1st 7:24:50
Swim 44:22 (4th)
Bike 5:12:05 (2nd)
Run 1:23:30 (2nd)
Full race coverage can be found here.
Race highlights can be found here.
photo by Romilly Lockyer I'm sitting here relaxing at the Yas Marina Waterworld - Abu Dhabi's impressive water park, un-naturally positioned in the middle of the dry, sandy desert. It's the morning after the race and most of the top pros are here, recovering/having a good time compliments of the race organisers. Then there's Greg Welch over on the wave machine by himself (because he's the only one good enough for it) like a little kid let loose. He's been back and forth on his boogey board, dominating the ride for hours, having the time of his life. He's good...but he's gonna be sore tomorrow! Just before this I was talked into going on the scariest ride in the park. The something-or-other "drop". You stand in a tight, clear glass capsule, a voice counts down from 3, then the floor drops away and you plummet straight down. Jared had gone down before me and was waiting at the bottom. But I didn't make to the end to greet him with a big thrilled smile. No, I didn't make it to the end at all. The lady at the top calmly says to our photographer "The light ones never make it". Instead of flying around the loop-de-loop section at the bottom, I made it half way round, slowly came to a stop, then slid backwards to a low point in the slide. A couple seconds of slight confusion later, a nice lady kindly opens a little emergency escape door for me and I climbed out of the slide, through a tiny hole in a fake-rock wall, and back to the real world. It was like I was one of the kids at Willy Wonka's chocolate factory that had to be eliminated. Moments later the green flags went back up from the slide operators and everyone continued on like nothing happened.
Transition from the above The water park was fun. The race yesterday...not so much. Yesterday was the toughest race of my career. One in which I think I'll learn greatly from and has given me extra mental strength of knowing just how far my body will go when on empty. I made some nutritional errors on the bike that I paid for. Also, the week of Abu Dhabi I came down with a head cold. I was quick to get onto the garlic and was pretty confident I'd knock it on the head before the race. I arrived late Wednesday night. Thursday and Friday morning I went for a short spin, while my legs felt unusually stiff and tight I put this down to the long flights and tried to forget about it.
photo by Paul Phillips The non wetty 3km swim went pretty well and I exited the water in 4th place. I was about 5:30 behind Jodie, but comparing my swim leg to Jodie's freakish abilities in the water is like comparing my swim to the lead mens pack. Michelle and Svetlana were only 2.30 in front. I mounted my Shiv and as soon as I started pedalling, my legs and gluts were really tight, like someone was squeezing them just like Thursday and Fridays rides. I spent the next hour and a half telling myself they're just tight because the longer swim...that's all...they'll come good. I was still making decent time, I was now about 2.30 behind Jodie and 30sec behind Michelle. By the 70k mark the tight feeling became deep painful stabs and full on cramps. At this point I had passed Michelle, while poor Jodie had missed a turn somewhere, putting me in the lead. I was now leading which was great news...but at what cost, my legs were in pain and I couldn't pedal full circles without my left quad feeling like ripping off the bone.
photo by firstoffthebike.com By 100k the cramping faded, but then returned at 130k . To make things worse, at this point I was getting desperately short on nutrition because I had lost my mars bar at 5k and had lost some gels at 60k. I was having a lot of bad luck trying to get any nutrition from aid stations along the way. The media bike blocked one station, age groupers were all over the next. Then I finally managed to get my hands on 'aqualyte' - a drink that contains no calories! I also managed to get a half-filled water bottle. I rationed it to make it last till the next bottle I got. I was like a fat fat kid rationing his last smarty. I could have a lick but not the whole thing.
photo by Paul Phillips The last 20k was tough, I had no water, no calories and was dizzy, weak and fading. I saw Jared at T2 and asked how long I had (to 2nd place)? He said "a minute and a half an hour ago". That was not good. As I sat in T2, I didn't want to get up but I was in desperate need of water so I slowly pulled myself to my feet and jogged the 500m or so to the first aid statin where I enjoyed everything they had to offer, twice over. I wanted to stay longer but Jared informed me as I left T2 that I had only a 30sec lead.
Usually with the run my strength any lead I would be happy with, but today I knew this was going to get ugly. The run course had several switchbacks so it wasn't long before I saw Yvonne running me down. There was nothing I could do to pick up the pace if I were to finish this race on my feet. At 7km I could hear Yvonne's footsteps so I slowed a little to prepare for her attack. A couple minutes later she joined me by my side and matched my pace. It was a relief when she didn't try to go straight by and I thought she must be really struggling too. We ran together for a couple km's at a slightly slower pace and I tried to refuel with regular doses of water and coke. I thought if she's content to sit around running this slower pace keeping me in the picture I might still have a chance. At the 10km turnaround I managed to get a small gap coming out of the turn cone. I hadn't planned to make a move here, it just happened as I accelerated out of the turn...so I went with it. I went ahead just enough to get a gap. And any runner knows, you spend a lot of mental energy if you have to try close down a gap that you've already closed down once.
Post-race interview with Greg Welch The rest of the run was not pleasant but it was better. It still felt like I was running on fumes from aid station to aid station but my legs loosened and felt a bit springier. I was still nervous the whole way that the body might change it's mind and throw in the towel at any point. I was picturing the old footage of the 2 women crawling to the line at Kona. The long red carpet to the finish felt like it went much longer than previous years. When I finally had the finish line in sight I gave a few weak waves to the crowd and I think I only just made it over the line before my body totally shut up shop.
I promised myself at the 15km mark that if I could escape this close call with a win, I would be allowed to fall to the ground after the finish banner. But if I lost I MUST stay on my feet. This, along with every other little mental trick and bribe I used, is what I was thinking about for that last 5km. And throw myself on the ground is exactly what I did. So, of course Greg Welch sat down, had a little rest himself and joined me for the post-race interview...on the ground.
I promised myself at the 15km mark that if I could escape this close call with a win, I would be allowed to fall to the ground after the finish banner. But if I lost I MUST stay on my feet. This, along with every other little mental trick and bribe I used, is what I was thinking about for that last 5km. And throw myself on the ground is exactly what I did. So, of course Greg Welch sat down, had a little rest himself and joined me for the post-race interview...on the ground.
Presentation with Yvonne and Michelle A massive thank you to Simon for once again inviting me back to Abu Dhabi to race and I'm sorry you once again had to drag me up off the ground. Also thanks to Mark, Nicky & Ryan for all your tremendous work putting on the most glamorous triathlon in the world! Give me a few days to forget about the pain I put myself through yesterday and I'll probably say "see you again next year!"
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