There have now been 1 week since I raced the Tweed Enduro, and I’m finally walking freely and feel like I might get to have children again one day. It was probably the most challenging race I have done yet, both physically and mentally. It shouldn’t have been, but I simply wasn’t prepared in the way I needed to be.
I was progressing nicely in my training, right up until I was a month out from race day when I got sick. I wasn’t deathly sick, but it was a head cold that did not want to let go, and the congestion was giving me headaches, dizziness, pain, and a total lack of energy. It dragged on too long, and when I tried training again when I though I was improving, I just got worse. Again, I wasn’t on my death bed, but it was frustrating! Honestly, I think that I had been training to a point that I had never pushed myself before, and it felt great to be challenged and see changes, but I wasn’t getting the recovery I needed. I wasn’t getting enough sleep and I probably wasn’t eating in a way that supported the training well. The consequences left me run down, sick, and seriously affected my race. Lesson learned the hard way!
Prepping the night before.
Swim
The swim was beautiful and the water was temperate and clear. I started in the second wave with the first timers for which I was very grateful. The tide had only recently turned, so it didn’t feel like as much assistance to begin with, but by the end of the swim there was a real nice pull. As per usual, I sat at the back of the pack in the swim. The advantage of the 70.3 distance is that with the variation of swim skills and all the different waves, you’re never alone in the water, which lends a little more confidence. I ended up finding a small pack of ladies from my wave, a group of 3 or 4, and we swam stroke for stroke for at least a kilometre. I found it encouraging to be swimming at the same pace because I was pushing, but within what I knew I could maintain. If I relaxed for a single stroke however, I fell behind. It kept me honest!
Ride
It felt nice to be out on the road after so much work on the wind trainer…until I hit the potholes! I felt like a James Bond martini, all shaken up! I was able to maintain a good speed for my heart rate for about the first 2 laps, but my heart rate monitor was being weird, so I could only catch an accurate reading every few minutes if I was lucky. I ended up tossing it to my club supporting on the side-lines (RTC has the most amazing support!). Around the same time, I began to feel a deep pulling in my glutes on the right side. In the few weeks prior to the race I had been doing some release work in my hips, so the pulling wasn’t a bad sign, but revealed some weakness. I rode the next 2 laps in a decent amount of pain as it got worse, which was increasingly affecting my pace. By the last 7 kilometres I was checking my watch more and more frequently, willing myself to reach transition and occasionally standing on my pedals to release and stretch my glutes.
Handing off my blasted failing heart rate monitor–Pic by Karen Reardon
Run
I couldn’t run. Well it felt like that anyway. It was so encouraging heading into transition on the bike and hearing my great bearded man yelling ‘Go Bek!’ Arya and Kalon were right by the entry/exit to transition as I came out on the run, so I pulled off and gave them each a sweaty kiss. The plan with my coach had been to be more conservative in the first 2 laps and increase speed in the last. It felt like I was hardly able to maintain the target heart rate, although I managed to settle into the pace a little. That was until my watch went flat and I had no heart rate to go by whatsoever! After kicking myself for not ensuring my watch was fully charged, I conceded that there was nothing to be done. I had to race naked and by feel. Abominable! That run was tough work. Thankfully the pain in my glutes eased a little, but I felt like I had nothing left in me. I focused on maintaining my cadence, relying on inbuilt rhythm to hit my target training cadence. The first lap sucked. Most of the second lap sucked. Something changed on the second lap though. I knew I had done the distance before, and I knew I wasn’t going to quit, and that was enough to focus my thoughts. I was bigger than this race, and I wasn’t going to let it beat me. Those 2 thoughts propelled me to the finish line. I started to lift myself on the last lap, lengthened my stride, and slowly increased my pace. I have never been so mentally and physically stretched at the same time, but I dug in.
Finally running to the chute!–pic by Nev Sprott
I was searching for Kalon and Ary as I ran past the team tents and I almost thought I was going to miss them entirely, but as I ran down the chute and finally crossed the line I spotted them. They were right on the finish line, waiting for me. It was so special to have them right there and be able to turn and give them a kiss. I had no energy to stand after that, but that moment was a dream come true for me and worth the pain.
I ended up scraping 1 minute off my 70.3 time from Sunshine Coast and it was hard fought. I had planned on a much greater improvement on my time, especially with such a flat course, but I am so proud of myself for mentally showing up and pushing through. I gave absolutely everything I was able to on the day, which is something I struggle to do with most of my races. For that I am so proud of my effort. I just need to learn from race and the preparation, and apply everything to the next race, when I blast my old times out of the water!
Official finish line pic. I made it!
runtored 