Malta Champion for the 4th time

Hi Everyone

The Triathlon Calendar came to an end on Sunday 12th October with the Grand Final, The National Triathlon Championship, the most important race of the year. I trained hard for this race during the last summer. The training I had to do through was so demanding that in my life I never trained so hard before. At one point I was training close to 35 hours a week and training this amount of hours in the heat we had was very hard but I was determined to end the season with some great performances

I started the swim as usual going immediately in front and trying to open a gap. I knew it was going to be a bit more difficult as there were no relay team swimmers to push with so I had to do all by myself. I was feeling strong and was swimming really well. I decided to push as much as I could in the swim to open a good gap on my nearest rivals whom were going to give me some tough time. I completed the 1.5km swim in a good time of 21.29

We had to run a lot to go to transition area. I really sprinted to T1 and change as fast as I could as I wanted to gain more seconds. I started the bike immediately at a fast pace in order to get immediately in the pace. It was a complete different route from the usual coast road at the aharax tal mellieha. I lapped a lot on the race course during this summer as the course did not suited my characteristic so I knew what pace I had to go in order to leave some energy for the bike. I was keeping an average of 37.5km/hr which was the pace I settled to keep before. At 15km to go I was starting feeling a bit tired. I was feeling the energy I had before and my rivals started closing the gap. I kept calm and kept on with my pace till T2

As I started the run, I was not feeling that energetic as I wished. I don’t know why but I was feeling my legs tired. However I was running a respectable pace and tried to keep up with it. It was very hot and the humid conditions were killing me. I think that is why I was feeling a bit without energy. I tried to hydrate myself and concentrate on my pace. I noticed that I was gaining ground again on my nearest opponents. To try and push myself more and forgot the tiredness I had in my legs I used the backmarkers as an aim to run faster.

In the end I managed to win my 4^th National Triathlon Title. I won the race in 2.06.01 with the fastest run of the day of 37.38. It was a hard and a very tough race and the humid conditions did not helped me. I pushed so much and fought with myself in order to push more that soon after the race I was not feeling so well as my blood pressure went low. This race is so special for me as it was after the 1998 championship that I decided to start triathlon and winning the race that I love most for the 4^th time is simply amazing. It was a great season for me winning the Triathlon titile for the 4^th time, the Duathlon title for the 2^nd time, the Aquathlon title, the BSJ Series title for the 7^th time, the triathlete of the year award for the 6^th time (equalled my brother’s all time record) and represented Malta at the Commonwealth Games.

All this was only thanks to my brother/coach Dermot Galea who is a great honour for me to follow the footsteps of the best ever Maltese Triathlete, my swimming coach Catalin Stan whom under his guidance we improved my swimming a lot, my parents and my wife’s parents for the support they give me in every single race, my masseur Owen Attard, my sponsors Garmin Malta, BBB Bike Parts Malta, Starbene Sports Nutrition, Malta Challenge Marathon, Jaycee Malta, the Malta Triathlon Federation, my club Birkirkara St Joseph, my Kunsill Malti ghall- isport and the Maltese Olympic Committee for all the support they gave me throughout the whole season.

Most of all I would like to thank my number 1 supporter, my wife Elizabeth. She is the only person who knows what I have been through this summer. She was by my side during the heavy training I had to do though. At one point I was training 35hrs a week and sometimes I was training even if my body was knackered but I was so determined to win the last races of the season with some great performances that I wanted to go through that pain. I managed to do all the session I had thanks to my wife who was by my side helping me in everything. Thanks a lot my love, love you so much. Without you I am lost. You are the Adrian I always wished to have. Love you my “Adrian”.

Thanks a lot for Now

Yours in Sports

Keith

7th Heaven

Hi Everyone,

The season is coming to an end soon and we are now in the final races of the 2014 Triathlon calendar. Last Sunday I was on the starting line of the last race of the Birkirkara St Joseph Triathlon Series. My intention was to have a solid result and try to post the fastest splits in all the disciplines and trying to win the fourth race out of four races of the series.

