Quarteira European Cup 2014

This was my 1^st triathlon of the 2014 season and it was a good way to blow the cobwebs away.

I have to admit that I was pretty disappointed with my finishing result; 27^th

I went into the race ranked 26^th so didn’t quite beat my start number. Although I was still very pleased with certain parts of my race.

I was pretty pleased with my swim, coming out around 10^th in tough conditions; Quarteira is always renowned for having a rough wavy swim but I was happy to have a solid swim and still feel quite comfortable.

The bike was solid with a steep hill every lap and I felt really good on the hill and on the bike in general, maybe leading to the downfall of my race. On hind sight I was maybe a little over enthusiastic on the bike, leading to a below par run.

The benefit of being towards the front of the bike means for plenty of pictures, 

Unfortunately the run was not as good as the swim and the bike. I struggled to get into my running on the 1st lap and fell back through the field, I tried moving through from the 2nd lap onwards which i did picking back some places but the 1st lap of the run really killed of the hopes of a good result. 

You don't get photos taken of you in the positions that I was running, but thanks must go to Luis Santos for the great pictures, of the bike ( and also a cool video - http://vimeo.com/92146764 ) 

Next for me is a World Cup Triathlon in Chendgu, China. Hopefully I will be able to find the final piece of the puzzle and get all parts of the triathlon to click together, to come away with a good overall result.  

Russell.