The USM race promised to make for an exciting day of racing with a quality start list including Pete Jacobs, Leon Griffin, Justin Granger and Tim Berkel.

From the gun it was a race of the swimmers, with both Fettell and Jacobs known for their blistering speed in the water. Fettell took the lead from the start, and despite swimming off course after missing the first turn buoy, he exited the water in the lead, with Jacobs on his feet and over a minute back to the next pack of Matty White, Griffen and Berkel.

On to the bike, Fettell settled into his work quickly, and developed a solid four-minute lead over the multi-loop scenic 90km ride, with Jacobs suffering a minor technical issue and slipping to fifth behind Griffen, White and Berkel.

“The ride went really well. I’ve just moved to Giant so this was my first chance to race the Trinity and I was really pleased with how it went. I felt great on the bike, even though I’ve done some pretty epic miles leading into this race in preparation for Abu Dhabi next month. This race was the perfect fit with my build up, so I was pleased that everything felt good out there today,” said Fettell.

Out onto the run, Griffin put the hammer down out of T2, trying to bridge the gap back up to Fettell. By the 14km mark, Griffin had managed to eat a minute into Fettell’s lead, but was unable to challenge him for line honours.

“I new Griff was chasing hard, but I felt fantastic from the moment I got off the bike and I knew I just had to focus on making sure I put together a solid run. But I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t worried! I’m really stoked with the win today – it was great to be able to take the win for Ricky Jeffs and the guys at Urban Hotel Group, and it’s put me in a great head space to take on Abu Dhabi,” said Fettell.

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Lance Armstrong will be racing a Trek, of course, in his first road triathlon since 1990, and his Speed Concept 9-series frame has a few unique adaptions to meet the needs of the former cycling champion. Armstrong’s technical advisor and Trek team liaison Matt Shriver is in Panama to make sure everything runs smoothly this weekend, and he gave Triathlete.com an inside look at Armstrong’s bike.

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Lance Armstrong’s Trek Speed Concept

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Armstrong overhauled his position now that he is racing road triathlon. He moved his saddle far forward from his old road time trial position.

Armstrong completely overhauled his road time trial position for triathlon. The UCI, cycling’s governing body, restricts fore-aft saddle position, which is one of the biggest differences between many road TT positions and triathlon positions. Despite spending decades in a UCI-legal setup, Armstrong decided to move has saddle forward—“much more forward,” says Shriver—now that he is free of those regulations.

Since Armstrong now has to run after getting off the bike, he wants a position that is “still a little bit aero but more comfortable” than his time trial position, recounts Shriver. Armstrong and his longtime consultant Steve Hed of Hed Cycling worked closely to find that balance. The pair made the dramatic adjustments to his fit on the road before going to the wind tunnel.

“We had him on a medium Speed Concept on the road and that was the correct size to get him within the UCI guidelines, but being able to have a fit outside the UCI rules, it made sense to go with a bike that’s a little larger. We bumped him up to a [size] large for stability and for fit [reasons],” Shriver says. “He wanted to have his hands a little higher” so they used one of the more conservative proprietary Speed Concept stem pieces. He is riding the 45mm x 100mm option, which brought his aerobars up and substantially reduced the drop from his saddle to aerobars compared to his road setup. Armstrong’s aerobar extensions are tilted upward as well. “He’s adapted to a triathlete fit, for sure,” says Shriver. “He still has really good power and is still pretty aero but a lot more comfortable.” After initially setting up his position with Hed, Armstrong went to the wind tunnel and Shiver says they “did tweak a few things to make him a little more aero but still keep that comfort.”

Although Armstrong often time trialed on Hed3 wheels while racing on the road, he is now using a Bontrager Aeolus D3 7 front wheel, the second deepest iteration of Bontrager’s new wheel line. Armstrong opted for this wheel rather than the 9, which has an additional 2cm of rim depth, because “even though the 9 is slightly faster, it’s difficult to handle a wheel of that depth in winds that exceed 9mph, so if you have high winds you’re fighting it,” explains Shriver. The Texan is fully committed to Trek and its family of brands, but its wheel label Bontrager doesn’t make a disc, so Armstrong rides the Lightweight Disc painted to match his Speed Concept. Shriver says they selected this specific wheel because “it’s stiffer, it’s as aero as [the other discs] and it’s the lightest.” Both wheels are wrapped with Bontrager’s Race XXX Lite Tubular tires.

Armstrong is riding a prototype Bontrager triathlon saddle called the Hilo. Shriver says it has a “nice wide channel running down the center and a soft wide nose. It’s not quite as extreme as the Adamo. This is in between a road saddle and the Adamo.” The Hilo has a carbon shell, titanium rails and a synthetic cover. Armstrong has Speedplay pedals, presumably Zeros, mounted to his Speed Concept.

He has a standard SRM power meter with SRAM aero chainrings, but Dave Bolch, one of Armstrong’s mechanics, TIG welded the SRM Power Control mount to one of the aerobar pad brackets. It positions the computer “right between his extensions just above his stem,” says Shriver.

