Macca about his swim, Part II
By Chris McCormack
http://chrismccormack.com
At 6:45am the gun went and I was nicely positioned in the front of the swim. I was sitting very easily on the feet of World Champion Faris Al Sultan. I had seen myself doing this in training everyday and now it was happening. I felt in control and at ease and was very comfortable.
The swim was very slow and but time seemed to go very fast. The pack was very big but I did not let any of the bashing or pulling that occurs near the end of the swim get to me. I knew I was in a great position and just stayed controlled and began to focus on what I had planned on the bike. I exited the swim in about 9 position and felt great. I ran through the transition, grabbed my bike and left in 4th position. It was a very surreal feeling and I felt very much in control of myself and my emotions. I was very calm which is good. This can be a frantic period of the race especially if you have a bad swim or are trying to make up for lost time.
Last year I was very much out of control at this point of the race as I chased after a poor swim and a very bad transition. I found myself in a group of all the big players of the race. Faris was there along with Cameron Brown, Luke Bell, Eneko Llanos and a big group of others.
I think the biggest surprise was when I saw Norman Stadler.
He had had the swim of his life and for the first time in his career had exited the swim with the lead group. He immediately pushed to the front of the bike and set a solid tempo. In all my planning of the race and all my visualization I had not pictured this scenario. Norman is a great bike rider and always rides about 10 minutes into the field. His swim and run has always been a weakness but today he had put together the swim of his career and was now in a position to strike early in the ride. I was content with this.
In my mind I thought I could let Norman ride 12-15 minutes into me and my marathon would be far superior than his.
As he started to pull away from the field I consciously put him out of my mind and thought I will see you later. My focus was on Cameron Brown and Faris Al Sultan.
Macc
