Its overall been a pretty awesome season. I had to work through a bunch of injuries
(mostly from crashing on my bike) but I was able to arrive in Maui healthy,
though a little undertrained on the run.
We arrived in Maui on Wednesday with the goal to get out and
pre-ride the course Thursday. We did it
and the course conditions were just about perfect-not very representative to
what we would find Sunday. What I did
prove to myself is that my fitness is in a good spot—I was able to climb a
couple of the hills that I have never made all the way up before—great for my
mental game! Friday we met Annie to go
for a swim and practice swim entrance/exits in the surf. The waves were pretty small—again, practice
was not going to turn out to be representative of race day.
Basically the weather turned and we had rain and wind all
day Friday and Saturday. At the pre-race
briefing on Saturday somebody asked what Plan B was for the bike course as more
and more of it became un-rideable. The
answer: Plan B is Plan A but we will
extend the cut-off time since you are going to be out there a long time. Nobody even asked the question about the swim
course—we all knew that the high surf warning just meant that the swim would be
an adventure and not for the weak. The
wind was actually welcome—it really helps to keep the heat down once you are up
on the mountain.
Race morning sees the weather still windy, still a high surf
warning and partly cloudy—except for the high surf, actually really nice
weather for this race. Don and I get our
stuff together and head down to get set up - -we have a place less than ½ mile
from the race site so we just jump on our bikes and go. This year we have the joy of having all our
kids (and significant others) with us.
They head down a while before the start so we get to see them for a bit
before we go off.
We do a little practice—once into and out of the surf—I make
it, not necessarily pretty but I call anything that gets me to shore with all
my body parts a huge success.
This year they broke us up into more waves—I liked it since
that meant less obstacles to deal with on top of the surf. The women went last of 5 waves. As we stand on the beach we see a few people
from the earlier waves come back into shore—not willing/able to tackle the
shorebreak we all have to go through.
From the looks of the numbers quite a few people opted to not tackle the
swim—they said there were just over 800 competitors but only just over 700
finished the swim—I don’t blame anyone one little bit—I can’t imagine doing
this swim and not being a strong swimmer.
Anyhow—we get the go—and luckily it is in between large sets
and I get into the water with no difficulty.
The ocean is super rough so it really doesn’t get any easier once you
are past the breakers. Several times I
take a stroke and there is no water there as I crest a wave and head down the
other side. You can only sight when you
are at the top of a wave-and then only if you are lucky that the buoy is also
at the top—otherwise its just ocean all around.
The kayakers are great—they are trying to keep us all pointed in the
right direction. I get around the first
buoy and head to shore—going with the waves is a little bit easier. As you come in to shore it just looks like
you are about to go over the edge of a waterfall—I start looking behind me to
see the size of the waves and hopefully catch a little one to carry me in.
I actually execute not to badly for me. I run out and around the flags on shore to
get back in for lap 2 - -and there is a wall of waves and just a ton of people
just standing there looking at them. I
do an epic fail at trying to get back in and the wave just carries me back to
shore. Someone helps me get back
up. In the process I have lost my swim
cap (but not my goggles, thank goodness).
Well, the race is not going to go anywhere if I don’t get myself back
into the ocean so I try again—thankfully the big set is past and I get in. The water feels rougher here towards the
south end of the beach (the swim course is a big M). Sighting is horrible since I now have to deal
with my hair in my eyes. I get out to
the buoy and make the final turn for home—thinking that it will be better going
with the waves—well, not so much—it just kept getting rougher and rougher. I can see that the kayakers and not super
happy—the current is driving all the swimmers south—towards a very rocky
shore. I make sure I am angling away
from the rocks even if I have to swim a little longer. I approach the cliff that is the shore break
and do a decent job of getting in. That
was definitely the hardest swim I have ever done. 35:27—definitely slow but 5th in
my AG and within about a minute of the fastest in AG
The second test of survival was about to begin. The bike here is not easy, even with good
conditions—about 3300 ft climbing fit into 20 miles. The soil here is pretty much clay—and we all
know what happens when you mix clay with water and put it on a 10-15 degree
slope. The first 8 miles of the bike are
pretty much up. The first 3 miles are
actually not too bad—low enough on the mountain that it did not get the same
volume of rain and hills are not as steep.
