Pre Race
Heading into this race all my focus has been on whether my race wheels would turn up on time - when I eventually managed to collect them from parcel force I think I relaxed to my detriment... Arriving at the airport I realised I'd forgotten items for my pre race meal - and this would not be the last think I was missing this weekend...
Still we arrived on Thursday and rather than the forecast rain there were beautiful blue skies in Bologna, my wheels arrived safely and were transferred while on the bus to the train station into my wheel bag and off we went on the train. We arrived in Rimini and got a taxi to the house where we were given a thorough tour and I was sat down to sign a contract - random. The house was huge and comfortable - lacking wifi and a TV though!
The weather decided to live up to the forecast at this point and while at dinner it started to rain and thunder, and basically didn't stop for the next 36 hours!
We managed a good strides session in the morning on Friday, went and registered and then went for a swim, the storm had produced a pretty fantastic sea but it was actually great fun.
On Saturday we had another swim in much calmer conditions, went to the briefing, and then headed out for a pre race bike set. Once we reached the promenade the weather brightened and we realised the course was closed ahead of the afternoons race so we had a 3km strip of pancake flat road to blast up and down!
The others headed out for a course recce - but the idea of being cramped up in a car filled with 4 other nervous people filled me with dread so I decided to stay at home and watch a movie.
On Saturday we had another swim in much calmer conditions, went to the briefing, and then headed out for a pre race bike set. Once we reached the promenade the weather brightened and we realised the course was closed ahead of the afternoons race so we had a 3km strip of pancake flat road to blast up and down!
The others headed out for a course recce - but the idea of being cramped up in a car filled with 4 other nervous people filled me with dread so I decided to stay at home and watch a movie.
Saturday night another storm rolled in and thankfully rolled out by the next morning, but as it was still raining we decided to check our bikes in in the way to the start to limit the amount of time they say in the rain. By the time we headed down it had stopped raining and despite a bit of abuse from umpires I think our decision was a good one. I racked my bike put my shoes in place and headed down to the sea, at which point I realised I'd put my goggle, hat and body glide in my post race bag - queue a mad sprint the 500m bag to the finish area to retrieve. I had also discovered my Garmin was dead as we were leaving the house so Katie was holding it with a battery pack trying to get it to 80% before I needed it!
I eventually got to the t1 bag drop area took my now 90% charged Garmin from Katie and jumped in the sea for a quick warm up - and realised I still had my wedding ring on! So out I got and went to see if I could find Katie but couldn't so put it in my t1 bag and planned to recover it for the bike. Finally ready, I set up my watch, and found a nice quiet spot to sit down in rather than amongst the crowd of posturing athletes!
I eventually got to the t1 bag drop area took my now 90% charged Garmin from Katie and jumped in the sea for a quick warm up - and realised I still had my wedding ring on! So out I got and went to see if I could find Katie but couldn't so put it in my t1 bag and planned to recover it for the bike. Finally ready, I set up my watch, and found a nice quiet spot to sit down in rather than amongst the crowd of posturing athletes!
Swim (33:33 – 7th)
My plan for this race was to swim as relaxed as possible, I've done a tonne of swimming over the winter and taken over a minute off my 400m swim speed, but in the past I've swum far too hard and then spent a good portion of the bike trying to recover. I still positioned myself aggressively in the group and had a fast start and was with the front pack to the second buoy but as I settled into my rhythm they eased ahead. I stayed calm and just focussed on nice smooth strokes and kept kicking to a minimum, my navigation was generally ok, although not perfect. After what didn't feel like a long time I could see people standing up in front of me, I stood up and concentrated on staying calm as I bounced/waded through the water saw Katie and my parents by the exit going crazy and hit the lap button on my Garmin, 33 minutes odd - a bit slower than hoped but definitely no matches burned on the swim - and it looks like the course as a little long so not disappointed with the result.
T1 (3:16)
I grabbed my bag and went into the tent, stripped my wetsuit grabbed a cheeky little can of coke, my number belt and wedding ring - I left my arm warmers in the bag as it seemed to be brightening up stuffed my wetsuit into the bag and headed off down the 300m to my bike drinking my coke!
