USA race reports June 2011
Three races in 21 days!
Well its been awhile since my last update, but as you all knew, I been racing here in America with the hope to secure a qualifying spot for the big Hy-Vee race in Des Moines Iowa in September. Since leaving New Zealand I've been based in Santa Cruz, California. I've been training there with Bevan ( Docherty) and a small, but loyal band or merry men. Its been alot of fun, and all the big key sessions were met head on!
The first race was in Florida at the St Athonys triathlon event. Now all these races are in the non drafting format, which means no hiding on the bike. I had a brand new custom painted SL-BLUE-TRIAD complete with Shimano Di2 waiting for me once I got to the states, and I was eager to get on it prior to the races. Its a massive change in dynamics to be riding a TT bike, over a road bike. The biomechanics are very different, and after not riding on a TT rig since Singapore 70.3 5 weeks ago, it was always going be a struggle in the first race. I knew however that with every ride, and race, it will feel more comfortable. I knew St Athonys was going to hurt! and running hard after a slid bike, was well, not going to be pretty.
I've done a few races over in America of course over the years. But races in America are raced with so much insurances things just work differently over here. The old kiwi saying "she'll be right mate" or "no worries" about when weather or sometimes even safety, is not a factor over here. The first issue was wind, and what it was doing to the swim course. I've swum in far far worse conditions, but also understand why it is that safety is paramount in any situation. Because of this the swim was shortened from 1500m to about 800meters and into a smaller bay. Cant say I was happy but what can you do!
I had a good start and was in the front early. After coming directly from home and doing the Ks with Coach Andrew at Kiwi-west I had a good feeling in the water. So got out at the front after the 800 meters and ran to transition 1 where my new BLUE SL time trial machine was awaiting me. I jumped on right at the front of the field, but from the first pedal stroke, I knew I was in for a tough day. I was really struggling to be comfortable, and my power was really down. After being off the TT bike for a month things were not feeling good. I thought I may have had an easier transition onto the TT bike, but it was just another point that this type of racing is becoming even more foreign to that of ITU. And how you train for it is even more so. Anyway, I was in a race and I had to knuckle down. I decided that I needed to ride as hard as I could to maintain contact with all the players, and hope like heck my legs would want to run after working so consistently hard on the bike. I was in, and out, of my threshold level, and more than not way above where I needed to ride throughout the 40k. Hanging on was now even giving me difficulties. The boys were riding really hard ( non ITU guys), they knew there best bet was to wear us out on the bike, and they were doing a good job of it. We arrived into Transition 2.30 down on the leader, and with a few solo guys in-between us as we dismounted, the first steps would tell me everything.....they sort of said this- oh, oh!! We have to run 10k? thats not good. I really tried to push out of transition to stay with the guys, but no matter how hard I pushed, I just didn't get rolling. It was ugly and when its like that its not much fun! The whole way I was saying to myself, what's the point? but there was a reason, I needed to get points for Hy-Vee. It was why I was doing the race, and so quitting was not an option. In the end I rolled in for 7th. It was a good field, but I knew with the proper training beforehand, I'd have been in a much better position to have a better result. But it's all about the bigger picture, and this is about qualifying for Hy-Vee! not winning it today.
So back home I went to Santa Cruz for 2 weeks with Bev, and some much needed time on the TT bike. With everyday that I rode It I felt more comfortable. I knew these next races were going to be a much different story with the more specific training, and more so the compatibility I was feeling on the bike from day to day. Myself and Chris, had also spoke about the need to make sure we kept on pushing with the hours of training, and not to focus to much on tapering for each single event. We did still need to treat each race and the athletes I was racing against with respect they deserved, But we though we could still maintain enough hours to make the training a high priority also. We decided I would push on for two weeks after St Anthony's, then have a big aerobic week with no intensive sessions in-between the next races which were on back to back weekends.
