New Plymouth World Cup ~ New Plymouth, New Zealand ~ November 12, 2006
I have finally finished up for 2006 and I am ready for a break. Although I lacked a “breakthrough” race I still learned a lot and gained a ton of experience - which will undoubtedly play into my success in the years to come. New Plymouth was a tough race but it was fun with the enthusiastic spectators and racing in a country that loves triathlon.
I had an extremely long travel day(s) after Cancun, flying to Houston then to LA then to Sydney then to Christchurch. I hung out there for a couple days before heading to New Plymouth on Friday. I came down with a sore throat/cold after my overseas trip so I took it really easy leading up to the race.
The course
The swim course was a one-loop swim in a sheltered area of the Tasman Sea. We started up on the beach and had a short run down to the water. The bike course was 6 laps starting with 500 meters out-and-back (a great place to see how far back you are from groups ahead) and then went up a short hill, down a long hill out and back up a long hill coming back to transition. The run course was one 5k lap along a footpath near the shoreline looping around the Wind Wand, a local attraction. Then we ran back to transition to do 3 short laps involving a tough climb.
The race
We had some horrible weather… it was cold, rainy, and extremely windy. All my clothes got soaked on my ride over to the race site, so I was shivering with my teeth chattering for an hour before the race. The water was so choppy it was like a giant salty washing machine. I didn’t warm up on the swim because I had gotten so cold already… I just put my wetsuit and neoprene cap on and jogged down the beach to warm up. We lined up along the beach with about a 30 meter run down to the water. I wasn’t quite ready for the sprint and hit the water behind a lot of people. The cold stung my hands, feet, and face. I was glad I had the neoprene cap on but it felt surreal because I couldn’t hear anything. The waves were amazingly huge! I was clamoring my way through the waves and over other swimmers and I didn’t even try to sight a buoy. When we got to the left turn buoy way out, it was a big mess there so I was able to get myself into a group. I knew after that turn we had 500m straight into the current so I stayed on the feet ahead of me. The waves were hitting me from every direction.
At the last turn for shore I knew it would be easier with the waves pushing us in. The swim felt long since it was only one loop and I pushed hard to stay with the group I was hanging on the back of. I kicked harder to warm my legs up. The shore came up really quickly; all of a sudden the girl in front of me was standing up. It was really hard to stand since my feet were numb. My hands were numb too and I fumbled a lot unzipping and pulling off my wetsuit and cap. I didn’t run that hard up the beach into transition, some people even went by me. But I got to my spot and got my wetsuit off and helmet on fast and grabbed my bike and ran out. I was straightening my helmet as I ran (I do that a lot) and an official blew his whistle at me before he noticed that my strap was buckled and he said ok sorry you can go. Good thing I didn’t stop! I had a good mount and took off right behind Sam Warriner. I was surprised and pleased with how I had swam.
I didn’t worry about my shoes until we started slowing for the turnaround. I got my left foot in my shoe just fine. I got my right toe in my shoe and then my shoe came unclipped from my pedal! I had to maneuver around the turnaround with one numb toe hanging onto my shoe that was petering on the edge of my pedal. Charlie yelled at me while I struggled to shove my numb foot in my shoe without having to get off my bike. I finally got my foot in and stood up trying not to miss the pack while clipping my shoe back in my pedal. Relieved that one crisis was over, I climbed the hill with the rest of the pack and set off into the first tailwind section of the bike. Now that I’ve seen the results, I am sort of mad that that happened because Nicky Samuels and Sam Warriner both bridged up through the chase pack and caught the front pack. I would’ve been in a lot better position if I’d stayed on their wheels from the start.
Anyway we all started and we didn’t really have smooth pacelining but it still felt hard. I was a little worried about crashes at first so I stayed near the front but it was hard riding. We weren’t making up any time for the first 2 laps (and we had let Nicky and Sam go) but eventually we were making up ground on the chase pack. We finally caught them at the end of the 5th lap and I knew I couldn’t relax on the last lap because everyone would be vying for a good position coming off the bike. I waited, telling myself to be patient. No one else was moving up, until we started slowing for the last turn down the hill, then I went to the front. We started undoing our shoes down the hill, and I was 2nd off the bike. I had a slower T2 because I almost ran by my spot and because my feet were really numb shoving them into my running shoes. I took off running hard, trying to stay with the faster runners in my group and telling myself to hold on.
Charlie told me as we took off that top 15 was the group ahead and that I could still get top 20. Unfortunately that didn’t spark a challenge or hope in my head… I knew I was going as hard as I could and it wasn’t very fast. The first group of girls started slipping away almost immediately then girls from behind starting passing me, including ones I went by at the start of the run. I couldn’t understand why I was having so much trouble running fast! I’ve never dealt with that this season really, except for these last 2 races. So it continued like that, the first lap it was hard to judge how much time I had lost but I knew it was bad. It was quite embarrassing to keep running but I never quit. The past 2 races I’ve noticed something different in my thinking during the run: this time I wanted it to end as soon as possible, other times I wanted to have more time to catch people. I finished and I wasn’t breathing hard, I just walked away and was very upset with myself.
So I am glad that my swim is looking better, I swam 1:20 down, while almost every world cup before this one I was at least 1:50 down. And I did mostly everything else well, like a good T1 and coming into T2 in front but I didn’t have a good T2 and I didn’t run hard into T1 from the water. I think altitude training wasn’t a great idea for me, at least right before a big race. I have a ton of work to do this winter… physically, mentally and nutritionally. I am ready for it though! Thank you to everyone who has supported me this season - in your encouraging emails, letters and contributions. I wouldn't be where I am now without you.