The weather was much better than last time although there was the chance of rain during the race. I started the 750m swim as usual setting a fast pace trying to keep up with the relay team swimmers. At one point both swimmers were going off direction and so I decided to keep on swimming on my own. Soon after they noticed their mistake and joined me. We kept on pushing a relatively fast pace to come out of the water in 10.37. It was a very good time considering that the water was very choppy

After a not so good transition I started the 20km bike segment at a very strong pace. I wanted the fast bike split today and at the same time hoping that my legs will be able to run fast after the bike. Although I had a comfortable lead at the start of the bike, I pushed hard and still managed to extend my lead. I covered the 20km in 32.53 which was the best bike split of the day which I am very pleased of as it was the first time this year I had the best bike split.

In the 5km run I tried to go faster, trying to increase my lead. I managed to do so as I noticed that my gap was increasing in the first two laps. In the last lap of three I could not go faster as my legs were feeling the previous efforts. Still managed the best run of the day in 18.42 to win the 10th race of the season in 1.03.30 which is a new personal best on the course with a non - wetsuit swim

Seeing my performance, one could say that I had an easy and perfect race but there is always room for improvement. I know I can run faster because in training I am doing fast times and I have to improve my transitions as I need to be faster. In triathlon every second counts. Still I  m pleased with my performance and that I won the Birkirkara St Joseph Triathlon Series for a record of seven times in my career

I would like to thank my coach Dermot Galea, my swimming coach Catalin Stan, my parents, my wife’s parents, my sponsors Garmin Malta, BBB Bike Parts Malta, Jaycee Malta, Challenge Malta Maraton and Starbene Shop of Mosta, my masseur Owen Attard, my club Birkirkara St Joseph, the Malta Triathlon Federation, the Maltese Sports Council and the Maltese Olympic Committee for their constant support

I would like to thank the club Birkirkara St Joseph and all its helpers for once again organizing a successful and professional series. We know that this year we had to change venue due to the work in progress at Salina. I can imagine the hassle that club and everyone involved had to go through in order to give us not only the usual standard but a better one than these last few years even if we had to race on a different route. THANKS A LOT BSJ……

That’s all for know

Thanks for following my blog. I really appreciate

Yours in Sports, 

KEITH

3 out of 3

Hi Everyone

After winning the National Aquathlon Championships, 4 days later I was on the starting line of the third race of the Birkirkara St Joseph Triathlon Series. The Race was going to be tough as the weather was very humid and it will obviously hamper the level of performance of an athlete. Conscious about this fact I was drinking lots of fluids 2 days before the race

I started the 750m Swim at a very fast pace trying to catch up with a swimmer who was part of a relay team. I was feeling strong. I was pushing but at the same time my stroke was very relaxed. I knew I was going to post a good time. I managed a personal best time of 10.50. I was very pleased as all those kilometres going up and down at the MFA Taqali pool were worth it.

Going on the bike, I did not hammer the first hill as I wanted to save my legs as I knew the run was going to be tough with the heat. I was feeling great and I was increasing my pace each lap, thus my lead was increasing s well. Unfortunately I encountered 3 incidents with cars during the bike were I had to slow down a bit. I managed to post the 2^nd fastest bike of the day of 33.17, 8 seconds away from the fastest split.

Coming from the bike, I started the run at a steady pace as I knew it was going to be a tough 5km due to the high humidity. After I settled the pace, I was running well but at one point I slowed down in the 3^rd km. I was feeling so hot however I managed to pick up the pace for the last 2km. I managed to set the fastest 5km run of the day of 18.45 to finish in a personal best time on the course (without wetsuit swim) of 1.04.17

I am very pleased with my performance especially with my swim and bike where I felt awesome. Pity it was so humid because I know I can go faster.I would like to thank my coaches Dermot Galea and Catalin Stan, my parents, my wife’s parents, my club Birkirkara St Joseph, and the Malta Triathlon Federation for their support. I would like to thank as well my sponsors, Garmin Malta, BBB Bike Parts Malta, Jaycee Malta, Starbene shop of Mosta, Malta Challenge Marathon, the Malta Olympic Committee and the Kunsill Malti ghall-isport for their fundamental help they give me.

Special Thanks goes to my No 1 Supporter, my wife Elizabeth for coming to support me once again for the race and for here support leading up to the event. I would like to say well done to my club Birkirkara St Joseph for setting up again a very high standard race and also to all participants, especially those who managed to finish their first triathlon. Welcome to the Triathlon Malta family. 

Well done and Keep it up

That’s all for now

Yours in Sports

Keith