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Nov 16, 2009
Angie’s 2009 Ironman World Championships 70.3 Clearwater Race Report
Its been quite a day. I think I'm about as tired as I remember being ever... Well at least since my last Ironman:). This is a different tired though. I'm not sore like after an Ironman, but just so darn tired.
This morning was great! I had a bad case of pre-race nerves yesterday am, but today I woke up in good spirits feeling rested.
The swim start was interesting, and I have to say that I liked it. We stood in our heats and moved forward towards the dock. When we got there, we put our goggles on and basically walked on a dock and hopped in the water, then started swimming. It was a very lonely swim, but there was virtually no contact. No drafting either (on the down side), but I'll take that over being beat up any day. I'm not sure if you know that the swim was moved from the Gulf of Mexico to the Harbor on the other side because the ocean was so rough this week bc of Hurrican Ida. I think we could have done a mass start in the ocean today as it was much calmer, but the organizers made the decision yesterday and stuck with it. Sighting on the way out was tough... Direct sun and my darn goggles fogged up! (I couldn't dip them in the water after I spit in them!). The water was flat and calm and a perfect temp for swimming though. I hoped to be a bit faster but 32 min and a few seconds was where the time came out.
Transition 1 was long. We had to climb a steep narrow ramp out of the water then run across a road to get to the transition area. My hamstrings did not like the climb up on the ramp much:). I did
like the lay out of transition though. Our t1 and t2 bags were together in a row. They were well marked and easy to find.
The bike... I've had lots of comments about my bike time. I don't think anyone is more surprised than I am. I only looked at average speed once on the bike, at about the half way point. In my wildest dreams I could not imagine biking that fast. A flat flat course and NO wind was a factor... A significant factor. The conditions were perfect. The other big factor in my bike split was that I was doing everything I could to ride clean. As you know I hate drafting. I hate it passionately and from the outset I wanted this race to be my own.
For the first 40k or so I had no problems riding clean. I had a few altercations with other riders I told one old guy with hairy ears to get of my wheel. He called me a f##cking bitch, cow. The obsenities flew. Then a pack of 4 women went flying by me. I tried to keep my mouth shut but out came the accusations. Something like "you spend all this money on equipment and training for what... To cheat". The gal at the front of the line gave it to me with a "f#ck you". I promptly told her I wasn't talking to her bc she was in the front. As it turns out her and I supported each other a fair amount out there. She came up to me after the race and she was 3rd ametuer woman overall! She went 4:20. You could tell the people who were trying to ride clean. They would move around to take the wind. Most though, just settled in and cheated. There was a gal in my ag... #699. She biked 2:16 and I can say with absolute certainty she didn't bike one pedal stroke without cheating. There were others... But I called her "Red" and told her I was going to post her # on slowtwitch. Good for me she ran worse than I did so wasn't a factor in the end.
I have to say the cheating was really hard on me emotionally. Why my ridiculously fast bike split? Mostly bc I killed myself to ride clean which essentially meant I had to take the left lane and pass people and packs again and again. I felt forced to ride fast. I hope that makes sense. My heart rate was 7 beats higher than my avg at GWN. I rode over threshold... Which explains my run split. I rode too hard.
There were times on the bike course where I got stuck too. A pack of 20 riders would go by me and I would get forced in the middle. Apart from the cheating issue, it also was scary and not safe. I would shoulder check and try to drop to the left... Sometimes forced to the right, to get out and get wind as soon as I could. A few times I stopped pedalling to drop back from a pack, but most the time I hammered hard through. It certainly made the ride not very "steady". There was a point in the last 20k where there was nothing you could do. They narrowed the bike lane to about a double width sidewalk. It was wall to wall bikes. You could hardly go fast and you couldn't slow down. A draft marshall went by and made eye contact with me. I looked at her and shrugged my shoulders. I was on the verge of tears. She shrugged back acknowleging she was helpless. I still feel that way now. Very emotional about it. At the end of the day though, I know I did everything I could to ride clean. The one rule I did break was the blocking rule. My choice to take the left lane meant I potentially was in the way for other cyclists to go by. They would say "on your left"... I would move right to let them and their buddy's pass, then move right out to take the wind again.
So... Was my 2:17 bike a fair split. Yes... I can say with a very clear conscious that I rode clean the entire day except for when I was blocked in with no place to go. The really shitty thing about how I'm feeling is that I have this fear that people will look at my bike split and assume I cheated. I know that if I looked at someone with that split, I think I would assume they cheated too. I did not. I rode hard... To hard... And paid for it on the run, but I rode clean except when there was absolutely no choice.
So... Enough of that. At T2 I handed my bike off and realized what I had done. My legs felt every bit as bad as they do at an Ironman. This was my 4th 70.3 this year, and the only time I've come off the bike feeling that way.
I knew the run would be hard, but holy... Did I suffer. I started off at goal pace telling myself my legs would come around. I actually liked the hill over the causeway bc it gave me something to "fight" against. I could focus on the flags at the top and push thru knowing there was a downhill on the other side.
I have never been passed by so many runners in a tri either. I had to really strap on my brain and throw away the pitty party attitude every time a woman passed me.
What I did not do well was commit to the pain. I walked... Several time, and maybe 4 times between aid stations. I was so done. My mantra on the run became "I over biked and under ran". I told myself to say something positive, but that darn chant kept coming back. At the 11 mile mark I finally told myself to suck it up buttercup and just f#cking run. I had a pretty solid last 2 miles especially compared to miles 4 to 11 which was pretty ugly. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed in my run split of 1:45... But I'd also be lying if I didn't admit it was bc I biked too hard. I guess I figured out my "blow up" point on the bike. I didn't think I had one... Surprise! I do:).
Still... At the end of the day a 4:40 was a dream goal. I thought 4:40 for s/b/r plus transitions would be outstanding. (Thus the 4:45 to 4:46 goal I told lots of you about.) To race that time to the finish line is pretty much beyond my comprehension. Jaimie Roth who had a great day too, told me to set a goal of being off the bike by 3 hours. I thought that was nuts. I left T2 at about 2:55 and knew I had a crack at a 4:40 finish. I didn't think I'd get there with the mental melt down on the run, but somehow the times came together and my 1:45 run split was enough to squeak in there!
Race execution is always the most important component of a race for me. This one was done poorly with how hard I biked and my sub par run. On the other hand, I felt forced to ride that hard to stay clean. A bittersweet pill to swallow.
Jaimie says I now have a pro time. Women need to race a 4:40 half to race pro! I think that's funny. I'm a bit long in the tooth to give that a go, but I guess its nice to know I squeaked in there once in my life!
Janice Helle and Jaimie Roth both from Cochrane had great days and pr's for this distance. Congrats to both of them. Jill Kirker also raced really well and was 8th in her age group.
I think that's all... I'm sure you are glad since this is a really long email:). 7th in my age group at a World Championships is pretty darn good. That makes me a bit teary to say it. I'm not supposed to be able to do that... But I did.
I have to thank Ken too. He was with me every step of the way to the start line, and having him on the course and at the finish line meant so much. He made sure I was ready, and told me I could do this. He cried at the finish line... I did not.
So.... I apologize for all the typos. We are boarding the plane so I can't proof read. Thank you again for all the well wishes. It was a spectacular day.
Angie
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