...to my little webspace. Here you will find updates about my training and racing adventures as an Ironman athlete, as well as information on our spring training camps. Enjoy!
Nov 27, 2011
Ironman Cozumel 2011 in one word: Struggle
Planning to do a late fall race somewhere warm, when trying to prepare in Edmonton can be somewhat tricky. But it’s possible. I have done it in the previous two years finishing with a PB both times. So, I was hopeful that Cozumel 2011 would be another good race for me.
Well, it wasn’t. It was a learning experience, a 10-hour mental challenge and time wise my worst race ever. I had absolutely nothing in the tank (or I should say legs), and I have no explanation for it. I can’t blame it on the weather (which was exactly what I had wished for with some heavy rain and a breeze), and I can’t say that I bonked either. So, here is how it unfolded on race day.
Race morning started off normal, and at 6:40am we were sent off on our one loop Ocean swim. After some crazy kicking and splashing all around me I found some feet and had them for the whole one loop course. The loop is laid out so that you swim most of it with the current (I remember the feeling from two years ago). But, for some reason it seemed like this year we were swimming against the current a lot. We were a group of four swimming in a draft line. I had trouble to not continuously touch the feet of the person in front of me, and I know (or better felt) that whoever was behind me, had the same issue with my feet ;-)! Passing though didn’t really seem that smart. I tried a couple times to see what it feels like, but it was quite a difference in effort, so every time I decided to just tuck back in behind the swimmer in front of me. It is a long day to spend the extra energy in the swim to maybe gain 2 min. on that group I swam with. At that point I thought it’s better to hold back and then push it on the bike and the run, where it would be so much easier to make up some time. I am sure the other athletes had the same kind of thoughts. It also was somewhat wavy, so I definitely drank my share of salt water. My sodium intake was alright for a little while there ;-)! Overall, the swim felt slow and it was.
Rainy race in Germany turned out to be my best ever (so far ;-)!)
My trip to Germany has been such a blast so far…Got to hang out at my brother’s place for a bit, visited my grandma and saw old friends from school. Last thing I saw my brother and Gabi they were standing in front of my bed a bit excited and/or nervous as they told me it was my turn to drop off the kiddies at kindergarten, as they would make their way to the hospital. Three hours later I became an aunt again to a little boy named Jasper.
Shortly after that, Patty, Terry, Kris and I, were on our way to Bad Abbach, a cute little town outside of Regensburg. The days prior to race day flew by like nothing. Checking out the course we were getting even more excited as it is beautiful. The check-in, well everything, seemed to be so much more structured and organized. For instance, everyone had their picture taken with their bike to make sure you get the right bike back at checkout.
The weather forecast for race morning was for 90% chance of rain and 17 degrees, which was great. Kris, Patty and I had been training a lot in rainy conditions this year, so anything but a heat wave would be good for us. Really, I just need to think about our Banff Bike Fest weekend, and no rainy summer day can be that bad ;-)! My only other big concern was the swim start. They had said in the pre-race meeting that the pros would get a head start of 10 to 20m. Being not that fast a swimmer, and especially not a fast starter I had dreamed about 2000 people coming after me ;-)! When I saw the actual start I was relieved…it looked more like 50m. What an impressive image though to turn around and see all the people lined up. One thing we couldn’t believe is how view women are doing triathlon. In Canada it seems like 40/60, here it looked like 10/90 percent of women/men. When the gun went off, I "closed my eyes" and tried to swim as fast as I could to find some feet and get away from the masses. Well, it must have only taken about 30sec until fast age group swimmers started to pass me. There was a bit of the washing machine going on, but no worse than Great White North. I was happy to have a draft, which mostly I don’t get in races with a 15min lead. The lake was nice, the loop easy to spot, and the swim went by pretty fast. Happy to check the swim off I ran through transition, smiling even more when I noticed that my bike was not the lonely one among the pros. I was in 7th.
Yesterday I raced the Longhorn 70.3 Austin, TX. A weather-wise perfect day (not very hot or humid, a bit of wind) turned out to be great overall. After coming out of the water in 15th spot I managed to bike and run up to 8th place, and with that fulfilled my goal of placing top 10. It was a great experience, still looking at and learning from the big names, and just really enjoying to race with / against them. A more detailed description of the race in my report.
Thanks to Kris Baker, Noni Herchen, Dale & Terry Parker, Tom Keogh, Sheila Findley, Bill Hodgetts, Cam and Elise from Element, and all my other friends and family for supporting me in my quest to become a better triathlete! Thanks for believing in me, too!
