Truth be told – i stink at this blogging thing. I really wanted to like another platform because pictures were so easy but then i didn’t use that one either. So I’m back to the wordpress platform with a years worth of catching up to do! I’ll be putting more things up when i get the chance .. but to start how about a race report!
First of all – Challenge Roth isn’t a triathlon. Its an event. THE triathlon event. An amazing week of spectacle put on in Bavarian style. Complete with Dirndl, Lederhosen and Bier! My intent is to capture the essence of the week and go back and add some pictures as i work through them.
Checkin
We headed to Roth for the first time on Thursday to check in. Originally i was going to wait until Friday, but then realized they had to process nearly 5000 athletes. Insanity! So we went down as soon as we could to check the place out. Triathlon park was buzzing – although there wasn’t yet a frenzy. I took some time to look around at the shops, put a few ideas in my head for things i needed to confirm and buy and picked up some C4 souvenirs. Our buddy Kevin from C4 was there and made sure that we were well taken care of. THANKS KEVIN! Got out on my bike for a quick shakeout .. riding the first 6ish miles of the course. Checked in and got marked as a racer when i put on my black (individual) bracelet. Picked my stuff – the race bags were full of fun stuff – including really nice transition bags, a run hat, a poster, some epsom salt!, sport detergent (totally needed!) run belt, samples of the course nutrition and the usual chip/bib. That night was the famous beer party at the Edinger Cabin- so we were sure to stay for that 🙂 So much fun to see the pros dressed up in traditional clothes. The beer was flowing and there was an oompa band keeping the crowd entertained. So far so good – no race nerves!
Friday
I was planning on doing a practice swim in the canal, but opted for sleep instead. After all, there was another opportunity to swim on Saturday and I already had to be down there to rack my bike. I opted instead for a walk in the Lorenz forest to grab pictures and we planned met up with Ed at the expo later in the afternoon to check out the party. We went down to the swim start, tested the water (just dipped my toes in!) and went for a pre-drive of the bike course. The course was gorgeous! But I was a bit worried it was going to be a hard day on Sunday if the winds came up. There were lots of exposed ridges… the worst between Gredig and the awesome technical decent on the backside of the ridge.We headed back to the expo to meet up with the rest of the teammates and hang out for the afternoon. When we got there it was HOT! At this point, tons of people were coming in for the registration tent. The lines were HUGE! Ed and i found a tree to hang out under and people watch while Gaby went off to do a workout in the famous Roth town pool. Friday night was the athlete dinner, so we just soaked in the expo until it was time to head into dinner. It was MOBBED. They put out an extensive spread … but it was so hot and crowded that it was hard to sit down and really enjoy the meal. I think it may have been just too may tapered gittery athletes in one tent.
Saturday
Practice swim!! We heard that the water was most certain to be wetsuit legal so Ed and I went down for an early swim. The goal was to see how the swim was going to be on race day – so made sure to get in early. It was so nice … the water was calm and very clear. I knew it was supposed to be a good swim, but i was surprised how nice the canal was. I mostly bobbed around in the water and felt really sluggish. So I did a couple of quick arm turnovers and worked on sighting on both sides of the canal. Somewhere during my shakeout swim, I realized that the people cheering from the bridge was going to be epic. For the first time, i think it really sank in … that this was happening. Glad i had a friend out there in the water with me because we were able to process that realization together. After getting back out of the water, we dropped Ed off at his hotel and we went back to the hotel to pack my bags for the next day. Gaby went out for a run to give me some space to think. Once he came back, we headed to town for team lunch and pictures at the famous Schmidt bakery. We drove back to the hotel, triple checked everything. Loaded the bike and run bag into the car and drove over to T1 to drop off the bike and my run bag (note to self – read the athlete guide to before heading out – had to go back to T1 to drop off my T2 bag – which cost me a whole hour!). At bike check-in – the officials used our chips to check us in and checked our helmets when we dropped off the bikes, making sure they were adjusted and met European criteria. Everyone’s bikes also got a once over checking mostly the headset and areobars. It was great to see such care taken for athlete safety – especially since so many people traveled and had to rebuild bikes. After we finally got everything dropped off it was around 5pm – the time i wanted to be thinking about settling down and starting dinner. I shouldn’t admit this – but i skipped the athlete meeting. I had reread the guide at this point (after my bag drop off debacle), and was confident i knew enough to get through race day with no penalties and the meeting was at 6. My teammate and all around awesome dude Ron helped me out by providing some pertinants. It turned out, i was the only team-member to skip the meeting (oops!) But by this time we were settled back at the hotel, having and early dinner and getting ready for bed.