Bike (2:51:15 – 7th)
Over the mounting line I went and rather than my usual feet on the shoes I tried putting my feet straight in, it didn't work so I had to pause put on foot in and get going again - doofus! Off I went ticking along at about 240 watts catching 4-5 people in the first 3k and turning right into the unknown of the bike course. While the roads were closed the surface was still slippery and it began to drizzle again. The first 15k was made up of what felt like 500m sections broken up with roundabouts or hard corners - not the fastest. After 15km we hit the first proper climb with a mountain biker meandering across the whole road shouting his support at people as they went past, I knew the first aid station was coming up so I stuck to about 250w and drank my first bottle and let a few people do their thing and blast past me. I got through the aid station with a new bottle and continued up the fairly steady climb, slightly under my target of 280watts on the way up. It was drizzling again by this point, but it was warm, and there didn't seem to be much wind.
At the second village it was raining pretty hard and I new there was a down hill section with some hairpins so I eased my way down, I heard a female pro I'd just overtaken go down hard behind me and saw someone else already down receiving medical treatment. As a measure of how careful I was being my average power dropped 30 watts in that short section but I knew we were heading out onto the main road and while it was uphill it was wide and fairly good condition.
Once on the main road I tapped out a nice tempo up here noting that it was pretty favourable for a fast descent although there were a few roundabouts which allowed you to go straight on on the way up but make a pretty significant turn on the way down, just before the next turn off I was the leading men coming back down the hill, and by now the rain had stopped and it was definitely beginning to warm up. Along this section I was a little lazy power wise but after I got overtaken by a 45-49 year old I pushed on a bit.
Then I was on to the next big climb, I kept steady up here but it was requiring 300w just to keep moving - I was fairly happy with this as my average power was climbing nicely back towards target and it was the first time I began to feel warm. I unfortunately failed to respond to this change in conditions, partially as I didn't feel thirsty and partially because it was a bit of a pain to drink and climb. I went through another aid station and swapped my half empty bottle for another half empty bottle and then headed down the first bit of decent downhill with dry roads and onto the final section of climbing. This was an unknown distance so I once again settled in and eventually reached the top, I still didn't drink at all in this section so still had a full bottle by the next aid station. I tried to grab a spare gel at this point as it was clear the bike was going to take a bit longer than expected it was about 48km and 1hr45 - unfortunately grabbing some kind of cereal bar at the aid station rather than the gel that I wanted.
At the second village it was raining pretty hard and I new there was a down hill section with some hairpins so I eased my way down, I heard a female pro I'd just overtaken go down hard behind me and saw someone else already down receiving medical treatment. As a measure of how careful I was being my average power dropped 30 watts in that short section but I knew we were heading out onto the main road and while it was uphill it was wide and fairly good condition.
Once on the main road I tapped out a nice tempo up here noting that it was pretty favourable for a fast descent although there were a few roundabouts which allowed you to go straight on on the way up but make a pretty significant turn on the way down, just before the next turn off I was the leading men coming back down the hill, and by now the rain had stopped and it was definitely beginning to warm up. Along this section I was a little lazy power wise but after I got overtaken by a 45-49 year old I pushed on a bit.
Then I was on to the next big climb, I kept steady up here but it was requiring 300w just to keep moving - I was fairly happy with this as my average power was climbing nicely back towards target and it was the first time I began to feel warm. I unfortunately failed to respond to this change in conditions, partially as I didn't feel thirsty and partially because it was a bit of a pain to drink and climb. I went through another aid station and swapped my half empty bottle for another half empty bottle and then headed down the first bit of decent downhill with dry roads and onto the final section of climbing. This was an unknown distance so I once again settled in and eventually reached the top, I still didn't drink at all in this section so still had a full bottle by the next aid station. I tried to grab a spare gel at this point as it was clear the bike was going to take a bit longer than expected it was about 48km and 1hr45 - unfortunately grabbing some kind of cereal bar at the aid station rather than the gel that I wanted.
At the turn it really started to rain - but I had a good feel for the bike by this stage and I was fairly confident that the rain was coming from the hill down the course so decided to be a bit brave and outrun the rain, this worked and I continued to lay down 240w-ish all the way down but still failed to drink mainly as I was nervous to take my hands off the bars at 60kph! I got to the bottom of the hair pin climbs and stuck to my power numbers it was fairly obvious that a number of people had drafted me down the hill as they blitzed me on the climb only for me to overtake them again on the next down hill.
