My first race report posted to Slowtwitch, so be gentle please. Thanks.
Race morning dawned cool, relatively clear, and windy. I got up at 5am as the age group race start had been pushed back to 8am due to a shortening of the swim (the amount was still uncertain) in order to clear the elite racers out of the water before the age groupers started the race. Breakfast went fine, I grabbed my bag and pump and caught the shuttle down to the transition area. It was already buzzing with athletes when I arrived shortly after 6am and I set about my business of getting the tires up to pressure, preping my bike with nutrition and helping any other Team Canada members with any last second bike goodies (like needing a tubular spare, but grabbing a clincher tube by mistake). With that all done, a trip to the bathroom was made and then it was off to the hill to watch the elite swim start. We watched the first loop of the swim and then made our way back up to transition to grab wetsuits and head for the age group start. One lesson we learned was that when the announcer told the elites they had one minute to start time and they were under starter’s orders, they actually had about 10 seconds, so we referred to this as the Danish minute.
The swim: Based on the official water temperature (15C), the decision had been made to shorten the age group swim to 3000m from 4000m, so we would swim two 1500m laps. As a stronger swimmer, I was a bit unhappy with that, but as there wasn’t much I could do, just needed to have the best swim I could. There was lots of nervous energy in the holding area, and lots of encouragement offered between members of the team. We were let into the water about 2 minutes before the swim, so no time for a warm up and no time to really adjust to the water temperature. But, everyone faced the same thing, and so it was just a matter of doing the best possible. Our Danish minute lasted longer than it did for the elites and we were off. I was out as far as possible from shore on the course to take advantage of the current that would push us through the first section of the swim, and had reasonably clear water with some bodies around me. By the time we made our two turns and were headed back up the course, into the current, the order had mainly sorted itself out and I found a good pair of feet to follow for as long as I could hold them. That lasted about 250m of the upward leg before I was on my own. I made the third turn and aimed for the wrong bouy, but was corrected by marshals on the course, and adjusted for the correct bouy. At this point I saw the group I had been towing and let some of them come past me after the fourth turn. The second lap was more of the same only I allowed the group I towed through the first lap to tow me on the second lap. The jellyfish weren’t nearly so bad as in previous days, although I felt one brush by my face, and touched a few others. The focus of racing and having other people around definitely helped. Final swim time: 46:17
T1: From the beach, it was a long run up the ramp and over the bridge to the hill next to the beach. The bridge put us out half way up the hill so up the rest of the hill into transition. The cold water made me a bit dizzy, but nothing too serious. I gave a high-5 to a Canadian supporter on the way in. No problems in T1, and out onto the bike. T1 time: 2:08
Bike: The elite men were just finishing their first lap as I came out onto the bike course. So, they were flying by as I made my way out onto the course. There was definitely some pretty obvious drafting going on amongst the elite men, but that wasn’t much of a surprise to me, and I just raced my own race. I tried to maintain a steady effort, and tried to pace myself in terms of how much energy I spent and my eating. The wind wasn’t too bad on the first loop of the bike, but it definitely picked up on the second and third loops. It was into our face on the way out of town, and at our backs on the way into town so at least it was possible to hammer on the way home. The climb was challenging enough at race pace, but nothing terribly nasty, and there was lots of encouragement on the hill, and plenty of fans elsewhere. The section through the valley next to the beach and just around the start finish area was a great boost of energy and I hammered through there a bit too hard on each lap, but nothing too far beyond myself. On the third loop of the bike, we caught one racer who then proceeded to blatantly draft the rider 2 bikes ahead of me, as the rest of us tried to stay legal. Unfortunately there wasn’t a draft marshal in sight, so he got away with it. Since there wasn’t much I could do about it, I simply ignored it and focused on my own pacing and nutrition. I gave him a piece of my mind when I passed him for good just before the turn-around point, not that it matters much to him I’m sure. In the end, I managed my effort coming back into Fredericia to set myself up for the run. Bike time: 3:22:10 Average speed: 35.62km/h.
T2: Into T2, bike on rack, helmet off, socks on, shoes on, into the porta-potty. I had needed to pee since sometime during the first third of loop three, but wasn’t ready to stop on the bike, so it was a long pit stop to empty my bladder but very helpful and necessary, and out onto the run I went.
Run: As I started the run, Jonas Colting, one of the Swedish elite men was coming through the start-finish area to start his second loop. For whatever reason, I was actually running his pace until I smartened up and slowed down.
The first loop went well, alternating Coke and energy drink at each aid station and using sponges and water whenever required. Loop 1: 32:53
The second loop is when dark times arrived. In long distance racing, apparently everyone will experience some dark times, and for me, it was loop two. I was feeling dizzy, and like the wheels were coming off. I was reduced to walking up the hill onto the embankment, and had to walk a long section of that just to get things back under control to start jogging again. At the next aid station I started hitting the Coke pretty hard (2 cups per aid station) plus started using the energy bar as it was clear to me that I was behind on nutrition (probably on the bike) and needed energy to right the ship, lots of it, and fast. Its not usually a good idea to try new products in a race, but I needed the energy, and also know that my stomach will tolerate nearly anything I put in it during a racing situation, so lots of energy bars were consumed. I also needed another porta-potty stop for #2, and once that was done, felt much better. The run pace still wasn’t fast, and I hit the nutrition hard each time there was an aid station, and by the end of loop two, things were coming around again. This was absolutely the worst I have ever felt in a race. Loop 2: 45:12
Loops three and four went much better for me after getting my energy levels back in a good space. I was able to run hard for the both loops, and ran down a number of people who were fading in front of me on the last lap. As I came into the finish (and picked up a little Canadian flag to wave), there was a member of the German team ahead of me, so racing it was (rather than soaking up the finish), as I tried to pull him back. He was just a bit too fast in the end, but we both pulled back another guy. In the end, I wound up high-5-ing all the kids I could, and finished with a strong final 15k on the run. Loop 3: 35:06 Loop 4: 35:39 Total run: 2:28:xx, or something like that.
I wound up second Canadian, 12th out of 42 in my age category, 63rd age grouper overall, beat all but the top 10 elite women (and one elite male, not counting DNFs) and all of the age group women. Needless to say, I’m very pleased with my race, and feel really great going into IMC. Team Canada wound up with 2 world champs (including Linnea Humphrey who was first female age grouper) and 3 bronze medals. A successful World Championships all around, a great experience and a ton of fun (in that twisted way the racing is fun for us).
