughter Elena.
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