Just over a month after racing her first full distance of the year at the IRONMAN World Championship in Kona, Britain’s Ruth Astle will line up for another Ironman this weekend when she takes on IRONMAN Cozumel in Mexico.
The PTO World #48, who endured a tough start to the season with injuries sidelining her after struggles at Challenge Gran Canaria and the World Long Distance Championships, will try to make the most of the fitness that saw her finish 12th in Hawaii last month.
With options limited for an end-of-season race, Astle explains the rationale behind heading to Cozumel in her most recent YouTube video, where she hopes the famous downstream current will help her on the way to a good result.
“Options are limited at this time of year”
Talking through her decision to race in Mexico, Astle said that whilst racing in Florida or Western Australia were also options, she eventually landed on the island in the Caribbean Sea.
“Options are obviously relatively limited at this time of the year in terms of travel and getting to warmer climates. I had out my name on the Florida start list, just in case I felt good, but given I’d done a wedding the week after Kona, I needed longer to recover and couldn’t face going back to America that soon – that travel is tough.
“I think the three weeks between Ironmans is actually quite a good time frame. You have a week of recovery, a week of moving and then a week of tapering and you’re still quite fit, but with two massive travels it’s harder so it was a no for Florida.
“That left options for an Ironman as either Cozumel or Western Australia and Cozumel is the slightly easier place to get to, so I’m going to go do Cozumel. It’s also got the downstream swim, which will help minimise my swim disadvantage!”