RACE DAY!
Total time: 12:57:36
Alarm was set for 3:30 but as usual there was no need. None. I was up and ready to go. Had some coffee, grabbed my last stuff and headed out the door. One of the things i love about long course racing is that race day morning is REALLY easy. There is nothing to stress about. Bags are packed and lined up by the door or already on-site. Your bike is already racked. You just roll out the door and leave. I got to transition … got my nutrition packed onto my bike and found a pump to borrow. Apparently most people here bring their own pumps – and not all pumps display in PSI! So it took a couple shots to be confident that i had my tires pumped. I got my garmin on my bike and made sure i had satellite lock and a calibrated powermeter. After i was settled, I found my team-mates (Ed, Ron, Brittany) and Cadence athlete-extroidinare Pat and wished them all luck. All the sudden it was go time! I headed to the potties and got ready. Wetsuit – check, Tri-slide – check, goggles – check! They moved us into a coral and soon it was time to go!! No nerves – just excitement for the day ahead! We entered the canal and then slowly moved up to the start line. I looked out, took a deep breath then — BOOM!
Swim: 1:21:04
The swim was murkier than the day before. And there were 200 anxious girls in the water. The start was pretty aggressive, there was so much contact. The most contact i’ve ever had at a non-mass start infact. So, it was a rough start. I focused on just swimming long strokes, breathing well, counting and staying calm.One. Two. Three. Four. Five. BREATH – sight. You know…. doing that pattern for 2.4 miles was repetitive but comforting. I struggled to find clear water or feet that weren’t intent on knocking out my front teeth. A few times i needed to pop up when I got knocked good – but in general i just keep repeating “relentless forward progress”. It took so long to get to the turn around – but then there it was. A long swim back to the far turn buoy and then it was home free.
I’ve made three major changes to my swim this year. 1) I count the entire way. 2) I sight one or two buoys ahead of the closest one to me 3) I’ve changed my head position. All have contributed to better sighting, more consistent swims and ultimately faster swim times. I have one more important change – I no longer wear a watch in the swim. The temptation to check it when I am hurting is too much. So i had NO idea what my swim time was. I knew I got caught by the majority of the sub 9hr men by the final turn, and that I wasn’t the last girl in the water. But I didn’t realize i swam a massive PR until i got on my bike. For reference, my CAC swim 2 weeks earlier was 01:40:43.756 and Jack told me he thought my race times should be somewhere “close to 1:30”.
T1: 00:04:40
Yup. I do a sport where getting dressed is part of the game. We weren’t allowed to have our wetsuits off util we got into the change tent to keep the walkway clear. I pulled the wetsuit down to my race, ran through the bagdrop, easily found my bike bag and ran into the (co-ed) change tent. Because it was supposed to be hot, I swam in just my sports bra and tri-shorts. I had a pre-packed bike jersey with a full zip ready to go. A volunteer dumped my bag and helped me dry off. Socks on, shoes on. One last towel. Sunscreen. Jersey on (with number attached). Grabbed my sunglasses and headed out to my bike. Helmet on. Sunglasses on. GO!
Bike: 06:43:31
I was aiming to 6:00 flat on this course. Two things – it was a fair course and windy. I had my power numbers from Jack and to be honest. I knew from the day before that 6:00 was likely to happen. So i adjusted my goal. Ride well, don’t override, finish safe and strong.
