Will post racepics when they go online-probably in 48hrs
If I’m seriously going to commit to a blog that entails that I can’t ignore the bad and only write about the good. Today was bad in all senses of the word, hardly unexpected (refer to previous post) but still it hurts!
Today’s race was an Olympic Distance race in the 5150 Triathlon Series. I was racing in the first wave, which was comprised of the “Elite Amateur” Division, it required qualification through achieving certain times in other Olympic races.
The skinny is that I DNF’d 2k’s into the run.
The 5am ride to the race-site confirmed my suspicions, I had nothing. My training over the last two weeks has been very tough! Many double-run days, swimming seven times a week, hilly bike rides and the 1hr (round-trip) commute to the pool has meant I have notched up my two hardest training weeks ever.
Transition area was a very (for the want of a better word) American affair. The usual order of business is to eye of competitors, only commenting if you want to:
- find out how good they are
- Give them a snide remark (i.e. ‘that’s a very expensive bike, hope the legs do it justice)
- Play yourself up or down (i.e. “I ran 21k’s yesterday”, which is what I actually said today).
This transition area felt more like a speed-dating night. Everyone was so friendly! My transition neighbour Chris didn’t draw breath, it did wonders to calm me down.
I had no idea how big this race really was, it turns out it forms part of the ‘national series.’ Mooloolaba back in Australia would be its direct comparison.
Swim
Photo courtesy of Nick Baldwin
The start involved walking over a mat and then swimming out towards the pier. Prior to that the US national anthem was played. 1000+ people suddenly feel silent and placed their hands on their hearts…..only in America. Amongst other things it served as a huge pre-race g’up!
I embraced my usual pre-race f**k-witness (I get very cranky/tired/stressed pre race) and barged my way right up to the front. To my shock everyone was being well behaved and actually staying behind the buoy. I remember at Shepparton 70.3 last year we were a good 20meters infront of the buoy when they started the gun.
The first 100m I put my head down and just went for it, the next 100m I concentrated on keeping a high cadence and maintaining my solid position. At the 300m mark to my slight horror I was on the feet of the leading three swimmers (very briefly). That when things started to turn sour. I have struggled (to put it mildly) in the water ever since I’ve been here. The race was at 1600m, hence getting air in the lungs has been an issue.
Regardless of swim ability I have never felt uncomfortable in the water (excluding the time when I was bitten in the face twice in 30s by a jellyfish), at the 800m mark it was only pride that stopped me pulling out. I went into deep hypoxic (lack of oxygen) territory, feeling dizzy, breathless and disorientated. Although I went out a bit fast, this pain was more than just that. I was so hypoxic I became completely disorientated.
It turned out I was 15m inside the guiding buoys (which we weren’t allowed to go inside). After 30/45s of a mixture of breastroke and backstroke (yes I was in that much trouble) I got my act together and swam back into shore. I was feeling terrible, each time I tried to engage my kick I went back into hypoxic territory and had to quite literally stop, I really struggled swimming in a straight line, managing to swim in every direction except the right one. I’ve never felt that bad in the water, frankly it was a little scary. I came out of the water in high 21mins (rather awkwardly a PB, top 5 out of water were in the low 19 region with one guy at 18:50), feeling terrible and frankly embarrassed with my performance.
Bike
This bike course is LEGIT!! This course has an elevation gain of 465meters, almost all within the first 15k’s of the bike leg. The so-called hilly bike courses of Australia have nothing on this. It is the first time I’ve ever gone into my small chain-ring in a race.
T1 to 12k’s on the bike took me 28mins, at an average speed of 24.65km/h!! It saw an elevation gain of 337meters. There is a 5minute climb near the end of this section on Old Stage Road which averaged 8% (with pitches hitting 16%) and had my average speed at 13.82km/h (serious wobbling around the road stuff). It was absolutely brutal, and the scary thing was this was the section I made up the most ground on my fellow “Elites,” I really don’t know how many of the MOP/BOP’ers got up it, I was in the 39/28 for much of that hill. The rest of the course descends into a flat final 10ks. One positive of this whole debacle was that my last 10k’s which were virtually flat (64m elevation gain, still more than the 40ks of state champs along Beach Road) saw me average 37km/h, considering I was destroyed and on a road bike that was one semi-positive to take away from this.
I have ridden two 1:01’s and a 59m on OD courses so I am no slouch, today’s 1:11 (albeit course was 2ks long) was hard to take. I was still feeling terrible, however being a one lap affair, once I’d committed to hopping on the bike, I had no choice but to finish it.
Regardless of certain equipment shortfalls (i.e. no TT bike, just a roadie) it was a slow time. The winner of our Age-Group and 8th place overall (amongst the top pros) went 1:02 (fastest time was 57:XX), the second place finisher went 1:04. So I was well and truly demolished.
Coming out of T1. I want to make it abundantly clear that this is NOT a smile. HAHA
Photos never do hills justice. Climbing up Old Stage Road, with 10%+ gradients
Run
I ran hard out of T2 trying to A. Salvage some pride, B. Find some running form, C. Get away from the crowds ASAP.
You can tell pretty much straight away if you’ve got any form, I knew right-away that I couldn’t salvage anything. My first K was in the 4min+ range, the second was the same. I was feeling dizzy and despondent and realised there would be nothing to be gained from continuing. I hate pulling out!! In 30+ tri’s I’ve only DNF’d one other race. I asked myself why should I continue, and beyond pride I couldn’t think of anything, that solidified my decision.
I am in Boulder to primarily train, explaining why I didn’t taper at all (long run and 5k swim the day before). If I was to continue the recovery time would exponentially increase, harming my training for the remaining two weeks. Pulling out at the start of the run means I can hit training tomorrow without risking illness/injury.
Post-Race
Of course failure makes you evaluate all aspects of what you’ve been doing. I have got a great team of people around me (coach, training partners, swim squad, family etc) and while I’ve been dedicated, I can’t look at myself in the mirror and say that I’ve been the best possible athlete I can be. I’ve been a bit lazy of late with my recovery practices (when with this level of volume I should be giving them special attention) and my diet has been poor. Frankly this is the kick up the pants I need before worlds in 104 days.
Post-race (and after about an hour of some private sulking) I had an enjoyable time with Nick and fellow Aussie Scott watching other people finish. People-watching at triathlons is always good fun, one man was turned around for only wearing speedo’s on the run. Another carried a 500ml bottle in each hand! I even met a family from Canberra!
Most importantly I am still loving what I’m doing!! I think that can be easily forgotten amongst the desire to be first across the line. This sport rewards consistent training over the long-term, the only way to maintain longevity in the sport is to enjoy it. I’ve learnt that the hard way in Cricket.
Looking forward to nailing my last 13 days here in Boulder before I depart!!
No comments:
Post a Comment