I finally got back to the flat land and decided that I needed to try to make up my power target (still not drinking) and the course on the way back was rather more suitable for settling into a good tempo, tapping along at around 260w with a group of other riders, making sure I wasn't drafting but forming more of a paceline.
On the final straight along the seafront my legs started to cramp but I didn't let up really to see what would happen once I got into the run. I saw my family again here all going crazy which was a nice little lift!
I finally got back to the flat land and decided that I needed to try to make up my power target (still not drinking) and the course on the way back was rather more suitable for settling into a good tempo, tapping along at around 260w with a group of other riders, making sure I wasn't drafting but forming more of a paceline.
On the final straight along the seafront my legs started to cramp but I didn't let up really to see what would happen once I got into the run. I saw my family again here all going crazy which was a nice little lift!
T2 (4:29)
I didn't realise I was so close to t2 so I didn't have any choice but to unclip and run in my bike shoes, racked my bike sat down and took my bike shoes and timing chip off, put on my socks and shoes, put my helmet on my bike and put my bike shoes away grabbed my visor, gels and sweat band and was away, I got to the timing mat and looked down and realised my chip was still where I had taken it off. So I turned round and went to recover it, running the 150m back to my bike grabbing the chip, and back out of t2 at pace.
Run (1:45:44 – 18th)
So after this frustration I cleared my head I was feeling good, through the aid station water, water, water on head and CRAMP, both my hamstring and vastus medialis cramped hard and completely locked my legs up, walking made it cramp harder, and I couldn't stretch it out either, so I figured I was on for my first ever DNF, but I nailed 2 of my planned 3 gels, Brent the GB team manager was standing near by and was calling out suggestions but all I could really do was to wait for what seemed like an eternity (in reality about 3 minutes according to my Garmin) and finally it released, but it felt like a lot of damage had been done but I started walking and then trotting 5 min kms, way behind plan, but better than nothing.
I got to half way on the first outwards leg and saw Katie and my parents. I said I needed salt as I was cramping but didn't stop, hoping tat they would find a friendly restaurant with some salt packets, I decided I wasn't going to stop and give up till the turn, got there, and after a few encouraging words from Mark the GB mechanic, decided that I'd make it back to transition and stop there.
On the way back Katie handed me a bottle of water with an electrolyte tablet in it and I slowly sipped it down - even sharing a bit with an Italian male pro who looked to be struggling more than me. I got back to transition and still felt horrible and drained at having to talk myself into just finishing the lap, but I went round the roundabout again still drinking water and my electrolyte drink, spotting some nice big puddles I decided to cool my feet down by running through them.
When I got back to my family I still felt horrible and on top of the cramping I was throwing up every 20 minutes or so -probably as a result of trying to eat too many gels at once - and then I got overtaken by a slightly chunky lady which was pretty depressing, but by this stage I could feel that I could make it through and finish the race but I thought I'd probably be last in the ETU race but I didn't want to pull out especially as we had travelled so far - not wanting to get a Debra Schweighofer style talking to!
At half way I did a time split vs Kate here and she was only 7 minutes behind me but looked to be first lady, so I tried to encourage her to try to catch me and slowly began to feel a little better myself. Despite my main aims (top 10 and 4:45) being out of the window I remembered that when Kate and I raced at Marlow half iron she blew past me on he bike and despite blowing up on the run beat me by over 10 minutes - so by way of motivation I set myself the goal of trying to get the gap back up to 10 minutes (Kate set off 10 minutes after me) and this helped mentally. So I set about my new task - despite feeling like I had then energy to pick the pace up every time I did my legs started to twinge or I was sick again, so I had to pick the pace up steadily, but I was able to hold 4:45 kms without much issue and by the time I past my parents on the way out the final time I was feeling pretty good, running tall and counting down the kms, I was catching people at a rate of knots and loving it, unfortunately with only another 3km to go it was a bit late - another 10k on the right would have been alright at this stage!
Lots of British supporters who had seen that I was struggling earlier noticed my improved condition and I could hear my name ringing out. Eventually I could see the roundabout and finishing straight. With another 4 people just in front of me, I went for it and passed 2 of them before crossing the finish line pretty well spent.