Despite using a triathlon bike in a distinctly triathlon-specific position, Armstrong elects to go with an “old school” hydration setup instead of using a bottle between the arms or behind the saddle. “He’s running a regular round bottle on the seat tube and one on the downtube. He wants to be able to drink as much as he can. We have a lot of bottles and different setups we run with our athletes, but you get a bottle on your handlebars with that extra weight up high on a technical course and the bike doesn’t handle as well. We’re going to lose a little bit of aerodynamics by playing it safe to keep him fueled and have a bike that just handles awesome,” says Shriver.

The original SRAM Red drivetrain is on Armstrong’s Speed Concept instead of the new group that was unveiled last week. Shiver says they are waiting for new chainrings before swapping Armstrong over to the new components. He is also using unlabeled Zipp VukaR2C shift levers, which are built upon internals created by SRAM, and Bontrager RXXXL Aero brake levers.

The Tri Camp Race Team is newly formed this year and makes for an impressive line up with Nick Dunn, Heather Jackson, Andy Tarry, Matt Ellis, Hannah Shooter, Rob Brundish, Josh Cardwell, Kat Berry and Alistair Johnson making up the team. The team is based across the UK and will be coming together throughout the year to use the Wattbike as a crucial part of the team training.

Nick Dunn had to say of the partnership “I have worked with Wattbike for many years now and so am delighted that we could continue this relationship with the Race Team. Using a Wattbike has formed a critical part of my training and so accessing the Wattbike facilities will be a fantastic asset to the team’s preparation for the 2012 season and beyond.”

Tom Crampton of Wattbike says “We’re very pleased to support the Tri Camp Race Team and think that the team line up is very exciting so we’re expecting to see the Wattbike logo on a few podiums this year! We’re looking forward to the Tri Camp team coming to Wattbike HQ and doing some testing and training in our gym.”

www.tricamp.co.uk/raceteam

He continued, “The new logos will be carried through in the event branding, merchandise and competitor kit for 2012.  Since I joined the WTC (World Triathlon Corporation) in 2011 the changes have been more focussed on operational aspects of the events but the new logos are a sign of the progress we are making in integrating the UK races within the global Ironman brand.”

And the changes to Ironman UK are not just limited to the event branding. There are also going to be enhancements made to the races themselves, taking into consideration athlete and spectator feedback from 2011. Stewart continues, “Changes to Ironman UK in 2011 saw the run course move to a three lap circuit within Bolton, which received very positive feedback from athletes who had more opportunity to be cheered on by their supporters on the run course.  Increased spectator numbers created a more exciting atmosphere for everyone last year and further announcements will be made in the coming weeks about more enhancements to our 2012 events based on athlete feedback and which reach across all four WTC controlled events in the UK and Ireland.”

2012 has also seen the exciting launch of the Ultimate Challenge, which will see athletes compete in all four UK and Ireland events in one season; two 70.3 and two full Ironman events.  There are now almost ten athletes committed to this new test of endurance, following in the footsteps of Kate and Charlie Stannett, a couple who were first to step up to the challenge. Kate and Charlie are both very well known in Ironman circles having taken part in every Ironman UK race to date and are always up for a new challenge. Charlie explains why they both decided to take part, commenting, ‘Kate loves endurance stuff – the longer the better – and is really looking forward to it. For my part I’ve got a few butterflies in the stomach but nothing that I can’t handle. I reckon it should be an interesting, if slow, experience and – importantly for me at the back – a real giggle!”

Come and visit Ironman UK and Ireland at the Triathlon Show on March 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th where there will be plenty of information about all of the races in the Ironman European Tour, competitions, interactive challenges and much more. For further information about the Ironman UK races, visit www.ironmanuk.com or follow the Ironman UK and Ironman 70.3 UK Facebook pages.

On his expectations:
I don’t think it would be prudent for me to have huge ambitions and huge goals in terms of performance. I just need to go in and feel my way through it this weekend [at Ironman Panama 70.3] and then have about 6 or 7 weeks to tweak things if I need to and then do it again in Texas [at Ironman Texas 70.3 in Galveston].

On his ride:
Trek Speed Concept. It’s just your regular Speed Concept disc wheel and probably a 7.0 [Bontrager Aeolus D3 7.0] in the front.

On his training partners:
I swim and run with a lot [of the Austin elite athletes, including pro triathlete James Bonney]. I tend to ride alone, but in the last week I’ve ridden with the Bontrager-Livestrong development team. I swim almost every day with James [Bonney], Brandon Marsh, Amy Marsh… and a bunch of former UT swimmers. A couple days I’ll run with a group of runners and triathletes. There was a track workout Tuesday that Patrick Evoe was at. At Thursday morning runs there’s [pro triathlete] Kelly Williamson, Derek Williamson, David Fuentes (who’s a fast runner), James and Patrick from time to time. The Marshes were there today. You get some of the local talent out. …Jimmy Riccitello is helping with mentoring. It’s an exciting project but also daunting. There’s a lot of stuff that I’ve either completely forgotten or has changed. It’s helpful for me to get a sense of what’s going on currently, whether it’s equipment, whether it’s training, whether it’s the competition…I ask him a lot of those questions. I had a long dialogue with Greg Welch yesterday, just getting background on people, which is always helpful if I’m trying to be conservative in the races I need to know my place and where I fit in.