First things first – I needed to settle on the bike. I wasn’t planning on eating until after I got through the technical first part of the course. Did a quick time check – when I looked down and it was 8:10 I was shocked. A sub 1:30 swim? WHAT???!?!?!? I didn’t have much time to celebrate through as the course starts with a bit of a fast curvy downhill and a bumpy section over the canal. I knew i needed to wait to eat till this after this point. So just dialed in my legs and got comfortable into aero. After that section, the work (and the eating) started. My nutrition plan was to eat 1/2 a Powerbar every 1/2 hour and drink a full bottle (20oz) every hour. Every refill, I planned to add electrolytes. I knew it was hot out and i was going through water way faster than i usually do. So i really concentrated on my nutrition and riding a clean race. The draft zone was 10m and the riders were more aggressive than i was used to. But i remembered to ride my own ride (hey I’m not “racing” this thing). The first lap was spot on. I rode it in just about 3:00 flat. At that point i knew i wasn’t going to make 6:00 because there is a 5 mile tail to the loops into T2. Never mind. Pedal, eat, drink. Repeat. By the second half of the second loop i was having trouble staying in aero. The wind was picking up and i was struggling in the heat. I rode as strong as I could without burning out my legs and just hung on.
The best case time if i kept my first loop speed was about 6:00 + :15. That was before the wind on the second course. Damn it! i knew it was going to get hard if that wind came up. I lost about 30 minutes to the wind and general stoppage … so that is not too bad in the grand scheme of things. I stopped twice quickly at a porta-potty (once on the first loop and once on the second) but made them really really quick stops. I was pleased that I was staying hydrated in the wind.When its hot you need more liquid, but when its windy its hard to know how much you are sweating. I did have a moment where i had to get off my bike to work out a bad cramp and started using ISO (sports drink) bottles instead of water. The bike course was filled with carnage of people who hadn’t stayed on top of nutrition. I picked off a few people who had passed me when i was off my bike, and a few people I had been tagging back and forth with earlier in the day.
This was a great course for me. It was technical and never boring. There was enough climbing (three little ring climbs per loop) that i was able to move around a bit. And there was SO much crowd support. I soaked up all the love on the course (and boy was it there!) The first time I needed a bottle was at Gredig – a left hand turn into a 13% climb with a 1.5 mile(ish) 6% sustained rise. I got nervous to do bottle handoffs – Gaby and I practiced it, but its not something i do often. When i tried to get going – 6% was sooo steep. Luckily i got a boost from one of the volunteers – I felt pro! The crowd screamed us all the way up that hill. Then there was a long false flat heading into the Gredig decent. The Gredig decent takes all your concentration.Three switchbacks (all lined with hay bails!), big speed and fearless riders. The second place where you really feel an amazing outpouring of support is Solar Hill. It is … well there are no words. Thousands of people crammed 5-7 rows deep out infront of you bringing you up the hill. You just have to trust they will move. And they do… but man its unnerving and thrilling at the same time. Even on the second loop there were still people there – you basically are riding a wave of energy right up and over.
Once I got to the bier mile the third time it was time to shift gears. With 3 miles to go, it was time to put the bike aside and mentally prepare myself for the run. I focused on fast cadence, low power over the last 2 miles into T2. I was ready to hand off my bike – but i didn’t hate it (cue flashbacks to AC) so I knew that I rode pretty well and put myself in good place heading out onto the canal. Pretty soon I found myself throwing my bike at the T2 bike catchers and running under the arch. I remembered to stop my garmin and save the file before handing off my bike (phew!)
T2: 00:03:24
Jack reminded me before the race that people spend EONS in transitions and that I should focus on getting in and getting out. T2 is usually pretty easy. Swap shoes, race belt, hat.Seems pretty quick – untill you realize you cant reach your shoes. This time, in addition to the usual stuff, I had a shirt change, suncreen to apply and arm coolers to get on, as part of my heat plan. Again the volunteers were amazing in T2 – and i was in and out faster than I thought possible. (T2 was my highest ranking event of the day!!). Anyway out onto the run course I went … getting cheered the whole way!
RUN: 04:44:59
My run plan had a cutdown from 10:30. I was thinking ahead of time that a 4:30 was in my grasp if i could keep it together. I went in thinking that the course was going to be flat flat flat and there would be lots of people out there again. Lesson learned … pay more attention to the course ahead of time 🙂
As usual, I don’t really remember alot of the run. It started with a little climb up to the canal and then out and back, around a lock. As i entered the canal path, i saw the bike escorts for the leading girls. I thought the people coming the other way looked soooo fresh, and I couldn’t understand how they looked so great when they were almost finished. It was a bit demoralizing. At mile 6 you head down a hill into a town, around a clover leaf, and back up. You come back onto the trail around mile 9. That explains it!! I got to the end of the canal path and headed into the woods. Damn! Still a half marathon to go! I was so glad I had stayed clean on the ride – because the 1k penalty lap was up a hill! The second half of the run takes you through woods, a couple of official cheer zones and several small towns. As with the bike, the crowd support was AMAZING! Due to the heat, there was alot of walking. Each aid station had cool sponges. As the day progressed, they had to start re-using them. Kids would collect the discarded ones, rinse them out and soak them for the next person. They were life-savers! Plus, its hard not to take a cool sponge from a screaming small fan! There was no ice, but they did have chemical cool packs you could ask for and I did use one. But, my cooling strategy was to keep a wet sponge on each shoulder and keep my arm coolers/warmers wet. It worked really well, and blessdly a cloud floated in and cooled us off.
