Wednesday 10 September 2008

reflections














If you recall my post "wisco a-go-go II" where I predicted a
Swim of 65min
Bike 5h35
Run 3hr25
Total 10:15
you probably wont be too surprised that my feelings of satisfaction with Sundays race were coloured by a sense of disappointment in my performance. It seems terribly arrogant to say that despite picking up the shiny goods, and earning the right to compete in the world championships next year, I could not see far past the fact that I’d failed to achieve my stated race targets, in perfect racing conditions.

Even during the race I was aware that I was behind the pace required to hit these, and coupled with the general feeling of not ON the game for this one, contributed to some pretty negative internal dialog.

Rather than being able to join with Steven in celebration of both of our great performances and upcoming trip to Hawaii, I felt terribly depressed. That is until the point in the awards banquet when, as I was called to collect my trophy my race time of 10:33:37 was announced as a new F30 age group course record. I was curious – perhaps I’d mis-heard, so later I checked the race website for course records and discovered that this was actually the case. The fastest ever female age grouper over the course was 10:19:28 in 2007 (perfect conditions that year too). So, I’d been targeting to smash that by 4 ½ minutes. Certainly possible, given that she achieved this with a 65 min swim and 3:34 run, but that’s not what I would call ‘smart goal setting’.
I read on.
A 3:25 marathon would have given me the 7th fastest ever run by a woman (including Pros) over the course and a 5:35 bike split is more comparable to the top half of the pro field than a realistic target for myself.

These are all attainable goals, but my big mistake was failing to appreciate the level of performance required for each, let alone to bring them together, and bring that level to my race. For a start, I would have used race wheels, rather than choosing the white DT Swiss Monchassueral on the grounds that they look very nice on my bike with blue tyres on!

So, on reflection I’m significantly cheered by this, and have taken in a very valuable lesson in perspective when it comes to goal setting and expectations.

Monday 8 September 2008

Ironman Wiscosin Race reoprt

The last race of the season, I was just looking forward to finishing this one. Probably not the best attitude to be approaching a race with an important goal - one of the first slots for the 2009 World Championships in Hawaii, and a win to round off a season of not settling for second in any of he races I’ve entered…. But I guess this year of increased training volume and Ironman focus has taken it’s toll, despite being in good shape, I was weary and not highly motivated in the run up to race day.

However, at 6.30 am we were treated to a beautiful peach coloured sunrise which promised a fine day for racing, as we assembled at the lakes edge before nervously entering the warm waters. Friendly chat and nervous jokes amongst the bobbing competitors, the American national anthem ( very serious) and cheers as the pro field set off 10 min before the main mass start. And I do mean mass start – one of the largest racing fields on the circuit, 2000+ competitors lined up. Gun goes and the battles commences, hitting the shits out of each other in futile attempts to find a bit of water to swim through. This was probably the most chaotic swim experience I’ve had to endure – and it did not seem to ease off until the return leg of the first lap. It made the time pass quicker though! I felt that I ws swimming well, moving water with long strokes and despite a little mind wandering mid way, reasonable ‘on it’. I exited the water in 64 minutes, having targeted 65 or better, this gave me a lift.

‘Peeled’ of my wetsuit ( an NA Ironman tradition) the route to transition was around 3 flights of the spiral ramp of the multi-storey car park, where I passed a number of people, quick flight through T1,change tent and into the long bike zone.

Buzzed up, and cold, I hit the first section of the ride, which was a flat route out of town, fast. Kept working hard for about 20 minutes, to get warm and pick off as many of the faster swimmers ahead of me on the course as early as possible. Once on the 40 mile loop the terrain becomes tough with constant undulations, the sort of route that could easily blow up on if taken too aggressively. My plan was to take it conservatively for the first lap, riding all of the climbs seated, which I did. Really lovely scenery, and some friendly exchange and encouragement on a strong ride from the guys riding my pace. The Union Jack flag that I pin to my butt draws a lot of comments, mock English accents and I got one call of ‘Jolly Good Show’ ! The crowd support was awesome all the way round the loop despite the majority being very rural and apparently isolated.

At the half way point I noted that I was a couple of minutes down on my target time, and just under 1mph below target average pace, so decided to try to pick it up. There were a few other women a little way ahead, who I was able to pace of once I’d caught up and had them in my sights. I’d got through most of my solid race food already by this point and the plan was to switch to energy drinks bars and bananas from the aid stations. Unfortunately, either due to lack of concentration, or just riding too fast through, I missed several catches here and by around the 80th mile, I started to feel pretty drained. I’d been desperate to pee for hours. I made the difficult descision and stopped at the side of he road -I’d realized that I wasn’t likely to pull back the lost time and achieve my target 5.40 split, and thought I’d at least I could save time in transition and possibly save my kidneys too. Things were a bit better after this and the delay had brought a couple of female riders into my territory too, giving me a focus to get me through the tough final miles. 90 miles round and hunger knock hit – cold sweats, disorientation and sudden loss of power. Luckily I’d not yet passed the final aid station wheree I slowed to make sure I got a gel and some Gatorade, which was sufficient to pick me up and keep pace with the women who’d passed me on the flat return stretch towards the Capitol Dome marking the centre of Madison’s skyline.