On doing his first full Ironman distance race:
I’m most worried about anything run related… It’s the [sport] I’ve been away from the longest…adding volume, adding intensity—that’s probably the thing that worries me the most. The one thing that could derail all of this is if you had a nagging injury from running that you just couldn’t get over. I don’t care what anybody says; the run is the most important part of this thing. It comes last and it ends with a marathon. I told someone the other day, “In golf you have your drives, your short game and your putting, and they say, “you drive for show and you put for dough,” but it seems to me in triathlon you ‘ride for show and you run for dough.’ I’ve got to get that right otherwise I’ll be a middle of the packer.

On what’s made the difference for him staying injury free:
I’m a little lucky in the sense that I have a full staff of people around to help, which is maybe not realistic for most people, but basically I have a fulltime person with me everyday that does physical therapy, massage, gets after any problem as soon as it starts. That’s the stuff that I’ve been blessed to have around me in terms of a team. Stuff like plantar fasciitis, you can go on any running blog and see the simple steps that people take, whether it’s the sock or the boot, never walking around barefoot, constantly stretching, the roller or golf ball or tennis ball under your foot—anything you’ve ever read about that injury I did. It seems to have worked for me so far.

On his running:
Jimmy [Riccitello] and I communicate back and forth and prepare a comprehensive training program for all three sports. I think it’s been helpful for me to do these group runs—to go out and run with the likes of Patrick Evoe…or pure marathoners like David Fuentes…essentially they’re like races at the end. Every man for himself and that’s really helped. And then just run repetition—certain days running twice a day and just staying on it…you have to go out and be religious about certain things, including very long runs, which I’ve never done in the past. The final thing about running, which is important in this sport, is body weight…[when you] get to the end of a five- or six-hour effort and start a marathon …every pound at that point matters…makes a huge difference. As my running has ramped up, my body weight has come down, which has helped everything.

1. Pre-workout: Perform dynamic stretches for 5–10 minutes, such as leg crossovers and scorpions to open up the hips and spine. They will help reduce joint and muscle stiffness prior to hopping on the bike.

2. During the workout: Keep your cadence at 90 rpm or greater to reduce stress on the knee, specifically the patellofemoral joint (kneecap area). High-intensity training at lower rpm may have rewards but also comes with greater injury risk.

3. Post-workout: Use the foam roller to reduce muscle soreness and tightness. Focus on the iliotibial band, quadriceps and piriformis (a deep gluteal muscle).

4. Gear: Assuming that a professional bike fit has been done, keep well-documented measurements of saddle height and fore/aft position. Always check measurements when traveling with the bike and after a bike crash.

5. Shoes: Tighten cleat screws/bolts, as they sometimes loosen and cause the cleat to shift. Once you have the cleat in the ideal position, make sure you outline the cleat in permanent marker. Overuse injuries can be created if the cleat shifts too far forward or back, increasing stress on the knee.

Wellington, who only decided to enter the race 24 hours before it started, finished less than a minute behind the women’s winner Melissa Moon.

The race, which is an 86-story (1576 steps) climb to the observatory of one of the world’s most famous buildings, features a field of just 650 people.

Following the race, Wellington tweeted: Running up the Empire State Building was one of the hardest, but most exhilarating things i have ever done. And the view was amazing!

An experienced athlete and industry professional, Heyhow will be growing the sales and marketing operations in the UK and European countries, with a special focus on ensuring our athletes, like Alistair Brownlee, are supported and represented well at the forthcoming Olympics in both triathlon and swimming.

Tim Moxey, CEO, is pleased to see the UK grow, he said: “We’ve been working hard within blueseventy to move the company out of the product design phase of the last two years and into a sales and customer support. Sean’s a great athlete himself, and loves the sport. His experience will be invaluable to us and we’re really excited to have him.”

Moxey and Heyhow raced in the 1998 ITU World Long Course Championships, with Heyhow just pipping Moxey across the line. A rematch is scheduled for summer 2012, but Heyhow’s immediate focus will be to get the newly redesigned Helix suit out to the UK market. The suit will be on display at the Triathlon Show at Sandown Park, 2-4 March, and available at selected stores from early March.

blueseventy, aptly named to suggest 70% of the earth covered in water, is the world leader in triathlon and open water wetsuits, swimskins and goggles. Since 1993, the company has designed, tested, refined and crafted products using superior materials and revolutionary details that equate to comfort, freedom from restriction and ultimately a competitive advantage in the water. blueseventy products have instilled confidence in beginners as well as carried world-class athletes to countless Olympic and World victories. For more information, visit www.blueseventy.com