World Triathlon Championships Chicago
2015
I can't believe how quickly the time
has gone, the end of September already!
I’m in the process of putting something
together about my training and racing through August and early September in the
build up to the World Championships but I thought it best that I put down my
experience in Chicago whilst it was still fresh, so
here goes!
Firstly I would like to say that I am incredibly
pleased with my result, although some of you that I’ve spoken with will know
that it may not seem like it when I talk a about it. That is simply just the
way I am, I’m my own harshest critic, I set myself high standards and I always
want to achieve more than is expected of me. This obviously isn’t always
possible, I think I put together a solid performance which I am proud of, but I
know that I had prepared better than my performance shows and I can’t help but
be slightly disappointed in that sense.
At the start of the year this event
wasn't even on my radar but after a good result at the European Championships I
wanted to know how I would compare against a World class field. I'm not someone
who has travelled a lot, in fact this would be my first time out of Europe, so
heading across the pond was a big deal.
Anyone who has participated in race of
this scale will know that the most important thing is to have a ‘clean’ race;
no-one wants to sit on a plane for 9 hours to go three round with Mike Tyson in
the swim and then puncture.
The day before the race didn’t go exactly
how I had planned, in fact I did exactly what I knew I shouldn’t do. Through a
combination of getting my bearings in the city, the race briefing, bike racking
and swim familiarization (all in the unexpected blistering sunshine) I found
myself out and on my feet in the sun all day. I got back to the hotel in the
evening and just thought "what have I done, I'm knackered and sun
burnt!". From then it was legs up and all I could do was hope I could
recover and hadn't ruined my race before it even started.
 |
| #beanselfie |
Having a race start time of 10:10 meant
for a relaxed morning, I had a coffee and some porridge at the hotel before
heading down to transition to set up the rest of my kit.
The sun was out in full force again and
I hung to the shade listening to some music before I put my wetsuit on and
dropped my bags off with 45 minutes to the start. This is was when things took
a turn for the worse, I found myself cooking in my wetsuit, sweat running out
of my wrists and ankles and I knew then that I should have put a bottle on my
bike. As I’d been expecting mild temperatures and hoped for a quick race I
chose to save the weight and not bring one, I’d been racing sprints throughout
the summer without and knew I should be fine. But not in this kind of weather.
As we made our way through the pens and onto the pontoon we
were given 1 minute to get onto the start line and then it was go. People began
elegantly diving in all around me and I thought I’m not bloody doing that, I
can’t dive! I didn’t think this was a good time to try and learn either so I
jumped in hoping no-one was about to dive on top of me. After getting beaten up
for the entire swim in Geneva I’d put in a lot of time in the pool and knew I’d
made some good improvements but I really didn’t want to get punched in the
first stroke and suffer for the rest of the race, as they say
“you can’t win the race in the swim, but you can lose it”
I chose to start near the far buoy just off the main group
having heard the turn buoy at the end of the swim was further out than you
expect and people had been sent back to go around it the previous day at the
aquathlon. This proved a good move as I set off with clear water I kept out of
the fights and just got my head down. It turns out the swim course was long by
~100m which I wasn’t glad about at the time but I was soon at the turn buoy and
heading straight for stairs, having swam parallel with the main group the whole
way with a group of swimmers on my feet I was pleased with the clean swim but
could have benefited from some faster feet if I’d gone off with the right
group, it’s a choice you’ve got to weigh up at every race and I chose to play
it safe and do all the work myself.
Out of the water, up the steps and
it was a long 800m up to transition. It always feels like a long run out of the
swim in a wetsuit but I passed a few athletes on my way and found my bike no
problem which was a miracle in the packed transition area.