Up the helix car park ramp, buzzed up on sugar, a fast transition to see what could be done on the run. This year, the run has been my strength and usually my chance to make up for losses on the bike, and I felt good I head out through the lively crowds in the centre of town. As usual first mile ( mile markers not km – quick calculations required!) was fast – and knowing that I had at least one woman ahead and one very close behind, having been through T2 together, I just try to hold that pace for as long as possible. Probably not the most sensible stratergy – heading out too fast – but it seems to work for me. I feel that I should make the most of it whilst I’m fresh, and with luck settle into a faster pace that I would have with a conservative start. This time the pace lasted only 3 miles or so – and was gutted when the woman in my age group who’d been just behind me caught up. We had a chat, about positions and pace – she was sticking to 8 min miles, and asked if we could run together. I was hoping to run faster, and competitive instinct forced me to pull away again on the hill through the WI campus. Not long after I hit my first bad patch – she passed me again and pulled away. I ate a gel, which picked me up sufficiently to reel her back in over the next 2 miles. I was splitting over 8 min/mile though and I was running on empty. The only way to get through it was to take on as much energy drinks and gels as my stomache could handle – a tricky balancing act. Luckily I discovered that fresh grapes worked well for me too, so took those in between gel feeds, which saw me out of several bad patches.

Again the crowd support was absolutely awesome – really welcome and I found that the morei smiled and responded to the cheers and comments, the more support I got. People really like to see ladies at the front so I got a lot of ‘girl power’ ‘go iron woman’ shouts form the ladies out around the course. We had our names printed on our numbers, which enabled me to hear how close my nearest competitor was behind me – she seemed to be dropping back. I knew that there was one woman ahead of us, who I’d not been able to make progress on, but she was not out age group. Things got a bit confused once we were on our second lap and I must have passed her, because ultimately I finished first age group woman. All I knew at the time was that I was narrowly holding onto first place in my age group, but quite a way of my target marathon time of 3.25. By mile 20 (oh, how I love to pass that sign !!) I was running a comfortable steady pace and thinking that I might manage 3:30, for a 10:30 finish. By mile 24 it was clear that was not to be. But compared to the elation of running up State Street and around Capitol Square for the final time, and knowing that I’d even managed to pull off the age group win after a seriously testing race experience, it seemed trivial. I might not have gone as fast as I‘d expected to – but no one else in my category had gone faster ;o) - and a few valuable lessons were learned along the way.

swim 1:04:15
bike 5:48:19
run 3:32:28
total 10:33:37

Friday 5 September 2008

Race build up in Mad Town



After 3 days I’ve about got my bearings on Madison and really starting to dig the place – when all of a sudden The Ironman has arrived and taken over the town in a frenzy of Ford advertising, M dot merchandise and inflatable Gatorade bottles!! Not to mention the lean, tanned and logo’d up influx population strutting around the place….though as Steven quite rightly points out – sure that we look just as intimidating to them. I think probably more so ;o)

Although it’s the state capitol there’s a real small town feel about Madison – friendly and relaxed. Arriving on Tuesday afternoon, it was a very muggy 90 F and dead quiet, almost to the point of being spooky. We did the usual fruitless and exhausting wandering in search of basics – cheap places to eat and/or buy picnic provisions took us around the dead quiet back streets – even the student areas seemed very quiet. It was a little unsettling. Jet lagged and tired I was suffering the usual dis-location anxiety that I experience on arrival a t new venue. A feeling of being ‘out of sorts’ and mildly depressed. Perhaps it’s plain old home sickness – though I surprise myself to say that, and would tend to put it down to lack of control – not knowing where I am, or the best place to go for such and such leaves me feeling a little helpless, for a day or 2 until I’ve sussed it out.

We have since found the more lively spots, but I think that in usual circumstances this is what you’d called a pretty sleepy part of the world. This is tempered somewhat by the large student population, making it a rather more liberal and outward looking community than the surroundings, I imagine. People are extremely friendly, and I mean genuinely friendly and interested – rather than the typical ‘have nice day ‘ sort of consumer friendly that I’ve experienced elsewhere in the states. Most find it pretty amazing that we have travelled so far to come here- and a number of the locals we’ve talked to have never been very far beyond the area (and why would they – it’s nice here!) it’s very refreshing.

