Well after another 24hrs of traveling I’ve made it back to Aus. The trip back home was not a fun one at all after the results of the day before. Guttered and frustrated are a few words to describe of how I was felling with my performance.
I woke up raced day morning and felt excited and nervous. Made sure I got to transition fairly late trying to spend as much time in my hotel resting so not to waste to much nervous energy mucking around down at the race HQ. In and out of transition in under 5min then back to the hotel room for a little more feet up time. thats the advantage of having the hotel within 5min of the race HQ. After going through my final little pre race warm up It was time line up for the start.
At 9:02am the gun went of and I literally strolled of the start line. This was pretty much the plan, even if it was a little extreme. I started towards the back of the pack and was not interested in getting caught up in the normal first 1km hustle for position. The plan was to get through the First lap slowly and build from there with a +40min run split the aim. Felt sluggish the first lap which I was expecting. First 4km lap done in 20.02. Built up the pace on the second lap as the legs started to feel alive and with a quick nature break went through the second 5km lap in 23:22. With a fairly quick T1 (would have liked it a little quicker) I was out onto the bike.
The bike started well and to plan. Coming down the Bodenburg the first little issues happened. Rear cassette came loose which was a new one to me. 4min lost on that lap and another 1 or 2 lap on the next lap but not the end of the world by any means. I kept my cool and went through the first lap done in 1:33 (the aim was 1:30). At the top of the Bodenburg for the second time things went down hill fast, and it wasn't the bike. It was like someone flicked a switch. My energy was gone. I pushed on for the rest of the bike hoping that come the run I may start to feel better. It didn’t happen and found myself walking within a km of leaving T2. With my body totally spent I pulled the pin, walked back to my hotel room and slept for 13hrs.
After a post race debrief with my coach Xavier and going though a few things of what happened race day it looks like nutrition/hydration issue, or more accurately me falling to nail and execute my plan on race day after the first time up the Bodenburg. Its really frustrating for me. I went in with what I thought was a solid plan. Was it a brain fade, was it my mind drifting after my mechanical, was it the drop in body temp when the rain hit on he decent, I’ll never no. What I do no is its back to the drawing board. I have already started to pencil out a new plan, totally separating fluid intake and calorie intake even more so then a standard gel and fluid system.
With this result there is also a slight change in my race scheduling for the Aussie summer. Ironman Port Mac is now off the table. Without being able to nail down a long course race its time to go back to basics and focus on races up to half IM distance this summer. Doing this will allow me to race more often and give me more practice racing as well as get a solid base of training into the body. As for Powerman Zofingen, I don’t know when I’ll be back I will be back, although under different circumstances. I’m starting to work out particular markers that I will aim to meet before entering again.
Its now back to light training for me with a bike and swim focus at them moment.
Until next time
Hopper.
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