Hamburg World Cup ~ Sept. 10, 2006 ~ Hamburg, Germany
Hamburg had the largest field in women’s World Cup history with 77 women on the list. Especially with the World Championships only the week before in a neighboring country, I consider it quite an accomplishment to score Olympic points by finishing in the top 50. I also discovered this weekend how it feels to be extremely tired from racing every weekend. One more to go and then I get a break, which I am really ready for.
Anyway, Hamburg (the 2nd largest city in Germany) wasn’t too far a trip, only an hour on a shuttle to the Frankfurt airport and then an hour flight to Hamburg. I was very impressed with the host hotel – a 5 star hotel only 3k from the race venue. We got the “triathlon rate” which made it quite a deal. I arrived Friday afternoon in time for the race meeting and the amazing pre-race dinner.
Something unique about this race was that the men raced the day before the women. Women usually race first so we got a chance to watch the race before we went. This was good – since the race was held on busy downtown Hamburg streets, we didn’t have any opportunities to train on the course beforehand. Another unique thing about this race was that the swim was two completely different laps – the first was 860 meters long, starting on a pontoon on one side of a tunnel-bridge that we swam under to get to the transition ramp. After diving back in for the 2nd 640 meter lap we passed through the tunnel twice more on the 2nd lap. The tunnels were dark and cold – it was completely black when we looked under the water and we had to rely on only sighting to see anything.
The bike course was 8 laps with 9 corners per lap, very technical with a chicane on the carpet-covered cobblestones through the transition area. It was flat and fast. After this race, I certainly don’t associate flat with easy anymore – standing and accelerating around every corner really wears on you after a few laps. The run course was 4 flat laps that, unlike the bike course, allowed several times to see our competition ahead and behind. The course was the most spectator friendly course I’ve done and it was pretty fun in that respect.
Our race started at 2:40 pm - later than I like to start but it beats 7:30 am like the week before! We had a lot of downtime after setting up our transition. I didn’t realize that we had to swim to the starting pontoon, and I had to abandon my usual pre-race Powergel since I left it at the exit ramp.
I didn’t realize how big the field was until we start lining up. It was so congested and I noticed that some girls had numbers like 84 and 85… I kept my nerves in check pretty well but I glanced down the pontoon after we all were in position and I had to take several deep breaths. I chose a position that was pretty much dead-on straight line to the buoy. We had 350 meters before our turn but with this many girls the turns could be a bit nasty.
After we dove, I had pretty good starting speed and it was the first time that I felt like I was riding a wave as we all took off. It really felt like there was a current. As we went into the turn, I was just in a massive pack of girls and it slowed a bit around the turn and I kept my head up to find the best way through the mess while still trying to focus on moving FORWARD. I got ready for a big surge after we rounded the 2nd buoy and headed straight for the tunnel, which was pitch-black and scary. I was still in a big pack as we approached the steps. I was right in the middle and didn’t have a handrail to pull myself up, so it was rough getting out all on top of the other girls. We ran around and dove back in for the 2nd lap, diving practically on top of and under each other.
The exit/reentry really spread out the group and I pushed hard to stay on some feet. One of my strokes caught on the shoulder of the girl next to me, and instead of letting my hand slide off it, I pulled on it and pulled her back a bit. And then something crazy happened! She grabbed my forearm and dug her fingernails in! I felt the pinch right through my wetsuit and it felt like she had punctured it! Ugh. The group spread out more on the last section and I was pretty tired. As we approached the exit, I was kind of frustrated with myself for coming out at the end of a group and not in the middle. I slipped twice coming up the steps, almost smashing my face and barely catching myself with my hands. I gouged my forehead with my fingernails as I struggled to rip off my cap/goggles and I barely managed to get my arms out of my wetsuit before I got to my bike. To my frustration, after I leapt on my bike, my rubberband came undone before I had my foot on my shoe so I wasted a few more seconds trying to flip my shoe around to put my foot on it. I still made it out with a group though and we all went out really hard.
I rode really hard to catch up to the group before I put my shoes on. It was a good half lap before I got my shoes on. The dry air made my throat sting and I was breathing really hard. I had no idea where I was in the race until the 2nd or 3rd lap when I heard we were 30 seconds down from a bigger group. It took our group of 6-ish like 3 or 4 laps to catch the group of maybe 7 or 8 ahead of us. But it didn’t get any easier after we got in a bigger group. We weren’t organized though – and it really hurt us. There were some runners in our group that didn’t do any work. Sometimes I went in the front mainly to stay out of crashes and to get in position to finish the bike. I came off the bike in maybe 5th or so. As I ran with my bike, my transition spot came up a lot faster than I thought and I ran by it and had to turn around and go back. I lost several seconds there. I left transition in maybe 10th in our group.
My LORD it went out fast! I focused on the girls ahead that I knew were fast runners, not on the ones who I knew were slower. It hurt a lot to just keep the girls I know I can run with in sight. This run was quite a reality check. I saw lots of girls I wanted to beat way far ahead on the run course – uncatchable…
By the end of the 1st lap I had managed to get on the group I knew I could run with. We were then gaining on this Italian girl who had gone out faster. Halfway through the 2nd lap I started feeling really good. I got some confidence and moved around the girls in my group and took over the lead. My form felt better, with my acceleration I ran more on my toes. I went through transition still in the lead and I kind of started dropping the group I was in. I started to hurt after that. Being only halfway done I knew it was going to really hurt to finish and keep up that pace.
Then the group behind me went around. It was quite degrading and I couldn’t stay with them. I tried really hard but once they slipped away, the gap got bigger and bigger. I know that every spot counted in the placings but it was hard to motivate after that. In the last 200 meters or so I managed to pass one more Japanese girl as I sprinted the last bit, running on my toes.
Despite my exhaustion and lack of a “best” performance, I still raced as hard as I could on that day. I didn’t save anything. And although I finished 41st (I was hoping for a top 30 finish), I now understand that with a field like that, making it in the top half of the field is pretty darn good. I ran alright, but we are still unsure if they lengthened the course from the guys race or not. 36:20 is pretty quick if they didn’t, but I have trouble believing that I ran that fast. Anyway, I am glad I got points and that I’m finally headed back to the USA.