Chatting to a meat farmer on one of the stalls in the market on Wednesday, he was pleased to hear that we were from London, since he’d traced his family back 12 generations to an Englishman who had travelled over in with the pilgrims from London. He recounted passages from his 11th grandmother’s diary describing waving the ships out of the port in London, knowing that she’d never see that line of the family again…what an incredible sense of history and family connectedness.

We’ve been out and checked the bike route. Fantastic scenery – nothing like I’ve seen before wide open and vast, dotted with ‘typical’ mid American rural farm or homestead buildings. Beautiful large timber houses among the long rolling roads. Mailboxes and star spangled banners adorning the acres of lawn. Very little else for most of the 40 mile loop that we’ll travel twice during the race. The glacial landscaping has left and interesting terrain – constant undulations as the road travels over drumlins and other glacial formations make it a very technical ride which will call for good judgment on gearing and exertions to get round it without busting the legs by halfway through lap 1. It’s the kind of riding that will not reward too much aggression, in the long run! Noting steep, but constant change of grade. Plenty of nice fast sections though! Being very open, a wind day could make this exceptionally tough, as do the terrible road surfaces (last night a t dinner I was told that this is GOOD for the states, since the government put more funding towards the area, being a route for dairy good transportation. Cant imagine how terrible it is elsewhere!) I think that I will try to save myself from blow-up with a ‘stay seated ‘rule for the first half of the route, at least. Though I know that if it’s exciting racing, I may not be able to be this disciplined!!

The swim is lovely to – warm water, and I’m really enjoying the new Snugg wetsuit. Its just that bit more buoyant than the old QR, which takes a bit of getting used to and does seem to result in a bit of an ache in my lower back due to having legs higer in the water, but it certainly helps off set the sinking feeling that I’ve been experinceing recently in the pool due to low body fat at the moment!
We swam on yesterday morning, in miserable weather and there was quite a bit of chop due to the winds – it made for hard work and a bit of random breathing on the shoreward stretch of the swim, but this morning was an entirely different experience – flat calm and fast swimming.

As we thought – it’s really the randomness of the weather that is causing the most uncertainty about this race – in the last 3 days we have seen it al – humid and unbearably hot, Tuesday, just about perfect on Wednesday, torrential rain and cold all day yesterday and today it is again race perfect conditions. We are obsessively following weather reports and asking the locals for predictions for Sunday – they are, of course, mixed!

As for the run route – it’s very meandering, I guess the idea is to run us through all the districts of the town; we pass through Capitol square, down the main street with al the cafés and bars on, around some resi blocks, into the football stadium for a lap, picking up a path around by the river and back through the middle of the student campus! With this many twists and turns, changes in surface and a few decent climbs, a fast marathon is unlikely but I think it’s going to be a fabulous atmosphere, judging by the enthusiasm with which all the locals, and IM Wisc vets describe the event.

Having finally slept a full night and seem to have shaken the mild tummy upset that has bothered me since the flight, I’m feeling a lot more motivated about the race than I have been up until today (as I said - I think I was just a bit out of sorts for a number of small reasons) and a short ride with a few cheeky little bursts thrown in, in the sunshine, is just what the doctor ordered.

Plus, we’ve found a great little, typical American diner.

Monday 1 September 2008

Wisco a -go-go II

thought i should be brave and talk about my race targets for this one.

i decided to enter this race shortly after Kona 2007, which coincided with the end of season review and goal setting period. here is what i wrote in my diary at that time as targets for WI:

swim 62min
bike 5h40
run 3hr30
total 10:18

this was based on analysis of qualifying times for the fastest age group women, over the last 3 or 4 years and what i thought i could do in relation to these performances.
a 10:18-ish would typically win my age group (because of the proportionally smaller field and fewer slots for women, the stats don't work brilliantly for us)

at the same time i set my targets for IM Germany as :
swim 63
bike 5:20
run 3:25
total 9:54

actual results were
swim 60 ( short course for sure)
bike 5:17
run 3:20
total 9:43

so better than i'd hoped for at the start of the season.

Dare I adjust the Wisco targets?

well, unfortunatley i don't think i'm there with the swim, in fact i'm slower these days - current state of affairs would see me very happy with:
swim- 65 min

it's difficult to say not having seen the bike course, but i'm certainly riding stronger than at DE and its more my sort of terrain, as long as i don't over cook it, so let's say
bike - 5:35

having run 3:20 at Germany, i'm pretty confident about having one of the fastest run splits here - the past results dont indicate a fast run course though, so
run - 3:25 would be a good one.

with 6 min for transition that'd be
total 10:12 - so 10:15 looks like an attainable target.

maybe!!

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