Triathlon Internacional Portocolom 111 2015

Having never been to Mallorca, but knowing that it’s the spiritual birth place of Black Line London, I had in mind to go check it out at some point, and I had registered for the 70.3 later in the year.

But prior to this, in April, is held what use to be the Tristar race, now known again as the Portocolom triathlon.

Dan was going for a trip and racing, and having booked a large accommodation, he invited me to come along. That was the perfect gig to test the legs early in the season, while spending the previous week enjoying a bit of warmer weather than in the UK!

That week was spent in a gorgeous little village called Campanet, very close to Caimari and the foothills of the climb to Lluc. Conveniently, this is part of the 2015 bike course for the 70.3, so going up and down Lluc from either side a few times during the week would prove invaluable for the 70.3.

The Protocolm race has been going on since 1998 under the Triathlon Protocolom name, before it became Tristar Mallorca in 2011, then back to its original name after 2013. Limited to 1000 participants, it is held on fully closed roads, with (if you do the 111) two ascents of the Sant Salvador climb. This has been by far the best race I’ve done outside the UK for it’s friendliness, relatively low key, easy, and relaxed attitude. Forget M-dot branding all over the place, this race is about making sure everyone has a blast, and with support like there was in town for the run and the small villages around the bike course, it’s a fantastic race I’d recommend anyone who would want to kick start their season early.

The swim start is in deep water, but you first have to jump of the jetty. That’s a pretty high jump and I even managed to touch the bottom, before heading out to the “start”. The relaxed attitude meant that everyone started to swim their race right after they jumped in, without a care in the world for the guys behind not being in the water yet. Cue quite a lot of hopeless shouting from the RD in a boat, a bit of confusion here and there, and eventually letting everyone go… I managed to bump into the RD’s boat as it had also drifted in everyone’s path, but the rest of the swim was pretty easy.

I didn’t think I swam too bad at the time. 17min for 1K is what I can do in the pool so I was pleased for one of my first open water swims this year. I have no idea what my Garmin did, recording around 800m, but I was bang on the buoys and feeling good all the way. The finish and exit was mayhem again as everyone ignored the last buoy and the left turn towards the pontoon, instead heading straight to shore.

T1 was probably quite long by any Olympic distance standard, having to run all the way around one bit of the marina, but pretty easy to navigate! I’m used to separate bags for T1 and T2, so having everything in the tiniest boxes you’ll find anywhere was a challenge for me. Other than that: nothing to report.

On the bike I went straight to work. Having ridden the route with Dan a few days before, I knew where I could lift a bit, and the start was certainly not one of those places! You have to climb out of town first thing out of T1, so that keeps you heart rate up until the right turn going North East. Then for a few twisty, snappy, bits before reaching one of the danger places of the course: a small village called San Marcià. In tehre, you are essentially going full speed, and have to take a deceivingly tight right-hander, with a few drain covers on the inside and gravel all around. I almost came off at this point, and I lifted heavily on the second lap to avoid it. Some other guys weren’t as lucky.

Once you’re over the north east part of the loop, you head back south-west towards THE climb. but before you reach it, you’ve got to deal with the very open wide roads, and the strong headwind that will sap your energy just enough to kill your legs right before they matter the most: the Sant Salvador monastery gradients. Categorised as a CAT2 climb, it’s not very long at around 5-6K counting the lower parts, but it’s a proper mountain in the middle of an otherwise relatively flat (okay, undulating…) 50K TT loop. I settled into a nice rhythm on the way up, and managed to be on my way down before an ambulance clogged to road for people behind. Sadly someone pushing hard at the front had an off at one of the hairpins and wasn’t in a great shape. After the first ascent and descent, I had to lift a bit on the power as I was well over my 220W target (NP of 241 at this point, with a max 20min of 256W… Whoops!). As expected, having pushed hard on the first lap, the second one was a little slower, but on the second ascent, I counted that I was in 18th position and catching the front runners. That gave me an amazing boost, as I wasn’t expecting at all to be that far up the rankings on a fast course! The headwind was even stronger on the way back that second time, but the fully closed roads meant that I was riding completely on my own, on empty roads, and able to chose my line like the pros do on TTs. No one to get in the way, and no drafting idiots!

The dismount line for T2 was way more forward than I expected, and I almost didn’t make it! That will teach me not to check everything before the race. My rear tire remembers it, having locked the wheel and skidded the end! I lost a couple of places in transition due to having to tape my injured toe, but that was planned, and I was soon on my way for, I hoped, fast 10K.

It was April, but it was already very hot, and I was feeling like I was overheating in the speed suit. I got told off by an official on a bike for having it open, so I reluctantly closed it again, and kept dousing myself in water at every aid station. The run course has a nasty sting in the tail at the far end. The little climb over there is steep indeed, but I kept going and kept to my ~4'/km pace. I was passed only twice. The first guy was the eventual winner of the other race, the 55, that had started after us, and the second one was Andrew Woodroffe who’s an U23 ITU racer and more used to that distance. I could hear him coming, but I had nothing left to answer his move with 500m to go. The speed difference was big though, as he ran the equivalent of 36'46" for a 10K. Had the run been the right distance (My Garmin said 10.44Km), maybe I’d have been able to dig and hold him off. I still ran under 40' for 10K, off a 235W NP 100K ride, so that’s pretty cool!

I was elated to finish 16th overall in a very early season race, which is a great setup for the next one, in just under a month, again in Mallorca, for the 70.3.