Once on the bike it was clear it
was going to be a fast day in the saddle, the majority of the course was up and
down a main highway so it was a case of tucking and pushing hard. Unfortunately
as we weren’t able to recce the course before the race it came as a shock when
a man in a fluorescent jacket stood on a wall was shouting at everyone that
passing, I wondered what was going on and then I smashed into a pretty large
section of raised tarmac. Obviously a scar from some roadworks that weren’t particularly
well finished, it was a metre long raised section crossing both sides of the
road. It left a number of athletes with DNF’s through punctures; a couple of
crashes and a lot of bottles were rattled out and rolling across the road.
Anyway, the course flew down the narrow section and round a sharp 90 degree bend
and back onto a wide highway for about half a mile before the full turn around.
The first lap was taken tentatively not knowing what was coming or how it could
be taken but after that it was full throttle, well that was the plan. On the
wide sections of road it was easy to stay clear of other athletes and make
progress but when the road halved in size and athletes were slamming their brakes
on because of the bad road surface it made for a congested part of the course
in both directions, I was caught in a big group for most of my second lap, I
was nervous about getting caught for drafting but from what I saw there wasn’t
much chance of that happening and I definitely wasn’t gaining anything from
being boxed in.
 |
| One of the few moment I could put my head down and work |
On my final lap I was passed by a
fellow GB athlete who I knew, I suddenly realised I needed to be going faster
and made sure I didn’t let him out of my sight. It wasn’t the first time this
season that I’ve needed a kick up butt on the bike, but it definitely helped as
I flew around the last lap.
Flying into T2 with the other
athlete about 50m ahead I jumped off and was into a full run straight away
passing him on the 800m run that circulated the transition area. Once racked we
ended up running out of transition shoulder to shoulder, this wasn’t what I
wanted so I pushed on straight away creating a good gap within the first kilometre.
 |
| Suffering |
I’d been working hard on getting
some fast legs off the bike and I felt like I was running well, passing a
number of athletes without any problems. Unfortunately the heat and humidity
began to have a big impact on everyone, as I rounded Buckingham Fountain for
the first time it felt like I was running through syrup, my head was pounding
and it was hard to take a full breath. The course was made up of 1.5 laps,
starting at transition heading down the highway before a full turn back up the
highway and into Grant park before circling Buckingham Fountain, this was where
you either peeled off to finish on your second lap or continued on round the
fountain and back up the highway to transition before a full turn into your
second lap. I know that people do some incredible things and I can’t begin to
imagine and kind of suffering athletes go through in long-distance racing but I
can honestly say that I suffered badly on my second lap, I wasn’t the only one
as I saw 2 athletes collapse and a ‘Red’ warning was put out over the loud
speaker based on temperature and humidity. I can’t remember much about the
remainder of the run and I don’t even remember finishing, I saw the footage of
me crossing the line and it was like watching someone else. Once over the line my
legs went and a marshal took me by the arms and sat me in an ice bath and gave
me a bottle of water, I’ve never felt like my head was actually throbbing
before and I hope it’s not something I’ll have to get used to. I had no idea
where I finished but made my way out of the athlete’s area and found some
friends who had the live results and said I’d finished 6th in my AG,
the first European and currently the fastest British time overall which I held
onto. I was pleased but still not feeling great so it was a lot to take on at
the time and to be honest I’m not really sure when I will fully digest not just
this race but everything that’s happened this year.
The times are a bit off because the swim and the run were both long and the bike was short but here are my splits and positions overall for each discipline, they don't represent my position throughout the race unfortunately:
Swim: 10:31 / 17th
T1: 2:59 / 13th
Bike: 28:17 / 15th
T2: 1:59 / 3rd
Run: 17:13 / 7th
Overall: 1:0:59 / 6th
Overall the whole experience was
truly unforgettable and something that I will always remember fondly, leaving
me with amazing memories and a result i can be proud of. I need to thank everyone who made the trip possible;
Pedal Potential, Les-Stables, Mailcoms Ltd and an abundance of family and
friends whose help was overwhelming. I just hope that I can make everyone proud
of me and succeed in ways these people believe I can, even if I don’t yet.
No comments:
Post a Comment