As we get higher on the mountain the conditions deteriorate. And of course on mostly single track, as soon
as the person in front of you loses it, you also end up off your bike. I fell once and smacked my hip/leg pretty
good—have rainbow bruises to show for it.
Just got up and kept going. There
are some pretty long sustained climbs between mile 3 and 8 that were for the most
part completely unrideable. Shoe choice
really came into play in this race—there were many people whose bike shoes did
not have aggressive treads/toespikes that could barely walk up the hills. I was a super happy camper—the shoes I have
this year (Mavic Crossride SL) have a super aggressive tread and we spent
Saturday afternoon at the hardware store to make me some toespikes. I probably passed a hundred people just
because I could get traction walking up the hills. The clay was also at the stage of wet/dry
that it was very attracted to tires—which meant that you tires/frame packed up
and your wheels would not turn—and of course your bike weighed about 50 lbs. So the drill was push your bike until the
wheels packed up, clean out, repeat. I
decided enough of that, cleaned a bunch of the mud off my bike and then
shouldered it----I am sure glad I race cyclocross.
It was heavy and hard carrying the bike, but
much faster than the alternative. When I
had my call with Chris before the race—his words were—the worse the conditions
were the better it was for me—this mud favored a strong rider, not a fast
rider. It seemed it was working out that
way. Getting to the top at mile 8 did
not mean it was over—down was not any less treacherous. I was very happy for my dropper seat post that
allowed me to get my center of gravity lower and also get a foot on the ground
when needed. Of course your tires kept
packing up with mud so you could only ride down a little way and then your
wheels stopped turning. Eventually after
about mile 9 we got back to the drier portion of the trail and could actually
start riding again. The remainder of the
bike course was uneventful. In the end
it took me 3:25 to ride 20 miles.
After all that I was happy to get out on the run, though I
knew I had 3 miles of climbing at the start (about 1100 ft elevation gain) and
it would not be super fast. I did a
combo of power hiking and running all the way up to the top. After that I tried to not walk anymore—and was
pretty successful. The trail conditions
were actually pretty good-it had had all morning to dry out so there were very
few slippery sections. I actually felt
good on the run and the foot injury I have been dealing with for the past several
weeks was non-existant. I kept waiting
for women in my AG to pass me—I knew there were a couple behind me that were
good runners (I had passed them on the bike) but nobody came. I was so happy when I hit the beach and knew
that I only had 400m left to the finish line!
Run time 1:18:55. Total race time
was 5:26:51 - - good enough for 5th!
This is my highest finish at a World Championship ever and I am super
pumped about it. To put how challenging
this day was compared to a ‘regular’ year here—to get 5th place you
would need to finish in close to 4 hours.
I’ve had a great race season this year despite several
injuries and I have lots of people to thank for helping me accomplish
this. Chris Bagg has been an awesome coach—this
has been my first year with him and I would say it was a resounding
success! Kirk Whiteman at Tempo Cycling
has definitely helped me to push past limits and find strength inside me that I
never knew I had. The team that kept my
body together through all of this: Chris
Ramsey (PT at PACE), Brad Farra (chiropractor at Evolution Healthcare and Ftiness) and D.JD’Austria (massage) - -I really needed all of you guys. Also big thank you to Evolution Healthcare
and Fitness for the access to your great facilities including the altitude
room! Also Pearl Izumi-I have been an
ambassador all year and their product has been top notch. And last and most important supporter—Don—I am
not sure how he puts up with all my craziness but I couldn’t do any of this
without him!
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