Wellington race report 15th March 2010
Morning everyone,
I hope you all had time to relax over the weekend, and are trying to enjoy the last gasps of summer!! Well I'm sure it will continue, although if you felt the hurricane like front that rolled into Wellington on friday evening you would have thought summer is done and dusted.
But not to worry, Windy Wellington was back to normal come race day. So that's a hell of a lot of wind and some cooler temps when your just running around in lycra and nothing else. There were blue skies by the time we started to race. Which meant some heat from not only the big orange dot in the sky but the huge crowd supporting along the waterfront.
The weekends race doubled as both the Oceania and National championships, so both titles would be up for grabs all be it some foreigners were also racing. The race fell during a key phase of my current training program and so I had to be quite careful about how I approached it. I've been mainly focusing a lot on strength endurance over the past weeks and so it would be nice to finish it off with a bit of a hit out. The other major thing was I'd just finished a 3 week training camp with the High Performance squad at one of my favorite training places in the world the Snowfarm. The Snowfarm is situated at 1600 meters above sea level and nestled atop of the Cardrona valley between Queenstown and Wanaka in the south island. Its truly an amazing part of New Zealand and one that makes doing what I love even easier! Training had gone really well over the time there, and I'd managed to get in some good miles, all be it a little tired I was looking forward to racing.
The first race is always hard no matter what. With the training load as I mentioned before, Wellington's weather reputation, and some very classy athletes from the oceanic nations and abroad this would hurt. I knew that my main competition would come from the Three times World Champion Peter Robertson, And my good mate from France and current world number 6 Laurent Vidal. There were also 58 other guys that stood on the start line all eager to show what they had to play with to the wellington public so you always have to expect that anything could happen.
The 1500 meter swim was going to be a rough affair. The sea was chopping up nicely for us and always proves tricky to hold feet and swim fast. I thought the conditions would split the field up quite a bit, but as we exited I could see that most of the group had maintained in tact throughout. What this meant right away was from now on it was going to be a very tactical affair especially on the bike. In a big bunch of 30 plus guys you have to have your wits about you. Every one will look to position themselves within the bunch as good as they can through the 40 kilometer journey, Whilst still keeping one eye open for any possible attacks that could escape and steal a march before the run. Its part of our sport that if you get a bit lazy and relax you can be caught out in an instant so it was eyes peeled to its entirety.
As it was with the swim though the strong wind and tough bike course kept everyone together. I was more than happy to wait to fight it out on the run and so prepared for the explosions to come early. I felt great throughout the bike and so did well to conserve as much energy as I could and be as far forward in the group as I could as we dismounted our bikes into the second transition. I got it pretty right and hit the ground running at the front of the big field. After racking my bike and throwing the racing flats on I looked to try to stamp some pressure early and gain any kind of ascendence I could right off the bat. Good idea, But I forgot one thing, Peter Robertson! like a bullet he passed me after 300 meters.
I felt like I must have been walking at the speed at which he passed me by. I've raced Peter enough now to know that if he gets a sniff of victory its pretty much shut the gate. I picked my pace up to try to match his increase of speed or risk being out of this race barely after it had really begun to heat up. As soon as I clawed my way back to his shoulder he took off again in true Peter style. This went on for 6 or 7 times before I finally felt like I was gaining back some control. As soon as I was positive I had harnessed some control back in my favour, I forced the pace. I slowly increased the tempo and went about applying my own pressure. Of course this was all going on within the first 2k so it was battle stations are go for a bit. Meanwhile Laurent was also surging with us and having to decide which of us to follow. The three of us had also opened quite a good gap because of this pace and it was apparent early the winner would come from here.
After 3k Peter dropped off and then it was just down to Laurent and myself. I was happy to run in front and felt comfortable doing so. I maintained my tempo for the next 3k and just focused on what was ahead. What happened next was in some way quite funny at the time. There are a few things you learn when you do a lot of training with your best mates (who are also normally your biggest competitors) that there can still be the element of surprise. Of course you respect each other more than anything, you each make the same sacrifices to reach for the same goals. But when it comes time to race you know that each and everyone wants to win. I was thinking about this at this time but I knew Laurent was too.
So at 6.5k he surged with a real change of speed. It was something Usain Bolt would be proud of. A little part of me chuckled to myself, what are we sprinting for a line we drew in the sand! He just put 20 meters on me in a flash and stopped. It was a great move and at the time took me very much by surprise. It took my another 200 meters to close back up to him once i could realize what just happened. However as soon as I got there he hit me again! This time he pushed harder and a bit longer, and found not 20 meters but around 10 seconds. And for the rest of the race he sat there in front of me at the same distance all the way to the line for the win.
So second, but first. Strange to be second but then take all the titles up for grabs, but it is what it is (and he is French ). What ever the end result, the biggest thing personally was how did I feel out there? Considering my current training load it was better than I and Chris had expected. Something that will really set me up for Sydney and the first round of the World Championship Series in a months time.
Before then I'll have a bit of an easier week starting tomorrow to get over the race and the camp. Then friday week I'll be back racing, but this time no triathlon! I'll be competing in the 5k at the New Zealand Track and Field Championships in Christchurch. It will be yet another chance to learn more from these guys who specialize in running fast.
Lastly big respect to Laurent, not only for his win but the way he raced out there. Also to Ryan for getting up to grab third overall in a good sprint finish with a bunch of guys and take out both the U23 titles that were also on offer.
Hope you are all well and I'll catch up with some of you now I'm back home of very soon in my travels.
Cheers,
Kris