Which bring me to the next race, and the back to back trip to the deep south of America. New Orleans was my first stop, and most of you will all be aware of the current situation down there at the moment with all the flooding. I was crossing my fingers like crazy everything would be ok, as a cancelled race was going to cause my Hy-Vee plans to be turned upside down. I was only ever planning on doing these three races to try to make it in. Arriving in New Orleans I couldn't believe how high the river was, and how fast it was flowing. We were actually swimming in a lake, but they were opening the spillways to ease the pressure on the river, and that was going into the lake! The morning of the race we all walked into transition to feel that the winds were pretty extreme. I mean you all know I come from Palmerston North, ( it blows a bit there!!!) but these were winds trust me.. It was causing a lot of waves/chop in the swim just like in St Anthony's, but even worse. They deemed it wasn't even safe enough to get the rescue craft out there, which meant no swim!!! I had a sinking feeling this was not good for me. But later they announced the race would know be a duathlon instead. I wasn't happy it was a Duathlon, but I was happy we would race.
I figured there was no point messing around, and I was just going to go as hard as I could from the gun, and hope that the feeling on bike would be better than St Anthony's. After the first run I was slightly in the lead, but then passed in the first few ks on the bike by Ben Collins of USA. He was flying on the bike, and with the massive cross winds I just focused on my own pace and let him go. I controlled myself really well throughout the whole ride, and even though i was on the limit I got off the bike feeling like I could run. I was in 5th, and was about 2.20 behind Ben who was in the front. I had nothing to lose for sure at this point, I found a good rhythm early and went after everyone. I managed to catch everyone except Ben on the run, and finished just 30 seconds back of him. A marked improvement from the first race, and even more excitement about the up coming event. I felt like I was starting to break through on the bike, and my run was getting stronger with every hard race.
Bit of a road trip was the next up for me as I drove from New Orleans to Memphis for the next round of the series. I'd thought about going back to the west coast, but decided with the amount of training I still wanted to do during the week between each race, flying back and fourth across America was not the best option. So it was off to see Elvis and hang out in the Kings backyard for a week. Everything went really well during the week, and I was really hopeful it would come together for the last race. It was my last chance to secure the wright amount points I needed to qualify for Hy-Vee and I needed them.
What made this race most interesting was its format. It would be a time trail start! We were numbered in alphabetical order, men and women would leave 10 seconds apart as they started the swim. Now this is a true test of triathlon. Throw in some pancake flat roads, torrential rain, a bit of thunder and lightning and you got a yourself a very hard day at the office! I was number 35, so had a few athletes to try to chase, or even catch if things went well. I can't explain more how weird this kind of race felt as I was racing, your basically pushing as hard as you can the whole time without really knowing how you are going until the end. You look forward and see no one, you back and see no one, yet your maybe the fastest athlete on course! So in retrospect of that it was fairly uneventful race. The only person I really had to deal with, was myself. Still Interesting though, how much you can push yourself when there is no one around you forcing your hand. I seemed to enjoy this ( strangely enough) and when I got off the bike I'd ridden 53 mins for the 40k. I knew I was in with a great chance after that ride, and as I started on the run I could see some splits on my watch of the guys ahead of me. It was an easy decision what to do next! run as fast as I could for 10k. I passed everyone except for one athlete, I knew I'd done my best on the day. However there was still athletes behind me I hadn't seen all day long. I jogged back a bit to check some guys finishing, and some looked like they were full of running at the end. We all milled around after the finish awaiting for the results to be posted, another interesting experience for me. Finally they went up, and my hard work had paid off. I'd actually won the race by over a minute which was a great feeling. I think this was a true test of a triathlete, and left me feeling satisfied I produced a solid effort over all three disciplines and the victory was deserved. Not to mention it wrapped up my Hy-Vee qualification for September. I can't wait to be able to train specifically for the race now I've qualified. I know with the right preparation, I can win this race in the non drafting format. After finishing 4th two years ago, and second there last year under the ITU drafting format, I can't wait to get back!
For now its off to Europe... Time to get my ITU-STYLZ back on! I feel like I'm arriving in Europe stronger than I've ever been before with all the different type of racing I've been doing. I'm looking forward to racing Madrid next weekend, but its not London! and that's where the focus is. So what will be will be in Madrid... but watch out, something will happen! From there its straight up to Font Romeu for 5 weeks at Altitude with Coach Pilone, Andrew and my training mate Ryan Sissons. We both know its going to be a hard camp up there, but we are driving each other to be faster and stronger everyday. And come London and the Olympic selection, there will be no holding us back!
Take care everyone, and see you all soon.
Kris