Sorry my report has taken a while, but here we go!
Short version – Disappointed!
6th in Age Group (Wanted a podium place)
52nd Overall Female including pro’s (Boo hoo!)
Swim - 33.30
T1 - 5.06
Bike - 2.29
T2 - 2.14
Run - 1.29
Overall time – 4.39
Preparation
We arrived one week before the race which meant I had plenty of time to check out the course, acclimatise, get plenty of rest and ensure my nutrition was right.
Each morning we travelled to the wonderfully scenic Clearwater beach to swim in the beautiful sea and either ride a few miles or do a short run along the coast. Every day more of the event was being set up and this certainly added to the excitement before race day. As the race start time meant we would have to get up at 4am I took advantage of the time difference and went to bed every night between 8 and 9pm and got up when I woke naturally about 4.30-5am. The idea being that come race day my body would not have too much of a shock. I felt really relaxed the night before and just could not wait to race.
Race Day
Race morning arrives and we set off to Clearwater approximately at 4am. I encountered plenty of the usual hustle and bustle with race marking, setting up the bike, warming up etc. At this point the nerves well and truly are kicking in so I really focused on what the plan was for the swim and then the rest of the race. I had a discussion with Rob the day before and agreed that if anyone tries to chat to me I would try and ignore them to focus on my concentration. This was quite peculiar thing for me to do, I don’t usually ignore people but it worked as come the start I felt in the zone!
Anyway wetsuit is on, warm up done and short sea swim performed! All is great. I briefly chat to Brett wish him luck and set off to the holding pen!
Once in the pen and I felt quite emotional. I remember saying to myself, this is it, its your race! Your going to smash it! I quickly ran over to Rob and gave him a huge hug and then went to the start.
The swim
It was a beach swim start. We had a fairly good run in and off we went. I was completely focused on how I wanted to start the swim and all went to plan, I absolutely loved the swim. It actually got choppy the further out we went. This was fine because I had had plenty of practise in the week. I was quite surprised when it was over, not sure if it was short but looking at my time I am hoping it was perfectly measured out.
Out of swim I felt really good. The volunteers told me to sit down as they pulled my wetsuit off! Awesome!
T1
Off I ran to collect my T1 bag and then into the tent to put on my socks and leave me wetsuit. I sat down very quickly and as fast I could I put my socks on. As I stood up and ran out the tent my thigh instantly ceased up! I COULD NOT BELIEVE IT!!!
My initial thoughts were ‘my race is over’. I could not bend my leg and immediately thought it was a cramp. So I shouted to the attendants that I had a cramp and they tried to relieve it for me but not much happened. I only imagined a few bikes from my wave going past me so I remained positive and thought it’s ok I can still have a chance so I told the attendants I will try and ride it out.
The Bike
I set off so slow having spent an extra 2 minutes in transition than everyone else, pedalling with a very high cadence but it was not in the plan to go this much below 24 miles per hour! I hadn’t even bothered putting my feet in my clipped on shoes as I could feel my quad not easing so I stopped again not much more than 400m after leaving T1.
I got off and a man held my bike and asked what was wrong. I replied I had a cramp and he tried to massage but all I could think was that I am getting further and further behind. I thanked him and took off again for the second time having wasted another 2 minutes again high cadence, low speed. After a while it seemed to ease off but I had to keep standing up to stretch it out. Not the aero position I had set out to do!
To add insult to injury my Garmin condensed up and as such I could now not see a thing. I dropped it the day before but because it only had a very very slight crack I thought it would be ok but unfortuately not and I raced thereon in on how I felt and I had no idea of my heart rate, cadence or speed.
It was around then that Brett flew passed me on the bike and shortly after a pack of about 20 riders, men and women! I only actually saw a few packs, not as many as I had anticipated due to all that I heard about drafting prior to the race. This was probably down to everyone having already passed me whilst I was busy stretching my leg.
When I approached the penalty box I was pleased to see the pack of 20 had been penalised and had 4 minutes to wait.
On the way back there were a few more packs but mainly a smaller bunches and few angry comments were made too. ie those 2 think its the tour de France!!!! When we had the race brief they said that Drafting will not be tolerated. On the course I only remember seeing 2 draft busters and there was much of the course where draft busters couldn’t even go because of the traffic and people clearly knew that – I passed the same couple of girls legally only for them to go past shortly after on the wheel of some men.
T2
As I was approaching the finish of the bike and I remember wondering whether my leg would be ok for the run. So I thought it was best to not come out of my race shoes and jump off but instead come to a complete stop and get off slowly just in case my leg jarred again. When I came off the bike I gently jogged and my leg felt tight but okay. All the time I thought, last race just do your best.
The Run… ‘stick to the plan!’.
I set off again totally blind to my speed because of my steamed up watch – I had planned to run 6.25min miles but the combination of the watch and my leg meant that was unlikely to happen. I saw Rob early on and he just shouted ‘stick to the plan!’ which was unusual as he’d normally be telling my exactly where I was. I asked him but he just said it was difficult to work out and to push on at 6.25′s – I responded back with ‘I don’t know how fast I’m going my watched i ****ed!
I found out after that Rob knew exactly where I was but didn’t think it was a good idea to tell me I was so far behind being in 27th place! I pushed on with my leg aching on almost every step but i still managed to pass so many Age groupers and I thought, I must be in the lead by now! I saw Rob again and he just said keep pushing I don’t where you are!, your running people down, the heat is affecting them!
I am so glad I did 4 weeks for heat training in my makeshift training room. The heat did not affect me at all throughout any of the race which only adds insult to the injury of my quad problem. Coming past Rob for the final time he told me to drive it in, you can’t win it but we want the fastest run split which I ultimately did get for my AG.
The finish
When I crossed the finishing I was disappointed but had to take the positives that despite being injured I pushed on and kept positive and came back from 27th on the run, I dread to think where I was when I actually got going on the bike but it must have been in the 40′s somewhere!
I reckon I lost at least 10 minutes on the T1/bike trying to stretch the muscle out and not being able to push for a good half of the 56mile, then another 2 minutes on the run as I just did not feel I ran as well as I can with my leg muscle was constantly twinging throughout. If that had not of happened I think I would have easily of come 2nd, which is around where I had have hoped to finish, I may even have been able to run down 1st. I know people will s ay that 6th is good and it is but I just feel like it just isn’t a fair reflection of what I can do and it would have been amazing to finish off my first full season with podium at the worlds despite all the cheating that was going on. As Rob and I had been saying all week previous, we’re not here to finish it – we’re here to win it!
The following day I saw a sports masseur as my leg was still very sore, he didn’t think it was cramp and likely that I had pulled it or it had spasmed. Rob and I have discussed it alot since the race and we are unable to put it down to anything particular making it ‘just one of those things’, so have decided to not change anything about the pre-race routine and nutrition unless it happens again. Which hopefully it does not!
The aftermath. My pointers!
One final point regarding the drafting – take a minute to look at the top 15 women finishers and look at the bike splits of the AG’s compared to the Pro’s. I have raced against a couple of those girls and they beat me by a minute at most but somehow got to within 30 seconds of Jodie Swallow’s bike split! Makes for interesting reading.
Anyway, onwards and upwards – time for a few weeks rest and start planning my training and racing for 2011! Next year the world 70.3 is in Las Vegas and I can’t wait. It’s hilly which is right up my street and should stop some of the drafting problems. Needless to say I will be going to win it!
See you soon
Amy