I also did a really good job with nutrition. I took a gel every hour (4 total) and 5 dots on the half hour (2 packages total). So i was taking in about 200 calories an hour. Which this late in the day is stunning for me. Super stoked. I kept drinking water and ISO and had two cokes.
I started feeling sparks of cramps around mile 10. Just my toes were cramping. I stopped someplace at the canal and worked a little cramp out of my calf. I was focusing on arm swing, staying positive and just eat/drink/breathe. By mile 10 i knew that I wasn’t going to be able to bring up the speed, so i just focused on staying under 11 minute miles. I missed a few, but by in large i did really well. At mile 24 the wheels came off. I stopped for 30 seconds to work out a cramp and fell over racked in lower body cramps. Luckily for me there was a coach on the other side of the road, who came and helped me relax (I was SCREAMING) and work out the cramps. She handed me salt water and a potato. I was able to keep moving – walking at first, then jogging, then low and behold RUNNING! I only had 2 miles to go!! I saw Gaby at mile 25 and he said i was looking GREAT and i could still hit sub 13 – which i had long thought was gone by this point. There was a loop through town square at this point and i was stoked – but the course turned away from triathlon park and i knew it was going to be a long last mile. My rescue coach cheered me on as I took the turn out onto the last out and back. She was so awesome, I wish I could say thankyou. I took my final gel (it didn’t sit well at ALL!) and just tried to keep my feet moving. I’m afraid I walked more of that last mile than I would have liked but I knew the finish line was ahead. It was very motivating. Then i turned ….
Finish and the After-Party!!:
and ran down the finish chute – into the stadium where there were 10,000 cheering people. 10,000! It was unreal. You basically make a victory lap from the stadium entrance to the finish line and i just soaked it all in. They called my team and then my name … “from the USA with the CHALLENGE TRI TEAM, well done Emily!” and i was across the line. I see Holly! She is handed a medal to place around my neck. Then i get a hug from Felix! and hear Gaby screaming my name!! It was just unreal. Gaby told me i made it with 3 minutes to spare – SUB13!!! I headed towards athlete village where i proceeded to get stupid. I came out about an hour later and had to get my bike from T2. We collected the bike (with a little topple over to boot) and met up with the rest of the team. I tried to get into the stadium for the finish, but it was packed. So we all sat by the little fountain and saved seats for Brittany and family and Ed. We were missing the rest of the guys … Ron had a bus to catch, Jeff was (it turns out) recovering from his own T2 bike retrieval event, and I never got to meet our resident speedster Breno. But those of us that were there soaked in the amazing spectacle, waving to the drone and loving the show that Challenge put on. It was an epic way to close an epic day.
The required thanks shoutouts in no particular order:
- Gaby – for spectating and recording priceless memories for me (and walking almost a marathon spectating!)
- My coach – we’ve been working together for three years now putting the framework in place for this day. Thanks for teaching me to believe in myself and trusting there is another gear when it seems you can go no further. Thanks for making me an athlete.
- My Challenge Team – for the opportunity to race with you this year, for making me laugh, letting me cry and being pretty awesome travel/training/drinking buddies 🙂
- My hometown team – You guys support me every day. I couldn’t do it without all my Cadence friends. I would say team … but you aren’t just a team – you are some of my best friends. You guys are amazing. Bring on the hastags and the brownie points!
- My family – because this sport is only kind-of an individual sport. Can’t do it without an army of people keeping you sane and working around your ridiculous schedules
- The Challenge Team Sponsors – C4 for an amazingly comfy kit, Powerbar for keeping me fed, SBR for keeping me clean all year long
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