Crossing the line, taking my medal and then I collapsed on the floor, more from emotional tiredness than physical. I then went to grab my bag to be able to contact Katie and my parents, while I waited for them I grabbed a finishing snap of Kate, not sure if I'd managed to eek out a 10 minute gap or not, but frankly not bothered by that stage - just happy to have managed to finish, and then went to meet up with my family who had managed to walk back to the finish area! We hung out here for a while waiting for Andrea who had started 30 minutes after us, drinking a lovely cold beer and eating a prosciutto piadina (a local delicacy of what is essentially a toasted wrap - protein, salt and carbs together - lush!).
Once about 30 minutes was up, I headed down to the finish line to grab a picture of Tabs, and about 2 minutes later he crossed the line, and over we went to have another beer before heading to get our bikes and finishers t-shirts.
I got to half way on the first outwards leg and saw Katie and my parents. I said I needed salt as I was cramping but didn't stop, hoping tat they would find a friendly restaurant with some salt packets, I decided I wasn't going to stop and give up till the turn, got there, and after a few encouraging words from Mark the GB mechanic, decided that I'd make it back to transition and stop there.
On the way back Katie handed me a bottle of water with an electrolyte tablet in it and I slowly sipped it down - even sharing a bit with an Italian male pro who looked to be struggling more than me. I got back to transition and still felt horrible and drained at having to talk myself into just finishing the lap, but I went round the roundabout again still drinking water and my electrolyte drink, spotting some nice big puddles I decided to cool my feet down by running through them.
When I got back to my family I still felt horrible and on top of the cramping I was throwing up every 20 minutes or so -probably as a result of trying to eat too many gels at once - and then I got overtaken by a slightly chunky lady which was pretty depressing, but by this stage I could feel that I could make it through and finish the race but I thought I'd probably be last in the ETU race but I didn't want to pull out especially as we had travelled so far - not wanting to get a Debra Schweighofer style talking to!
At half way I did a time split vs Kate here and she was only 7 minutes behind me but looked to be first lady, so I tried to encourage her to try to catch me and slowly began to feel a little better myself. Despite my main aims (top 10 and 4:45) being out of the window I remembered that when Kate and I raced at Marlow half iron she blew past me on he bike and despite blowing up on the run beat me by over 10 minutes - so by way of motivation I set myself the goal of trying to get the gap back up to 10 minutes (Kate set off 10 minutes after me) and this helped mentally. So I set about my new task - despite feeling like I had then energy to pick the pace up every time I did my legs started to twinge or I was sick again, so I had to pick the pace up steadily, but I was able to hold 4:45 kms without much issue and by the time I past my parents on the way out the final time I was feeling pretty good, running tall and counting down the kms, I was catching people at a rate of knots and loving it, unfortunately with only another 3km to go it was a bit late - another 10k on the right would have been alright at this stage!
Lots of British supporters who had seen that I was struggling earlier noticed my improved condition and I could hear my name ringing out. Eventually I could see the roundabout and finishing straight. With another 4 people just in front of me, I went for it and passed 2 of them before crossing the finish line pretty well spent.
Crossing the line, taking my medal and then I collapsed on the floor, more from emotional tiredness than physical. I then went to grab my bag to be able to contact Katie and my parents, while I waited for them I grabbed a finishing snap of Kate, not sure if I'd managed to eek out a 10 minute gap or not, but frankly not bothered by that stage - just happy to have managed to finish, and then went to meet up with my family who had managed to walk back to the finish area! We hung out here for a while waiting for Andrea who had started 30 minutes after us, drinking a lovely cold beer and eating a prosciutto piadina (a local delicacy of what is essentially a toasted wrap - protein, salt and carbs together - lush!).
Once about 30 minutes was up, I headed down to the finish line to grab a picture of Tabs, and about 2 minutes later he crossed the line, and over we went to have another beer before heading to get our bikes and finishers t-shirts.
Thoughts
So, lots of lessons learnt, the first of which was that I need to be better at on bike nutrition/hydration, the second is I shouldn't ever take my chip off in a race and the third slightly more positive one was never ever give up because just keep going and you will feel better eventually - even if it's once you've crossed the finish line.
