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Tuesday, July 28, 2009

The other side of race day

It's just over two weeks since race day. I'm sitting in the living room of my brother, who lives on the North Shore of Vancouver, feeling like limp celery in the roasting heat. Outside it's over 35 degrees. Scorching!

After the buzz of Challenge was over, Mike and I took off in a rental car to South Tirol - a region in northern Italy with a lovely blend of German and Italian influences. They speak German there, making it easier for us. We stayed in a gorgeous holiday house with a big pool and caught up with each other. We realised, that we'd not had this sort of holiday, without stresses of work, training, races or home life since October 2006, so it was well overdue. We enjoyed the slow life: not traveling further than the nearest village for coffee, gelato, pizza and going for small walks. We experienced a 39 degree day, where stepping outside was like opening the oven door into your face - literally! The highlight for us was riding to the top of the Stilfser's Joch - an alpine pass reaching 2760 m with 48 hairpin bends! The mountains from here are snow covered all year so it was a funny juxtaposition of sports standing near a fully clad skier, when I had only a sleeveless cycling jersey and shorts on!

We returned to Roth, via a weekend stop in Munich to visit with friends, in time to say our farewells to the new friends we'd made in Roth. Mike flew home last Thursday and I migrated to the Stuttgart area to see friends from my times in Germany nearly 16 years ago. I had a fully packed 4 days rekindling friendships from half a lifetime ago, but it felt like merely months since we'd seen each other. Thank you to the Staeblers and Bolay families for their loving and generous hospitality.

Upon very short notice, I arrived Canada yesterday. My desired flights were totally booked out so I flew on standby and had 12 hours notice to get myself to the airport.

My plan from here is to prepare myself to race in at least one 70.3 (half ironman) event and return to Wanaka in September. My goals for the week are to workout the ideal location for training and the race timeframes and logistics. I'm not feeling super confident about it all, but know that it is the best option for me just now so am preparing to grit my teeth and make the most of the opportunity! Here goes!

Monday, July 13, 2009

Another one bites the dust

.. this blog title just popped into my head. This Queen hit was one of the songs that a race hot spot had playing as I trundled my way around the Challenge Roth course yesterday.

Challenge Roth 2009 dawned with perfect race conditions. We´d had some seriously cold weather in the 2 weeks prior to race day, prompting me to consider buying some thermals to pull on before the bike. Fortunately the heat promised for the following week was close enough to warm the day a little to be comfortable. Weather forcasts were for light breezes, low 20 degree temperatures and sun and cloud. It was a perfect day for record breaking and attaining dreams.

On this day 7 records were broken, the highlight of which was the phenomenal performance of Chrissie Wellington (UK), who broke the world record set last year on the same course by 15 minutes! 8.31.59. Her time placed her in the top 20 finishers overall! Rebekah Keat (AUST) was hot on her heals and also came in under last year´s record by 7 minutes. In her victory speech today Chrissie told us that whilst she hoped to be the fastest for the longest, she believes her record is to show us that nothing is impossible and that records are there to be broken. She is very much loved here, but also derserving of that praise. She is truly a wonderful ambassador for this sport.

My day started with my best swim ever. For 18 months, I´ve been aiming to swim under 57 minutes, and I took 3 minutes off this time. This placed me within the top 10 women leaving transition.

I knew this day would be excellent for supporters with such weather conditions (last year was pouring rain all day and only 14 degrees - awful for spectators) but I didn´t realise how exceptional until I reached the bottom of the famous Solar Berg. You could feel the energy brewing before you reached it, but as we rounded the corner into the hill there was a huge roar! The section of road is a normal 2 lane road, but the crowds on each side were so deep you saw no way through! I kept riding towards this mass and as I approached a wee gap opened and allowed me through. All the way up this approx 500m long hill fans were cheering for me like I was the race winner! Their energy carries you to the top of the hill and brings tears to your eyes. Amongst all of this I saw Thomas who cried `You´re in 8th place!`

During the second loop my energy levels started to wain some and I was passed by several girls. The ´little man´ (all long distance athletes know him) came and sat on my shoulder and began to whisper negative things to me. I reminded myself that my race starts when I run and tried not to worry about them. I didn´t notice the Solar Hill enthusiasm on the second loop - I was tired and trying to keep focussed.

The run quickly became a matter of survival. I am still trying to diagnose the reason for my lack of form but I felt pretty empty and by km 15 was looking for more than just coke and gels to sustain me. The urge to walk or even stop was great. I saw Mike finally at half way and disolved. He wasn´t going to entertain this and gently reminded me to keep the metronome ticking and putting one foot infront of the other. I had no reason to not keep going. I knew no one was going to get me to the finish except me and the more I walked, the longer it would take! So I walked and ran, walked and ran and at the 35km mark started to recover. I resolved to make it to the finish before 10 hours. My supporters from Heimerdingen, who came also to my last race and Roth last year, were there again with their bikes. I was grateful to have their quiet support as I muddled along.

I didn´t get passed during the run. Many of the girls had cooked themselves due to the furious pace that had been set from the start and had hard days too. Gina Ferguson (NZ no. 1) was forced to withdraw for this reason and it takes a lot to make Gina give up: she´s tough. I finished in 15th place again (like last year) in a time of 9.55. Just 3 minutes slower than last year, despite all the walking I did.

The men´s race was won surprisingly by a ´second ranked´ young German, Michael Gönner - one dream attained. The race favourite was ´stormin´ Norman Stadler, who improved his pb by 7 minutes and finished only 4th. He was run down by 3 better men on the day, including, the biggest surprise of the day the dark horse from New Zealand, multi-sporting champion Richard Ussher, who finished 3rd making him the fastest kiwi over the distance - the 8th record made. Wow. What a day!

Yesterday was just not my day. I had set some high goals for myself that we knew I was capable of achieving, but it didn´t come together to let it happen. None the less, I have been showered with supportive mails from my family, friends and contacts congratulating me on my race. I don´t feel deserving of these compliments as I didn´t achieve what I´d set out to do, but one wise soul reminded me that I am not a machine, I am human and we all have bad days in the office.

Thank you to all who have emailed me well wishes and congratulatory messages. I will reply to them as soon as I can. Mike and I have planned to spend the next week in South Tirol and Munich, returning to Roth on Monday. So that´s why there might be another silence - apologies in advance - but I´ll be emailing again as soon as I can. Yippee! Holiday! Can´t wait!

Labels: Hot air balloons over race start