Over a week has passed and I still haven’t posted my Rhode Island report and before I knew it Racine 70.3 was over too so I’ll whittle it all down to one post and try not to waffle on too long.
I had rather large misconceptions about Rhode Island 70.3. I thought it was a flat course- bike and run- let me tell you it is not….
After leaving Austin, always sad to leave my wonderful friends, the Pak’s, however happy to leave behind all the bad food I have been indulging in over the past 3.5weeks, I made my way to Providence. My first night was spent at the Hilton downtown with a refreshing run along the river bank that afternoon. It was so nice to be able to get out for a run at 4:30pm without facing the overwhelming afternoon Texan heat. In Austin I found it almost impossible to do anything other than swim after 1pm due to the +40 degree heat there. Found that out the hard way- after what I think now was a couple of bouts of heatstroke!
The next day, after getting incredibly lost on my morning ride trying to find the race course, I managed to find a 25m (!!!) pool for my afternoon swim, followed up by a well needed massage. I was then picked up by my homestay family and taken to their lovely home, about 20mins south of the city. There I met Dan’s wife Joanne and their daughter Susan (who wonderfully gave up her bed for me!) and their eldest son John, not to forget their elderly dog, Sasha, who obviously rules the roost! Both Joanne and Susan were volunteers for the event and Dan himself was also competing. We went for a lovely meal and then home for a much needed 10.5hour sleep! I woke up the next day with the normal pre-race lethargy which I have learnt not to put any emphasis or meaning to. Feeling heavy with my pre-race training has come to be the norm and doesn’t necessarily determine how I feel come race day.
I had been warned that this particular race is a logistical nightmare (Thanks Pip!!)….. That it would be without an awesome homestay family. To put it bluntly- it’s a pretty hard race to access if you are an out-of- Towner:
- Briefing and rego are at the convention centre in the middle of town- that is close to T2 where you put your shoes in the day before
- The issue is then getting out to T1 about 10miles out of town to rack your bike- your option (as a pro) is to do this on the Saturday (which I chose) or to do it Sunday- HOWEVER, if you chose to take the shuttle bus to the race start you cannot take your bike on, and riding out the 10miles may not be what you want to do at 3:45/4am (due to the 6am start!).
- To get back from T1 on Saturday (if you don’t have a car, I still haven’t even attempted driving in the US!) you would have to catch a city bus back…….
Thankfully, due to the wonderful help of Dan- Saturday’s schedule wasn’t an issue- rego, briefing, set up T2, set up T1- all done before 1pm! Home for an afternoon nap before my chicken fried rice, mint-choc- chip ice-cream and early bed. A horrible night sleep with the looming 3:20am alarm clock, not to mention a 2:15am visit from Sasha the dog, I probably only managed about 4hours sleep and was thankful for having my afternoon nap! Somehow I still felt kind of rested come 3:20am Sunday morning! Breaky down and at the race by 4:15am. Everything ready to go, warm up done in good time and down to the swim start with 20minutes to spare. I have never been this organised at a race! The swim is in Olney Pond. It’s a freshwater pond and I felt it! A non-wetsuit swim and within 200m I was once again in no-man’s land with two girls slightly ahead of me. I did manage to pass one male pro whom we gave a 2minute head start to! Into T1 in 7th place, not the start I was hoping for- onto the bike and moved into 6th by the 5km mark and into 5th by the 10km mark. That particular girl didn’t like that so after 10km of cat and mouse she got a little break on me so I was back to 6th. By 40/50km mark I could see Caitlin Snow and seemed to be catching her, just before I came around a corner to scare a Lama who’d gotten out onto the road!!!! Random but made me laugh!!!! I knew that Caitlin would most likely run for the win so this was a good position to be in. Every time I thought I was getting closer the space would open up between us again. By about 70km I’d lost sight due to the course becoming quite technical- lots of narrow roads, corners, ups and downs, bumps and holes in the road. I think I not only lost focus in this section but my legs where becoming heavy and slow. The last 5km saw another girl catch and pass me which pushed me back to 7th. This girl would also most likely run to the podium. Into T2 after a little bit of a disappointing bike leg I didn’t know what the run had in store. Having been struggling for about the past month with some sciatic nerve issues and after my dismal run at Buffalo Springs 70.3 the run was always to be a concern. The run is also hilly- well the 1st and 3rd quarters of it! Up the first hill I’d be passed by another and was now pushed back into 8th place. 21km is a long way and anything can happen. Towards the 8km mark I could really feel everything in my right leg tightening- hip to my hammy and then my right foot felt like it was broken. I have been trying to hold myself together in multiple ways for running the past couple of months. I wear a sacro-iliac joint belt to hold my unstable pelvis together and tape both my feet the night before a race (and always tape my right foot before any run session). I hate relying on these supports but probably wouldn’t be able to compete at present without them. I was able to push the urge to stop out of my mind knowing that sometimes in the past the tension eases the further I run. By the halfway point it wasn’t a major concern and knew that if I put one foot in front of the other another 8th place would be what seems to be the norm at the moment. 9th was quite a ways back. Ticked off the miles, stuck to my pace and nutrition plan and before I knew it was running up the finish chute, un-be-knowns to me 7th was only 30seconds ahead and I’d been putting in time to her!!! Dam, if I could have just pushed myself that bit harder I could have broken this frustrating run of 8th places in my 2012 70.3s. 8th NZ 70.3, 8th Busso 70.3, 8th Buffalo Springs 70.3 and now 8th Rhode Island 70.3. Still I suppose, not too bad for racing in the USA. And it is an improvement on the results I had here at the end of last & I was in a lot better state at the end of this one than 2 weeks before in Texas.
I then headed off to Wisconsin to meet the wonderful Ellis family. I cannot believe how lucky I have been with homestay families in my time travelling the world. I was met by Mary at the airport and travelled to their home on the south side of Racine. There I met her husband Gary, her daughter Luci (8) and the ever energetic Henry (5). They live in a beautiful home on a large block with multiple veggie gardens and a major bike trial at the back of their yard. Gary took me to the incredible 50m!!!!!!! indoor pool each morning and I ran along the shady bike trail in the afternoons. Riding was a little rough with corrugations across the roads everywhere I went. I enjoyed the most incredible home cooked meals and multiple Disney movies with the kids. Normal pre-race routine and once again the weather was HOT!!!! 4:30am start to race morning was a nice welcome after the 3:20am the weekend before. Bike racked, warmed up and headed to the race start losing my swim cap on the way. The lake was cool but perfect temp for a comfortable wetsuit swim. At 7:03am we were off. I knew Dede and Missy were good swimmers nad they put a gap on the rest of us quite quickly. I could see Christie to my left and was being roughed up by another swim on my other side- grabbing my wrists and hitting me with her arm and then swimming over the top of me….. I saw Christie swim out wide and although I was going to try and stick with her thought better of it and swam my line. I never really saw her swim ahead and I swam shoulder to shoulder with the basher until half way when I dropped back to sit on her feet. I came out into transition when a bystander told me I was leaving transition in 5th- what????? I thought we were in 3rd & 4th, but I’d obviously missed Christie swim ahead. The basher passed me straight out of transition and I knew that she was a stronger biker than me. After about 10km I realised I wasn’t alone and another girl passed me. I had nothing left in my legs- the 4th race I have started in the past 6weeks and it was showing ! My legs felt flat, heavy and tired like I was trying to do a long ride after a heavy week’s training. The 90km was hard and hot and I couldn’t seem to get enough fluid in- I hardly ever take water at the bike aid stations but I took bottles at each one. Once again trying to keep focused on my nutrition and not get too upset about not putting time into people and riding scared, trying not to be caught! I made it into T2 in about 8th place- I couldn’t believe I was on my way to another 8th. Running out, my legs felt okay and I tried to give it all I could to finish off my final USA race. The run was fairly uneventful- basher was fading fast and ended up pulling out which moved me to 7th, however I was too far down on the other girls to change that any further. I really thought I had run better than my time showed but I think it was a display of accumulated fatigue over the past 6weeks/ 4 70.3s. Still it was nice to break the run of 7ths and see some improvement in overall time. I walked away from the race and forgot about it in a matter of minutes.
After the race the Ellis’ their friend came over who was hosting another Aeromax athlete, Joey and more awesome home cooked food was consumed- BBQ & brownies- perfect recovery food!
Since the race I haven’t thought about triathlon. I went on a shopping spree at an outlet mall, we went to a ‘swimming party’ and I packed my bags to head back to Australia.
I have had a great trip to the USA. Although it hasn’t seen me overly happy with my race performances or me demonstrate what I think (and know from the past) I am capable of. Training and racing away from your bubble of security is always hard. Racing in the USA was never going to be easy. Living out of a suitcase and on the generosity isn’t that glamorous. I feel so guilty each time I met complete strangers, stay in their homes, eat their food and have them ferry me around new towns/ places. Thankfully I now have many new friends across this country that I am sure to keep in contact with and hopefully return to see in the years to come.
What I have to keep reminding myself is that I have time….. I am still relatively ‘young’ in this long distance sport and I’m still relatively ‘new’ to this sport too. Not to mention setbacks I’ve had in the 5years of competing with unfortunately repeated injuries. I have been told you need to do the sport for 5years before you actually learn how train and race so I am seeing the next coming years as the next block in my career.
For now I’m heading home. No training this week- mentally I need a week off the thought of it. I have decided to amend my race schedule for the remainder of the year. At this stage I won’t be coming back to the USA in September as previously planned. I will be heading back to work as a Physio 3 days/ week to begin with and cut down on the racing over the next two months. The rest of 2012 I am planning to focus my racing over the Asia- Pacific region.
I need to thank multiple people who’ve helped me on my travels over the past few weeks; Pip & Justin, Collin from Sunflower Outdoor & bike (Lawrence), Cheryl Denton, Liz & Kent Dobbins, Bliss, Minsok & Hanna Pak (my 2nd family!!!), Dan & Joanne & family and the wonderful Gary, Mary, Luci & Henry Ellis for making my final week in the USA very entertaining and a brilliant insight into parenting and the fact I might keep triathlon as my baby a little long ;-)
And of course to my awesome sponsors for their continuing support: Mizuno, Enervit, Ryders eyewear, Orca, Oshe, Allez sport & Cyclezone and as always Gilsey for his ongoing patience and guidance from afar!
HOME TIME!
Rachie xo
